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Ian’s 2025 Year in Books

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2026 Reading Challenge

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Ian Colford

Goodreads Author

Born

Halifax, Canada

Website

http://www.iancolford.com

Twitter

iancolford

Genre

Fiction, Nonfiction

Member Since

April 2012

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/icolford

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Ian Colford is a fiction writer who lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Educated primarily in Halifax, he has a bachelor's degree in mathematics, a master's in English and a master's in library science. His first short story was published in 1983. An early novel, "The Confessions of Joseph Blanchard," won the 2001 H.R. (Bill) Percy Prize for unpublished novel from the Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia. His short story "The Reason for the Dream" appeared in the 1998 Journey Prize Anthology and was one of three from that volume shortlisted for the prize.

Ian's stories, reviews, and commentary have appeared in numerous literary publications, in print and online. From 1995 to 1998 he was editor of the literary publication Pottersfield Portfo Ian Colford is a fiction writer who lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Educated primarily in Halifax, he has a bachelor's degree in mathematics, a master's in English and a master's in library science. His first short story was published in 1983. An early novel, "The Confessions of Joseph Blanchard," won the 2001 H.R. (Bill) Percy Prize for unpublished novel from the Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia. His short story "The Reason for the Dream" appeared in the 1998 Journey Prize Anthology and was one of three from that volume shortlisted for the prize.

Ian's stories, reviews, and commentary have appeared in numerous literary publications, in print and online. From 1995 to 1998 he was editor of the literary publication Pottersfield Portfolio, and from 1994 to 2000 served on the executive board of the Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia. In 1998 he selected and edited a collection of stories by Maritime writers, called Water Studies, for Pottersfield Press.

Evidence, his first collection of short fiction, was published by Porcupine's Quill in 2008. In 2009 Evidence was shortlisted for the Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize, the ReLit Awards, and the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, and won the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award. Evidence was described by the Globe & Mail as "a a rich, shadowed, mind-tweaking puzzle of a book.”

A novel, The Crimes of Hector Tomás appeared in 2012. Published by Freehand Books of Calgary, The Crimes of Hector Tomás is a tragic tale of disappearance and deception set in an unnamed South American country in the middle of the previous century. Critics have described the book as "disturbing" and "remarkable." In 2013 it won Trade Book of the Year at the Alberta Book Awards.

A novella, Perfect World was published in May 2016 by Freehand, and in 2019 his collection of short fiction, A Dark House and Other Stories, was published by Nimbus Publishing under their Vagrant Press imprint. A Dark House was shortlisted for the Alistair MacLeod Prize in Short Fiction and the Relit Awards.

His most recently completed manuscripts are "A Momentary Lapse," a novel of contemporary Halifax, and a second collection of short fiction featuring Evidence protagonist Kostantin Bitri.

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Ian Colford’s books

Average rating: 4.34 · 110 ratings · 31 reviews · 15 distinct works • Similar authors

	Perfect World 4.31 avg rating — 35 ratings — published 2016 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Dark House and Other Stories 4.32 avg rating — 25 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Crimes of Hector Tomás 4.63 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 2012 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Evidence 4.10 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 2008	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Confessions of Joseph Blanchard (5) (Guernica Prize) 4.50 avg rating — 6 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Ugly Girl; &, Stones: Two Stories it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1997	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Water studies: New voices in Maritime fiction 3.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1998	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Writing in the Electronic Environment: Electronic Text and the Future of Creativity and Knowledge (Occasional Papers Series (Dalhousie University. School of Library and Information Studies), 59.) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 1996	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Witness 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Dark House: And Other Stories 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Ian Colford's Blog

Best Reads of 2025

A long, long time ago—maybe as long as 50 years ago—I began to suspect that my life was going to revolve around books.

Turns out I was right. For more than 30 years I worked with books. And to this day I continue to buy books, read books, write books, think about books, and write about books. Sometimes I write about people who write books.

When I opened my Goodreads account (in April 2012), it was

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Burial Rites

by Hannah Kent (Goodreads Author)

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Ian and 1 other person liked Sarah Emsley's blog post: A September reading at Uniacke Estate Museum Park "It was an honour to receive an invitation from Uniacke Estate Museum Park to do a reading from my novel The Austens. The house, which was built between 1813 and 1815, is one of the finest surviving examples of Georgian architecture in Canada. Like..." Read more of this blog post »
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In David Bezmozgis’s immensely satisfying story collection, Immigrant City, echoes of the past are being heard in the present day, evoking memories both pleasant and painful as characters grapple with the implications of deeds left undone. Most of th ...more
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