After leaning heavily on virtual readings, meetings and book launches to weather the COVID-19 pandemic, Winnipeg’s annual writers festival is back to primarily in-person events — albeit with a slightly leaner (but by no means meaner) look and lineup. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * After leaning heavily on virtual readings, meetings and book launches to weather the COVID-19 pandemic, Winnipeg’s annual writers festival is back to primarily in-person events — albeit with a slightly leaner (but by no means meaner) look and lineup. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? After leaning heavily on virtual readings, meetings and book launches to weather the COVID-19 pandemic, Winnipeg’s annual writers festival is back to primarily in-person events — albeit with a slightly leaner (but by no means meaner) look and lineup.
The 2024 Thin Air/Livres en fête lineup features a tight but diverse range of local and national literary voices who will grace stages at a range of events held in venues throughout the city starting Friday, Sept. 20 and running through Oct. 1.
Here are five components of the festival worth a look. For more on all Thin Air — including a comprehensive list of events, complete with readings by French authors and information about daytime sessions featuring conversations, nature walks and writing workshops — and to buy tickets, see . MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS files Chimwemwe Undi (above) joins Danny Ramadan, Marilyn Dumont and Paul Savoie Friday for Thin Air’s kick-off event, ForeWords.
ForeWords party kicks things off Four writers working in a range of genres and at various stages of their literary careers, will convene at the Centre Culturel Franco-Manitobain (340 Provencher Blvd.) Friday from 8-11 p.m.
to help kick off Thin Air. Winnipeg poet Chimwemwe Undi will be joined by Syrian-Canadian novelist and memoirist Danny Ramadan, Cree/Métis Alberta poet Marilyn Dumont and St. Boniface-raised Toronto-based francophone poet Paul Savoie.
Admission is pay what you can, with a suggested contribution of $15. Signature series boasts trio of local launches Thin Air’s Signature Series returns to McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park location with a trio of book launches by Manitoba authors setting the tone. Jenny Heijun Wills launches her collection of essays on Saturday at 7 p.
m., where she’ll be joined in conversation by Lindsay Wong about the followup to her 2019 memoir (For an interview with Wills about her new book, see Friday’s .) On Saturday, Sept.
28 at 7 p.m., Winnipeg-based Cree author and CBC host of , Rosanna Deerchild, launches her new poetry collection , in which Deerchild grapples with living in Winnipeg, and all its pitfalls, through the lens of Sky Woman.
She’ll read from the collection and be joined in conversation by Winnipeg author Tasha Spillett. And on Sunday, Sept. 29 at 1:30 p.
m. Niizhotay Stories returns. The event, which honours late author Theodore Niizhotay Fontaine, will see Winnipeg-born, Nova Scotia-based author Andrea Currie launch her new book , in which she details her experience of being adopted into a white family as part of the ’60 Scoop.
She’ll be joined in conversation by Winnipeg-based Michif author katherena vermette. All Signature Series events are free and will be streamed on . Afternoon series the place for Big Ideas Another trio of free literary events at Thin Air explores the non-fiction genre under the Big Ideas umbrella.
Ruth Bonneville / Free Press Jenny Heijun Wills launches Everything and Nothing at All on Saturday. On Wednesday, Victoria environmental journalist Sarah Cox will discuss her book , in which she chronicles having tagged along with a range of organizations striving to save a number of species at risk. On Thursday, Sept.
26, Winnipeg-based Anishinaabe author and columnist Niigaan Sinclair will unpack , in which he explores the city, its complicated history with the Indigenous community and the leaders and community groups carving a path towards true reconciliation. And on Friday, Sept. 27, Toronto’s Kate J.
Neville will discuss her book , a collection that explores the titular topics related to science, literature and Neville’s own observations. All three events take place at the Bill and Helen Norrie Library (15 Poseidon Bay) from 3:30-4:30 p.m.
MainStage events bring writers, ideas together While the number of authors and events at this year’s Thin Air may be scaled down, one welcome addition for 2024 is the return of the MainStage events, which gather a range of seemingly unconnected authors under overarching themes that bind their writing. On Wednesday, four authors convene to hash out the relationship between their writing and, well, relationships. Giller Prize longlisted authors Caroline Adderson and Shashi Bhat will be joined by E.
McGregor and Oonya Kempadoo to read from their work and discuss. On Friday, Sept. 27, the second MainStage event will explore the connections between the world around us and writing, particularly in the lives and work of dennis cooley, Kate J.
Neville, Shani Mootoo and Myriam J.A. Chancey, who will all read and discuss.
This year’s MainStage events take place at Ilipvik at WAG-Qaumajuq (300 Memorial Blvd.) starting at 7 p.m.
— tickets for each are $15. Mike Sudoma/Free Press Files Free Press columnist Niigaan Sinclair is part of the Big Ideas series. Every Second Friday The latest on food and drink in Winnipeg and beyond from arts writers Ben Sigurdson and Eva Wasney.
Stanza extravaganza closes things out Thin Air wouldn’t be complete without the annual Haiku Death Match to close out the fest with some short, snappy poems and witty zingers. This year’s AfterWords closing event, taking place Tuesday, Oct. 1 from 7-10 p.
m. at the Rachel Browne Theatre (211 Bannatyne St.), is two parts poetry, as Speaking Crow — Winnipeg’s long-running monthly poetry gathering — joins the celebration.
Local poets Angeline Schellenberg, Steve Locke and Sue Sorensen will read from their work as part of the Speaking Crow component of the night (which, this time around, won’t feature its usual open-mic) before the always-hilarious Haiku Death Match gets underway. Admission is pay what you can, with a suggested contribution of $15. Ben Sigurdson is the ‘s literary editor and drinks writer.
He graduated with a master of arts degree in English from the University of Manitoba in 2005, the same year he began writing Uncorked, the weekly drinks column. He joined the full time in 2013 as a copy editor before being appointed literary editor in 2014. .
In addition to providing opinions and analysis on wine and drinks, Ben oversees a team of freelance book reviewers and produces content for the arts and life section, all of which is reviewed by the ’s editing team before being posted online or published in print. It’s part of the ‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about , and .
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider . Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism.
Thank you for your support. Thin Air/livres en fête 2024 ● Various venues, Sept. 20-Oct.
1 ● thinairwinnipeg.ca On Sept. 18, Jenny Heijun Wills was named one of five finalists for the $75,000 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust prize for non-fiction for her new book of essays, Everything and Nothing At All.
Wills won the prize in 2019 for her debut memoir, Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related. This time around she’s up against Martha Baillie for There Is No Blue; Chase Joynt’s Vantage Points: On Media as Trans Memoir; Amy Lin for Here After: A Memoir; and Lisa Moore and Jack Whalen’s Invisible Prisons: Jack Whalen’s Tireless Fight for Justice.
Each of the finalists receives $5,000; the winner will be announced on Nov. 19. Ben Sigurdson is the ‘s literary editor and drinks writer.
He graduated with a master of arts degree in English from the University of Manitoba in 2005, the same year he began writing Uncorked, the weekly drinks column. He joined the full time in 2013 as a copy editor before being appointed literary editor in 2014. .
In addition to providing opinions and analysis on wine and drinks, Ben oversees a team of freelance book reviewers and produces content for the arts and life section, all of which is reviewed by the ’s editing team before being posted online or published in print. It’s part of the ‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about , and .
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider . Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism.
Thank you for your support. Advertisement Advertisement.
