Actor/Author/Writer-Director Shelley Thompson is based in Wolfville, in Mi'kma'ki. (NS)
Trained at RADA (UK), The Canadian Film Centre (Toronto), Women In The Directors Chair
(Vancouver), the Writers Lab (NYC), and most recently the Whistler Film Festival’s Producer’s Lab.
Recent screen credits include CBC TV’s MOONSHINE, CTV’s SULLIVAN’S CROSSING, web-series TOKENS and Bell TV1’s KING AND PAWN. Thompson is a multiple ACTRA/Gemini-winner for her roles in TRAILER PARK BOYS, and feature films SPLINTERS (Thom Fitzgerald) and THE CHILD REMAINS (Michael Melski).
Thompson's first feature (Writer/Director of DAWN, HER DAD & THE TRACTOR) is on Amazon Prime in Canada and was awarded Nova Scotia's MASTERWORKS Prize in November 2022. A doc series TRANSLATIONS is planned to shoot in May 2023.
Her first novel, ROAR, was published by Nimbus/Vagrant Press, in October 2023.
Through her production company RUSTY TRACTOR PRODUCTIONS, she is the narrator and producer of audio books for her novel ROAR and Lesley Crewe’s bestseller, THE SPOON STEALER, both found on Audible.
1) I do readings from my novel ROAR, and am accompanied by a trans activist, to discuss issues and impact of the book, which focuses on a family coming together after an individual's transition.The trans individual leads the conversation that follows the readings. I've done these all over Nova Scotia and recently in Toronto, Guelph and Ottawa.
2) This presentation - BOWLS OF CHEER - was originally partly commissioned and then recorded by the CBC. Music was commission for THE BLUE ENGINE STRING QUARTET, and composed by Chris Palmer, who essentially scored these seasonal stories, all set in the Atlantic Region. We perform in churches, schools, soft-seater theatres, and community centres.
Chatting about the book, ROAR. Engaging in a conversation with an individual from the Trans community, and then in a Q and A about the the book.
The conversation can also touch on the difference between writing novels and writing for the screen, and representation of marginalised voices - how and why it matters so much.