From ink to impact: a writer’s mission

For Andre Fenton (Screen Arts ’15 & Social Services ’18), storytelling has remained a constant thread throughout his life. He’s gone from creating scripts and stop-motion videos with action figures as a child to becoming an award-winning writer who’s currently adapting his book into a screenplay.

“Whether as a journal kid, a spoken word poet, or an author, I’ve learned that sometimes you have to be more than one thing – not just a writer in one direction, but a versatile storyteller,” explains Andre.

Andre’s path to becoming an author was anything but traditional. He began writing poetry in high school, which he credits as the foundation of his writing and the source of his narrative edge.

His interest in storytelling and film led him to study Screen Arts at NSCC. Driven by an equal commitment to community work, he also completed the Social Services program.

“Both NSCC programs were impactful and made me into the artist I am today,” says Andre.

“The Screen Arts program taught me story structure and how to bring an audience into a moment. Social Services helped me tap into empathy, how to build community, make people feel seen and heard and put care at the center of my work.”

Finding clarity on the page

His novel ANNAKA was inspired by his first experience of grief after losing his grandmother, weaving that emotion into a story about a young person and their imaginary friend.

With The Summer Between Us, he explored the pressure-filled crossroads of finishing high school, mirroring his own struggle between pursuing art or community work.

“Writing is my way of making sense of the world. The good moments, bad moments, everything in between, anything that stirs passion or love,” says Andre.

Andre describes writing a novel as a slow burn – each chapter a puzzle, every draft an act of problem solving.

“You’ve got your characters, your message and the challenge of figuring out how to make it all land. It fires up my brain in a way I love, shifting between character moments and making the story resonate with readers,” he says.

Igniting a collective storytelling space

Alongside growing his writing career, Andre has devoted significant time to uplifting other creative writers by developing and hosting a wide range of workshops as the Narrative Program Director at the Bus Stop Theatre.

“For me, working in the community is an opportunity to build bridges among writers, publishers and filmmakers,” says Andre.

The Ink Collective is a program Andre created and led, dedicated to uplifting Black writers through workshops that build community, develop technique and open pathways to publishing opportunities across all forms.

“I’d wanted to do the Ink Collective for a long time, and with help from community organizations, we were finally able to make it happen,” Andre explains.

“It’s a hands-on program that breaks barriers, builds confidence and shows writers that this is possible. We had 20 Black writers with diverse creative backgrounds, including spoken-word poets, screenwriters, novelists and playwrights.”

Coming full circle

As a teenager, Andre would walk through bookstores and feel a pang of jealousy looking at all the books on the shelves.

Today, Andre has earned several awards, including Creative Nova Scotia’s Emerging Artist Recognition Award and Digitally Lit’s Community and Place Award, but it’s the community-voted honours that feel especially meaningful to him.

With three YA novels to his name – Worthy of Love, ANNAKA and The Summer Between Us – he’s powering through the Annaka screenplay and diving into adult fiction with two new books in the works.

“It was always a dream to see one of my books come to the screen, and making the jump to screenwriting has been really fulfilling,” says Andre.