Chris Benjamin

Education

Benjamin completed a Bachelor of Commerce from Dalhousie University (Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada) in 1997 and a Master of Environmental Studies from York University (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) in 2001. During his MES, Benjamin completed a six-month term in Makassar, Indonesia and subsequently published “Sharing Environmental Information in Makassar” in the anthology From Sky to Sea, published by the University of Waterloo Press in 2005.

Influences

Much of Benjamin’s writing has been influenced by his work and travel in the Caribbean, West Africa, East and Central Asia and Europe. From 2006-2007, Benjamin worked as a Development Correspondent at The Statesman, a daily national newspaper in Accra, Ghana.

Personal

Benjamin currently lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia with his wife and two children.

Non-fiction

Eco-Innovators: Sustainability in Atlantic Canada (Nimbus, 2011; ISBN 1551098636) – Winner of the 2012 APMA Best Atlantic-Published Book Award; Finalist for the 2012 Evelyn Richardson Non-Fiction Award; listed in the Top 5 Atlantic Canadian books of 2011 by Arts East Magazine.

Fiction

Drive-By Saviours (Roseway, 2010; ISBN 9781552663691) – Winner of the 2008 Percy Prize – Top Novel in the Atlantic Writing Competition; Longlisted for a 2011 ReLit Award; Longlisted for CBC Canada Reads 2011; selected to Salty Ink’s top-notch books of 2010 list

Journalism

Since 2012, Chris Benjamin has been a columnist and regular contributor to Halifax Magazine. He was a regular contributor to Openfile Halifax until it went on hiatus in 2012. Since 2008, Benjamin has been a regular contributor and Sustainable City columnist with The Coast Magazine in Halifax, Nova Scotia. From 2006-2007, Benjamin worked as a Development Correspondent with The Statesman, a daily newspaper in Ghana. Benjamin has also published widely in other regional and national publications, including:

Clinical Culture Clash: The IWK’s midwifery program was sabotaged by the hospital’s own administration, say women who left, published by The Halifax Chronicle Herald, Sun, Feb 6, 2011

Rebuilding Halifax's Most Feared Neighbourhood, published by The Globe and Mail, Sept 25, 2010

The myth of the wealthy environmentalist in Briarpatch Magazine, July/August 2009 – Honourable Mention 2009 National Magazine Awards Retooling Schooling in Briarpatch Magazine, September 2009 The destable solution: Prison reform in Ghana in Briarpatch Magazine, May 2009 Incubating Ideas: Fernwood celebrates 20 years of radical publishing in Briarpatch Magazing, July 2012 Midwifery is ready for delivery, but mainstream public health lags, published by This Magazine, February Issue, 2010 Imagine Fewer Schools, published by the Nova Scotia Policy Review, Cover Story, June 2008 Who Are the Real Crazies Here?, published by Now Magazine, News, April 14, 2005 Anthologies

The water bottle thief in Everything is Political (Fernwood, 2013; ISBN 9781552665497).

Let us reinvent the wheel in Year One Anthology (Open Heart Forgery, 2011; ISBN 9780986846106)

Bill on a Code of Ethic for the Province in Year One Anthology (Open Heart Forgery, 2011; ISBN 9780986846106)

The Law Won in Descant 150: Writers in Prison (Issue 150, Vol. 41, No. 3, Fall 2010) The Futurology of Fatherhood in Nova Scotia: Visions of the Future Anthology (Pottersfield Press, July 2009; ISBN 9781897426074)

Sharing Environmental Information in Makassar in From Sky to Sea: Environment and Development in Indonesia (S.K. Wismer, T. Babcock, and B. Nurkin (Eds). Waterloo, Ontario, University of Waterloo, Department of Geography Publication Series No. 61.)

Radio

The Forest and the Trees, CBC Radio One, Maritime Magazine, aired Sunday, January 20, 2013 Forthcoming

The Shubenacadie Indian Residential School [working title] (Nimbus, 2014; ISBN TBD) – Winner of the 2013 Dave Greber Freelance Writer Award in the book category