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ABT: You founded New World Publishing 27 years ago to produce books that make a difference to people’s lives. Can you share a few books that have made that difference?

FM: Our original titles were books on health and automobile safety. The first title on health, Free to Fly: A Journey to Wellness, was by a nutritional consultant, Judit Rajhathy, a graduate in journalism from Carleton, who moved to Nova Scotia and became unwell. She began to study nutrition and opened a practice to help others.

I encouraged her to write a book and subsequently became the principal editor and the designer of the book, which became a Nova Scotia bestseller in year one, then a Canadian bestseller in its second year. We also sold many thousands in the U.S. and beyond. A third, updated edition is planned for 2024.

Balance: Nature’s Way to Heal Your Body was similar: first an Atlantic and later a Canadian bestseller that is based on the author’s journey with cancer. Both are books of hope.

Reluctant Target, a book for both older and new drivers, was welcomed by driver instructors and sold very well in Canada, reaching bestseller status in year three. It saves lives … and insurance dollars as well. An expanded version is currently on the drawing boards.

ABT: You’re working on a new edition of Three Centuries of Public Art: Historic Halifax Regional Municipality by Barbara DeLory. What are some of the new works of art you will document?

FM: There are more than 125 new works and photos, which include Halifax-Dartmouth and the suburban communities, as well as many rural parts of Halifax Regional Municipality from the Guysborough border to the southern areas, including Tantallon and Sambro. Subjects include the hummingbird sculpture in Middle Musquodoboit, the Moose River Disaster memorial, the cenotaphs in Sheet Harbour, Moser River, Head of Jeddore and Porters Lake, and the suburban communities of Springvale (Penny Farthings); monuments in Spryfield, Lower Sackville, Waverly, Beaverbank-Kinsac; history in Rockingham and more.

There are the amazing public art murals in Mulgrave Park, as well as those on Quinpool Road, downtown Halifax and the Alderney area of Dartmouth. Included among the newest public art are Mi’kmaw creations by David Brooks, Alan Syliboy and Jordan Bennet, as well as numerous creations reflecting the African-Nova Scotian community, including the Africville Museum and Viola Desmond.

ABT: You are now publishing two books by Barbara Keddy, a retired nurse: Nightingale’s Vision: Nurses’ Voices from the 1920s and 1930s, and The Lamp Was Heavy: Nova Scotia Nurses-in-Training in the 1950s. Why did you want to work with her, and what will people find in her books?

FM: The stories in Nightingale’s Vision were taken from the voices of the nurses themselves as interviewed by Barbara Keddy years earlier. The author was a practising RN (paediatrics) and nursing supervisor in both Yarmouth and in the Victoria General, who subsequently obtained her PhD and taught at Dalhousie University for 30 years.

The first book is about nursing in the 1950s; the second book predates the first: from roughly the First World War, through the Spanish Flu pandemic, and the economic ravages of the Great Depression up to the Second World War, times when nurses struggled for recognition and wages.

It is also enjoyable just to sit and discuss wide-ranging topics with Barbara as her experiences are both vast and entertaining.

ABT: NWP is dedicated to working with new authors, and with seniors. Why is that, and how often are the new authors also seniors?

FM: Initially, most were not seniors. As the company grew and multiple authors aged along with the publisher himself, it seemed that other seniors, some of whom were turned down by other publishers, gravitated to New World to make their submissions. Many were determined to tell a story/write a book based on a wealth of life experiences and research of nonfiction topics.

Success breed success within each of us at any age. Many were accomplished writers in a wide range of disciplines, but a few had written very little. What the latter had were great stories that needed to be told and they worked diligently with staff to polish them. In more recent years, a larger percentage of books were by seniors, including several in their eighth decade.

ABT: What advice would you give to someone who wants to approach you with a book idea?

FM: Well, the first would be to have the knowledge and ability to write something that has not been written before, or to write it from an entirely new, exciting, and challenging perspective. John O’Brien, the author of Oak Island Unearthed!, was certainly one of those. It’s a Canadian bestseller among a wealth of good books on the topic. It is due to be revised and expanded in 2024-5.

The other area of interest to me are books that can make a difference in other’s lives, especially if the author/researcher has a passion for the story they wish to tell.