Steven Laffoley

Steven Laffoley an award-winning author of fiction and creative-nonfiction. His Hunting Halifax was shortlisted for the 2008 Atlantic Independent Booksellers' Choice Award and the 2008 Evelyn Richardson Memorial Non-Fiction Award.{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/cbc-journalists-among-nominees-for-atlantic-book-awards-1.706983 |title=CBC journalists among nominees for Atlantic Book Awards - Arts & Entertainment - CBC News |publisher=Cbc.ca |date= |accessdate=2013-12-23}} Both The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea and Shadowboxing topped the Nova Scotia Bestsellers List,{{cite web|author=- 3:00am |url=http://thechronicleherald.ca/books/144763-bestsellers |title=BESTSELLERS | The Chronicle Herald |publisher=Thechronicleherald.ca |date=2012-10-07 |accessdate=2013-12-23}} with the former being shortlisted for the 2012 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Nonfiction{{cite web|url=http://www.crimewriterscanada.com/awards/arthur-ellis-awards/current-contest/shortlists/790-shortlists-2012 |title=Crime Writers of Canada - 2012 Shortlists |publisher=Crimewriterscanada.com |date= |accessdate=2013-12-23}} and the latter winning the 2013 Evelyn Richardson Nonfiction Award.{{cite web |url=http://www.eastcoastkitchenparty.net/arts_WFNS_2013_Awards.php#.UoKRp5TwL2A |title=East Coast Kitchen Party |publisher=East Coast Kitchen Party |date=2013-09-21 |access-date=2013-12-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110085312/http://www.eastcoastkitchenparty.net/arts_WFNS_2013_Awards.php#.UoKRp5TwL2A#.UoKRp5TwL2A |archive-date=2014-01-10 |url-status=dead }} His novel, The Blue Tattoo, also garnered much critical and commercial success. "It's a big story that everyone should read", noted the Atlantic Books Today. "It deepens one's appreciation for the parts of the city touched by the devastation of December 6, 1917".{{cite web|url=http://atlanticbookstoday.ca/across-the-great-divide/ |title=Across the Great Divide |publisher=Atlantic Books Today|date=2014-12-03 |accessdate=2016-03-25}}

Laffoley has been lauded for his signature cinematic retelling of historical events by interweaving himself into the story as a writer/detective character. Critic Thomas Hodd from the Telegraph-Journal wrote that Laffoley injects "first person, post-modern narrative as he recounts his investigative process and offers reflections on the facts as they reveal themselves"."Axe Murder on the Atlantic" - Stephen Laffoley's The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. Telegraph Journal. 3 September 2011. F6 Another critic from The Coast applauded him for his mastery in weaving together "the main story" and "contemporaneous scenes" in his books that make for "intriguing context".{{cite web|last=Brunet |first=Michelle |url=http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/the-devil-and-the-deep-blue-sea/Content?oid=3066136 |title=The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea | Book Reviews | Halifax, Nova Scotia | THE COAST |publisher=Thecoast.ca |date=2012-03-15 |accessdate=2013-12-23}} Laffoley often chooses stories lesser known to the public, predominantly Canadian in subject, and almost always set around the turn of the 20th century. When asked about the inspiration behind his book Shadowboxing, he said he was fascinated with the fact that George Dixon, who seemed so influential in the boxing and wider communities of Canada and the United States, had not yet had a biography written.{{cite web|last=Fairclough |first=Ian |url=http://thechronicleherald.ca/books/144810-george-dixon-was-one-of-the-first-real-sports-celebrities |title=George Dixon was one of the first real sports celebrities | The Chronicle Herald |publisher=Thechronicleherald.ca |date=2012-10-07 |accessdate=2013-12-23}} According to a review by fellow writer Jenna Conter, Laffoley is the "Stephen King of Halifax"{{cite web|last=Conter |first=Jenna |url=http://metronews.ca/voices/backstage-pass-halifax/376424/tenacious-as-hell-word-on-the-streets-steven-laffoley/ |title='Tenacious as hell': Word on the Street's Steven Laffoley | Metro |publisher=Metronews.ca |date=2012-09-19 |accessdate=2013-12-23}} because his unique writing style gives his works a cinematic quality, both vivid and imaginative.

Laffoley was born in Taunton, Massachusetts and raised in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. He is of English, Irish, Scandinavian, and Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Laffoley was educated at Saint Mary's University. He first moved to Canada in 1982 and lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He has been a lecturer at Saint Mary's University (Halifax) and a teacher in Wildflecken, Germany, Sachigo Lake First Nation, and King's-Edgehill School. For nineteen years, he was the Head of Middle School at the Halifax Grammar School, a position he held since establishing the middle school in September 1997.{{cite web |url=http://www.hgs.ns.ca/contactus |title=Halifax Grammar School ~Contact Us |publisher=Hgs.ns.ca |date= |access-date=2013-12-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110085257/http://www.hgs.ns.ca/contactus |archive-date=2014-01-10 }} In July 2016, he was appointed the thirteenth Head of School of the Halifax Grammar School.{{cite web|url=http://www.hgs.ns.ca/page/News-Detail?pk=823370&fromId=165863|title=Head of Middle School Steven Laffoley Named Thirteenth Halifax Grammar School Head of School|date=18 May 2016 }}

• A "must read" book in The Coast for 2024 (What's the Point?){{cite web|url=https://www.thecoast.ca/arts-music/12-books-by-halifax-authors-for-your-end-of-2024-reading-list-34023312 |title=12 books by Halifax authors for your end-of-2024 reading list}}
• Ten Outstanding #ReadAtlantic Books of 2021(Unfiltered){{cite web|url=http://www.miramichireader.ca/2021/12/listicle-ten-outstanding-readatlantic-books-of-2021/?fbclid=IwAR163m1HoHcPtlVvCi5PFXiN3Q7XKE_4-eZPwiJw1wpcuUstBz9MbmT03aI |title=Ten Outstanding #ReadAtlantic Books of 2021|date=4 December 2021 }}
• Winner of the 2013 Evelyn Richardson Memorial Non-Fiction Award (Shadowboxing){{cite web |url=http://www.eastcoastkitchenparty.net/arts_WFNS_2013_Awards.php#.UoLa2JTwL2B |title=East Coast Kitchen Party |publisher=East Coast Kitchen Party |date=2013-09-21 |access-date=2013-12-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110085312/http://www.eastcoastkitchenparty.net/arts_WFNS_2013_Awards.php#.UoLa2JTwL2B#.UoLa2JTwL2B |archive-date=2014-01-10 |url-status=dead }}
• Shortlisted for the 2012 Arthur Ellis Awards for Best Crime Nonfiction (The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea)
• Shortlisted for the 2008 Evelyn Richardson Memorial Non-Fiction Award (Hunting Halifax)
• Shortlisted for the 2008 Atlantic Independent Booksellers' Choice Award (Hunting Halifax)

{{Incomplete list|date=December 2018}}

• The Blue Tattoo (2014)
• A Halifax Christmas Carol (2017)
• Halifax Nocturne (2019)

• Mr. Bush, Angus and Me: Notes Of An American-Canadian In The Age Of Unreason (2005)
• Hunting Halifax: In Search of History, Mystery and Murder (2007)
• Death Ship of Halifax Harbor (2009)
• The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea (2011)
• Shadowboxing: The Rise and Fall of George Dixon (2012, second edition 2022)
• Pulling No Punches: The Sam Langford Story (2013)
• The Halifax Poor House Fire: A Victorian Tragedy (2016)
• Mean Streets: In Search of Forgotten Halifax, 1953-1967 (2020)
• Unfiltered: An Irreverent History of Beer in Nova Scotia (2021)
• Dulse to Donairs: An Irreverent History of Food in Nova Scotia (2022)
• What's the Point? An Irreverent Guide to Point Pleasant Park (2024)

• "Of Taverns and Tomorrows" in Nova Scotia: Visions of the Future, edited by Lesley Choyce (2009)
• "The Only Way Home" in Nova Scotia Love Stories, edited by Lesley Choyce (2015)
• "George Dixon" in The Top 15: Nova Scotia's Greatest Athletes, edited by Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame (2018)
• "Christmas Spirit" in Down Home For Christmas, edited by Lesley Choyce and Julia Swan (2021)
• "The Only Way Home" in High Water Mark: Stories from Atlantic Canada 1983-2023, edited by Lesley Choyce (2023)

{{Reflist|2}}

• {{cite book| last = Bennett| first = Paul W.| title = The Grammar School Striving for Excellence for 50 Years in a Public School World| year = 2009| publisher = Formac| isbn = 978-0-88780-839-5 }}

• [http://stevenlaffoley.wordpress.com/ Steven Laffoley's website]

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Category:1965 births

Category:Living people

Category:People from Taunton, Massachusetts

Category:People from Bridgewater, Massachusetts

Category:Canadian educators

Category:Canadian male essayists

Category:Saint Mary's University (Halifax) alumni

Category:Writers from Halifax, Nova Scotia

Category:Writers from Massachusetts

Category:Canadian male novelists

Category:21st-century Canadian essayists

Category:21st-century Canadian male writers

Category:21st-century Canadian novelists

Category:Novelists from Nova Scotia