Stephen Kimber

Stephen Kimber, an award-winning writer, editor, and broadcaster, is the author of three novels and the author or co-author of twelve nonfiction books. (See below.)

His latest novel, Traitor’s Game—a place- and character-driven Second World War noir mystery with elements of spy fiction and police procedural—brings him back to the world of Sailors, Slackers and Blind Pigs, his multi-award-winning 2003 nonfiction account of everyday life in Halifax during World War II. Traitor’s Game is the first in a projected series of novels featuring troubled Halifax detective Mick Blackwell as he navigates crime and justice in the war-roiled North American city closest to the fighting in Europe.

A Halifax-based journalist for more than fifty years, Kimber’s writing has appeared in almost all Canadian magazines and newspapers. As a broadcaster, he was an Ottawa-based current affairs producer for the CTV Television Network and a producer, writer, story editor, and host for numerous CBC television and radio programs. For more than thirty years, he wrote weekly columns on politics, business, and life for local and regional newspapers and magazines.

As a journalist, Kimber has…

• Won more than two dozen Gold and Silver awards from the Atlantic Journalism Awards for journalism and magazine writing,
• Won a Silver award for column writing from the National Magazine Awards and been a finalist in a variety of categories, including Best Overall Article, Column Writing and Religious Journalism,
• Won Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards for magazine writing from the Trade, Association and Business Publications International organization,
• Won a Dan McArthur Award for excellence in radio documentary production,
• Won a regional ACTRA award for documentary writing,
• Won a Canadian Food Writers’ Award for the best magazine article on the Canadian Food Industry,
• A National Author’s Award for Best Business Magazine article,
• An Honourable Mention from the Centre for Investigative Reporting for investigative reporting.

From 1982 to 2025, he was a Professor in the School of Journalism, Writing & Publishing at the University of King’s College in Halifax, where he served as its Director for close to a decade. In 2013, he co-founded the King’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction program and, in 2023, spearheaded the creation of an MFA in Fiction stream.

In 2023, Kimber was named to the Order of Nova Scotia, the province’s highest civilian honour for his “contributions to the life and people of the province through literature, journalism and academia.” In 2026, the Atlantic Book Awards Society honoured him with its Legacy Award for his “lasting contribution to the development of the literary arts in Atlantic Canada, [providing] opportunity or inspiration (or both) for those sharing Atlantic Canadian stories through writing and publishing.” That same year, he was inducted into the Atlantic Journalism Awards Hall of Fame for his contributions to journalism.

Books:

• Traitor’s Game: A Mick Blackwell Mystery (Vagrant Press, 2026)
• The Phelan Feud: The Bitter Struggle for Control of a Great Canadian Food Empire (Barlow Books, 2024)
• Bitcoin Widow: Love, Money & Betrayal with Jennifer Robertson (HarperCollins, 2022)
• Alexa: The Making of a Feminist (Goose Lane Editions, 2021)
  • Evelyn Richardson Nonfiction Award
• Sweetness in the Lime: A Novel (Vagrant Press, 2020)
• What Lies Across the Water: The Real Story of the Cuban Five (Fernwood, 2013)
  • Evelyn Richardson Nonfiction Award
  • Reader’s Choice Award, Cuban Institute of the Book (Instituto Cubano del Libro) for the Spanish-language edition (2016)
• Halifax: Warden of the North (Updated Edition) by Thomas Raddall and Stephen Kimber (Nimbus 2010)
• IWK: A Century of Caring (Nimbus, 2009)
• Loyalists and Layabouts: The Rapid Rise and Faster Fall of Shelburne, NS 1783-1792 (Doubleday, 2008)
• Reparations: A Novel (HarperCollins, 2006)
  • Shortlisted, Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction
  • Shortlisted, Crime Writers of Canada First Novel Award
• Sailors, Slackers and Blind Pigs: Halifax at War (Doubleday, 2003)
  • Evelyn Richardson Nonfiction Award
  • Dartmouth Book Award for Nonfiction
  • Torgi Award
  • Shortlisted, Atlantic Booksellers’ Choice Award
• Flight 111: The Tragedy of the Swissair Crash (Doubleday, 1999)
• Not Guilty: The Trial of Gerald Regan (Stoddart, 1999)
  • Aphrodisiac: Sex, Power, Politics and Gerald Regan (Revised edition, ebook, 2016)
• More Than Just Folks (Pottersfield Press, 1996)
• The Spirit of Africville (Formac, 1994) co-author
• Net Profits (Nimbus, 1989)

More about Stephen Kimber

• Q&A
• A 2009 interview with The Writers’ Union on “Truth, Lies, and Nonfiction”
• My life as an “accidental academic”
• An interview for Pierre Berton’s craft book, The Joy of Writing