Thin Air presents...Hot Air 2007

HOT AIR elsewhere!

2008-09-18T00:24:00.008-05:00

If you're looking for bloggy goodness of the HOT AIR variety now that the 2008 edition of THIN AIR, Winnipeg International Writers Festival is almost upon us, please see:

thinair2008.blogspot.com

In addition to a new URL and template, we've got five bloggers this year (not counting me) and a few more bells and whistles in our tech back-pocket.

Fun! Come visit!

Reeling...

2007-10-23T00:16:00.000-05:00

Mmm. Looking over my photos, it seems that I took a lot of crowd shots and not a lot of pics of individual people, listening to authors perform their work.

Partly because people don't like point-and-shoots in their faces while they're trying to listen to literature but also because I needed particular shots of authors and crowds for my posts to HOT AIR and I didn't have the wherewithal for much more, image-wise...

I also took a bunch of THIN AIR staff photos, mostly because they saw I had a camera and they swooped down and asked me to.

Ah well, there's always next year's snappy highlight reel.

In the meantime, here it is:

Click here for
for 2007 THIN AIR
Highlight Reel.

Reading: Lawrence Hill

2007-10-22T21:52:00.001-05:00

So, FINALLY here's the Lawrence Hill video I promised. It wasn't just HOT AIR! (Heh.)

Enough time has elapsed since THIN AIR that I could sit down and slice up the twenty minute video I shot of Hill's wide-ranging and charming introduction to his brace of new books. Part of the issue was that a twenty minute video was huge, hard-disk-wise, so I had to shuffle external hard drives and laptops to make it work.

"But it's taken soooo long, he's not even on the Giller long-list anymore!" I can hear you all exclaiming, long-suffering and wearied.

But still. You can watch the video and remember a day, a month ago, when the weather was a little warmer and the authors teemed.

Fun! (and Sorry!)

* * *

* * *

Lawrence Hill, formerly a reporter with The Globe and Mail and parliamentary correspondent for the Winnipeg Free Press, has captured both critics and audiences with his fiction and non-fiction.

His titles include Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada, a memoir of growing up in a mixed race family, and novels Any Known Blood and Some Great Thing.

He has released two books this year: The Deserter’s Tale (Anansi) is the account of Joshua Keys, the young soldier who was devastated by his experience in Iraq, and The Book of Negroes (HarperCollins), a sprawling epic of slavery that winds through Canadian history.

Hill lives in Burlington, Ontario.

ack!

2007-10-09T23:06:00.000-05:00

Oh, I've been a bad blogger. Since Paul Yee made himself at home in these parts, I haven't posted any of the copy I promised you faithful HOT AIR readers.

Lawrence Hill is languishing on my hard-drive. Karen Dudley is wasting away on my desktop. Countless festival authors and their audiences are becoming a figment of my far-too busy imagination...

All I can say is...tomorrow? (Maybe?)

Fin

2007-10-01T22:32:00.000-05:00

It's the Monday after the festival and it's safe to say that the 2007 edition of THIN AIR, Winnipeg International Writers Festival is no more.

That is not to say that I'm finished blowing HOT AIR...though the events I attended and the conversations I had are quickly fading from my all-too-human memory, the multimedia evidence of same has still to be exhumed from my video camera, my stills camera, and my computer.

To wit, I've got videos of readings by two former Manitobans, Lawrence Hill and Pamela Banting, a commentary (with artfully blurry pics yet!) on Saturday afternoon's Bitter Pint of Murder event, and a highlight reel of pictures that never made it up on the blog during the week yet to post.

But you'll have to bear with me. I've got the life I neglected whilst HOT AIRing to tend to...

That said, it shouldn't take me too long to get my (multimedia) act together, so check back soon!

Yours,

Ariel

Reading Copy: Paul Yee

2007-09-30T15:57:00.000-05:00

Paul Yee is the leading chronicler of the Chinese immigration experience in Canada. He has to his credit many acclaimed books for young people, including The Jade Necklace, The Bone Collector's Son, and Ghost Train, which won the 1996 Governor General's Award. Recent titles include What Happened Last Summer (Tradewind), a collection of stories featuring Asian-Canadian teens, and Shu-li and Tamara (Tradewind), a picture book for middle readers. Saltwater City, a non-fiction book for adults, won the Vancouver Book Prize. His newest non-fiction book is Chinatown (Lorimer). Yee lives in Toronto.

Click here for
Paul Yee's
Reading Copy.

* * *
This is a special edition of Reading Copy. It's longer (3 minutes or so, as compared to the 2 mins that the others maxed out at) and features pictures of Paul Yee performing the story Alone No Longer from his Groundwood Books collection Dead Man's Gold instead of pictures of a reading copy.

This is because Yee doesn't use a reading copy - and, given that he memorizes his stories at home, he doesn't have the marked up texts he uses as memory aids either.

I decided to use portraits of Yee because in a way, his memory (and the stories he has spooled up there) is his reading copy.

Photos: Poetry Bash

2007-09-30T14:32:00.000-05:00

Andris Taskans, Prairie Fire editor, looks on while an audience member scopes out Victorian Trisha Cull's Banff Centre Bliss Carman Poetry Prize ring, which was presented just before Cull's reading. And what a hunk of turquoise it is (covet covet)!

Apparently, 2006 was a good year for Cull. She was also shortlisted for the 3-Day Novel Contest won by fellow THIN AIR author Brendan McLeod.

THIN AIR Director and poet Charlene Diehl assumes her trademark "I'm a bat" pose at intermission. From the podium, Charlene lamented the end of the festival insofar as she would have to put away all her dramatic clothing until next year.

THIN AIR festival staff assemble to view General Manager Perry Grosshans' shoes.

You can't quite see it in this pic, but there's an overhanging chrome lamp in the 'living room' the authors (and in this case, festival staff) inhabit while on stage.

Poet Paul Savoie, who was originally from St. Boniface but who has called Ontario home since the 70s, gonged his head on the lamp while rising for his reading. Eek!

Poet and U of M Prof Alison Calder (in a sparkly sparkly ensemble) chats with Poet and U of M Ph D Candidate Melanie Branagan.

Calder had a busy week, dividing her time between THIN AIR campus program events at the U of M and The Prairies in 3-D: Disorientations, Diversities, Dispersals conference hosted by St. John's College.

Calder even split her Saturday, presenting her paper, Fear of Flooding: Mapping Competing Spatial Definitions in Winnipeg, earlier in the day.

Roch Carrier and The Hockey Sweater

2007-09-29T22:47:00.000-05:00

Well, my favourite event so far has to be Roch Carrier reading The Hockey Sweater to a roomful of the youngest festival attendees at the Millennium Library this afternoon.

He had the children cheering for the Habs as he read the story; Carrier didn’t so much read the story as he did perform it. He made that boy who believed he was Rocket Richard, shamefully forced to wear the Toronto Maple Leafs jersey, come to life. We were with him as he helplessly pulled on the blue and white jersey, as he broke his hockey stick out of frustration and as he prayed for a 1,000 moths to come and eat the jersey.

There were many mouths agape this afternoon - mine included. Carrier has probably read this book hundreds of times, but he read it with such enthusiasm and authenticity I think we all felt like it was the first time. Even my ten-month old son – who never sits still – was enthralled.

After the reading Carrier took questions and regaled his audience with tales of his meetings with Maurice Richard.

Every time I pull out a five-dollar bill to get that latte at Starbucks I will think warmly of the afternoon I heard Roch Carrier perform The Hockey Sweater. I was so swept up in the whole thing I might have grabbed whatever hockey-related books I could find on the shelves and had them signed by Roch Carrier.

Photos: Writing Through Race

2007-09-29T21:11:00.000-05:00

There are two things I know about THIN AIR. I may not enjoy every event I attend or even get in some good chat but Saturday's Poetry Bash and the panel discussion on the Friday afternoon at the U of Wpg are always always...well, memorable.

I'm not sure if it's the performing mojo of the Eckhardt-Grammate Hall at the U of Wpg, with its excellent accoustics (no competing with cash registers or espresso machines or even the scrape of chairs) or the careful curating of the event itself, but I always leave with a species of of heady inspiration.

This year's panel was entitled Writing Through Race and featured David Chariandy, Lawrence Hill, and Paul Yee as well as the facilitating powers of Winnipeg poet/mystery writer/prof Catherine Hunter.

David Chariandy and Lawrence Hill both spoke to the themes that underpin their most recent books and then gave brief readings from the texts. Both were eloquent on the subject of race and research and how forgetting/remembering work for immigrants but when it was Paul Yee's turn, he learned forward, flashed a smile, then started telling his story.

No text, no notes, just him and the story and us. The lot of us together, being told a story. It evoked childhood and so was familiar and intimate but it was also an adult experience. When he finished, both Hill and Chariandy joined the audience in applause, having somehow been made audience members too.

I've a video of Hill reading from his Book of Negroes and a special bookless version of Reading Copy that I did with Yee (almost making him late for his flight home, incidentally) but in the meantime, here's a photo or two from the event...

Out-take: Marjorie Poor

2007-09-28T22:24:00.000-05:00

(l-r) Writer Sarah Klassen and Prairie Fire magazine Associate Editor Heidi Harms and Operations Coordinator Janine Tschuncky pick on Prairie BOOKS now editor Marjorie Poor at the Michael and Kathleen Winter Afternoon Book Chat at McNally Robinson's soon-to-be-lost-to-the-sands-of-time Portage Place location.

Reading Copy: Kathleen Winter

2007-09-28T21:50:00.000-05:00

Kathleen Winter is a Holyrood writer who has written dramatic and documentary scripts for Sesame Street and CBC television and writes a weekly column for the St. John's Telegram. She has published a novella, Where Is Mario, and two books of creative non-fiction, The Road Along the Shore and The Necklace of Dreams.

Her new book, a collection of stories called boYs (biblioasis), is a wryly observant investigation of the distance between men and women. The manuscript won the 2006 Metcalf Rooke Award, and the collection's lead story will be included in the next volume of Best Canadian Stories.

Click here for
Kathleen Winter's
Reading Copy.

The Fashion Breakdown Pt. 2

2007-09-28T20:35:00.001-05:00

Gwen Smid and Sara Matyas, mainstage volunteer extraordinaires, went above and beyond the call of duty coordinating their volunteer outfits. Note the shoes and beads these ladies are sporting. They will definitely be winning the volunteer fashion trophy at the volunteer banquet.

* * *

Daria Salamon’s first novel, The Prairie Bridesmaid, will be published in fall 2008 by Key Porter Books. Daria’s journalism has appeared in The Globe and Mail, Winnipeg Free Press, and Uptown Magazine; one of her non-fiction pieces appears in A/Cross Sections: New Manitoba Writing. She lives in Osborne Village with her son, Oskar, husband, Rob and cat, Dr. Puddles.

Soundslide: Alison Calder

2007-09-28T00:07:00.000-05:00

Alison Calder's first poetry collection, Wolf Tree, was published by Coteau Books in 2007. A selection of poems from this manuscript received the Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award for writing excellence by a writer under the age of 35. Her poetry has been published in journals and anthologies, most notably Breathing Fire: Canada's New Poets and Exposed, and has twice circulated on Winnipeg city buses.

She is the editor of Desire Never Leaves: The Poetry of Tim Lilburn (Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2007) and a critical edition of Frederick Philip Grove's 1924 novel Settlers of the Marsh (Borealis, 2006), and the co-editor of History, Literature, and the Writing of the Canadian Prairies (University of Manitoba Press, 2005).

Alison Calder was born in London, England, and raised in Saskatoon. She obtained her BA in English at the University of Saskatchewan before completing Masters and PhD programs at the University of Western Ontario. She teaches Canadian literature and creative writing at the University of Manitoba. She lives in Winnipeg with her husband, Warren Cariou.

Click here for
Alison Calder's
soundslide.

Alison Calder will be appearing at THIN AIR, Winnipeg International Writers Festival:

September 29 - Mainstage, with Trisha Cull, George Ellenbogen, Niels Hav, John Havelda, Paul Savoie.

Line of Inquiry: David Chariandy

2007-09-27T23:49:00.000-05:00

David Chariandy has explored ideas of dislocation and cultural memory as an academic at Simon Fraser University, but he now offers those ideas to a wider audience in his luminous first novel entitled Soucouyant (Arsenal Pulp).

Set in Ontario, the story focuses on the fraught and tender relationship between a Canadian-born son and his Trinidadian-born mother, a woman who is suffering from dementia and uncannily 'forgetting to forget' the traumatic secrets of her past. The soucouyant - an evil spirit in Caribbean folklore - stands as a symbol of how the legacies of 'elsewhere' continue to haunt the lives of those born here.

Chariandy lives in Vancouver.

1) As a writer (i.e. someone whose artistic practice is predicated on time
spent alone) how do you approach performance? What do you get out of it?

It’s a good question. I’m told that I do alright in front of an audience. And I’m a teacher as well as a writer, so I should be used to public speaking by now. But the truth is that I’m usually a bit uncomfortable when I have to read my work, even though, apparently, this rarely shows. I’ve found that my type of writing requires quite a lot of introspection, which doesn’t necessarily help when it’s time to perform. Still, I’m so deeply grateful when anyone is willing to listen to me. That is an enormous gift to a new writer.

2) What do you want people to know about Soucouyant?

It’s a book about the elsewhere past, and about what haunts us when we think we’ve moved beyond. It’s also a book about forgetting, about the fragility of memory, and about the impossible burden of history. Really, it’s just a book about a mother suffering from dementia, and a son who is conflicted about his responsibilities. It’s a book that I worked on very carefully over many, many drafts, since I felt I owed this to the themes and characters.

3) What are you looking forward to in Winnipeg?

Frankly, I’m looking forward to hearing other writers read. I get inspired by that, the ebb and pitch of words in the air. And this particular festival has gathered together so many extraordinarily writers, both mature and new. Also, just about every writer I know tells me that the audiences in Winnipeg are the most lively and enthusiastic in the nation. I feel both thrilled and humbled to be able to participate in the groove.

4) What are you reading right now?

Lots of stuff. I usually dip into several books at once. (The tower beside my bed is sometimes outright hazardous…) I’ve recently read the new Ondaatje, Vassanji, Gowdy, and Hill, and I’m looking forward to perusing other CanLit offerings of the year. I’ve also been trying to catch up on books published a year or two earlier, like The Law of Dreams and The View from Castle Rock. I’m also right now re-reading Delible by Anne Stone, which I can’t seem to get out of my head. I’m always reading a lot of poetry. Poetry feeds me in a way that’s absolutely essential, even though I’ve never attempted that most daunting and demanding art. So Moure, and Brand, and Brathwaite, and Walcott over and over again, as well as a bunch of newer voices. I’ve co-founded, with Wayde Compton and Karina Vernon, a very (very) modest press named Commodore Books, and I’m really hoping that we’ll get to publish, as our third book, the poetry of an emerging Winnipeg-based writer named Troy Bailey. His poetry is exceptionally interesting, but I think he has the same neurosis that I do – he’ll never stop working on a manuscript until someone physically wrests the thing away. Maybe I’ll try pulling a heist when I’m in town…

5) What can being longlisted/shortlisted/winning an award like the Giller Prize do for a book and/or for your career? How does it feel to be nominated?

I’m both thrilled and shocked. As I mentioned, I worked extremely hard on my book for a number of years. Eventually, after painstakingly studying the works of more experienced writers, after many, many drafts, and after considerable pain and self-doubt on my own part, I got the narrative and language of my short book into a form that satisfied me. But I assumed, for a variety of reasons, that it wouldn’t get much attention, and I was honestly OK with that. Now, I’m suddenly in the company of the very writers, like Michael Ondaatje, whose work inspired me so profoundly in the first place. It’s such a strange and wonderful experience. I can’t fully express how meaningful it has all been to me, how deeply grateful I am by the nod from the Giller judges, and by the subsequent attention from people who, otherwise, might never have heard of my book or else taken me seriously. But I also know who supported me right from the beginning: a small and “regional” press, an independent bookstore or two, and a community of readers and writers, of all backgrounds and degrees of fame, who have taught me to understand “literature” not as the product of a few stars, but as a wild democracy of voices.

* * *

David Chariandy will be appearing at THIN AIR, Winnipeg International Writers Festival:

September 28 - Writing through Race Panel, U of W, with Lawrence Hill and Paul Yee.
September 28 - Maintstage, with William Gibson, Lawrence Hill, Linda Leith, Brenda Hasiuk.

The Fashion Breakdown

2007-09-27T19:42:00.000-05:00

Last night’s mainstage event was funny and moving. The young adult writers thoroughly entertained. But what everyone is talking about today is...Charlene’s boots. In fact, I feel far too much attention has been devoted to the writers and not nearly enough has been said about festival fashion.

So, let’s talk about those boots. Charlene purchased them at the Aldo outlet when she attended Book Expo Canada earlier this year. She was supposed to be seeking out fine authors to bring to Winnipeg Words, but really it was a charade to expand her footwear collection. Quite frankly it’s a hot miracle we even have any writers.

I told her I didn’t think it was appropriate to use festival funds to broaden her boot collection. Last night at the readings she even audaciously tried to connect her crazy boots to the theme Surviving Adolescence.

(Ed. - I'm sure Daria means 'festival time' or even 'time off from festival time'...heh.)

The rest of her outfit she explained is cobbled together “from here and everywhere.” She is extremely proud of her ability to seek out deals. I should hope so, Charlene, if you’re pilfering festival funds for your unique wardrobe. The earrings are twenty years old – from the last time long dangly earrings were in fashion.

The necklace, a lovely piece of jewellery, is a “talisman of when I was pregnant with Anna seven years ago.” I was actually thinking of stealing it until she said that. The ring is from a trip to Cuba, the watch exceedingly cheap. And her best accessory was the glass of wine she was sporting compliments of the hospitality suite.

The woman’s got style. And sometimes I wonder if the writers up on stage feel they are competing with Charlene’s wardrobe for audience attention.

* * *

Daria Salamon’s first novel, The Prairie Bridesmaid, will be published in fall 2008 by Key Porter Books. Daria’s journalism has appeared in The Globe and Mail, Winnipeg Free Press, and Uptown Magazine; one of her non-fiction pieces appears in A/Cross Sections: New Manitoba Writing. She lives in Osborne Village with her son, Oskar, husband, Rob and cat, Dr. Puddles.

Out-take: hospitatlity suite

2007-09-27T19:30:00.001-05:00

Charles LeBlanc, THIN AIR Foyer des Ecrivains author, unmasks himself in the THIN AIR Hospitality Suite after last night's Mainstage performance.

(His sixth collection, called Heures D'ouverture and featuring several plates with reproductions of Winnipeg urban landscapes, was launched yesterday.)

Out-take: Armin Wiebe

2007-09-27T09:28:00.000-05:00

I sat next to Creative Communications faculty member and Campus Program emcee Armin Wiebe at the Lois Braun and Janice Kulyk Keefer reading/Q&A at RRC yesterday afternoon.

As I was snapping pics of the crowd and the readers I caught Armin’s hands in the frame.

Now forgive me for the faint whiff of lame but…looking at Armin’s hands through the lens, I realized that four novels and countless short stories (okay, okay, you can probably count them...) have moved through those hands and onto the page.

Even though I presume to call myself a writer, I couldn't tell you precisely where stories reside in the body and where they come from. But it's sort of strange to think that the stories rely on fingers and knuckles and hands in order to be made manifest in the world.

Reading Copy: Anita Daher

2007-09-26T23:58:00.000-05:00

Anita Daher was born in PEI and has spent much of her life moving, and she draws writing inspiration from the many places she’s been fortunate to spend time in – Summerside PEI, Yellowknife NT, Churchill MB, Baker Lake NU, and Sault Ste. Marie ON, among others.

This year has been an important one for Daher. She has three new titles: Racing for Diamonds (Orca) is her third adventure story for young readers; Two Foot Punch (Orca) and Spider’s Song (Penguin) take that intensity up a notch for teen readers.

This spring she received the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer.

Daher now lives in Winnipeg.

* * *

Click here for
Anita's Reading Copy.

Reading: Brenda Hasiuk

2007-09-26T14:00:00.001-05:00

Attended Brenda Hasiuk's reading/Q&A at Red River College today.

Watching Hasiuk settle in, I realized that the THIN AIR Campus Program readings, at least at RRC, is in many ways the ideal reading.

Creative Communications students, who study public relations, journalism, and creative writing, are mandated to attend. Furthermore, they've all bought, read, and discussed the book as a part of their coursework.

There are usually four or five other attendees, but because the reading is what would be an unfamiliar venue for most people, they're either a friend of the writer or someone who likes your writing enough to seek you out.

Either way, you've eliminated the tire-kickers and scenesters, and you've got an audience that is more than willing to debate your book with you.

In Hasiuk's case, they wanted to know WHY Rena and Adam got together, they wanted to know EXACTLY how she was able to write about a small town in Manitoba's north and from the perspective of an Aboriginal character AND a Bosnian refugee when she's the urban middle-class grandchild of Ukrainian immigrants.

And while you could make an argument that book launches are also pretty fun, they're mostly about celebrating the eventness of a book. It's also sales/marketing event for the press and a social event for all concerned.

But the campus readings are only about the book - enough to make the average attention-starved writer swoon!

But Hasiuk didn't swoon...she was eloquent and engaged and candid.

Fun!

okay...

2007-09-25T23:29:00.000-05:00

...I'll admit it. I didn't go to a single festival event today, after two very long days and nights at the festival (and also at work).

I pledged that tonight I would stay away from the festival, plug away at the book review I have due this weekend (ack!) and maybe go to bed early.

Sure, I'd check my email every so often to see what my fellow bloggers had come up with, but I wouldn't spend another evening with a laptop searing my lap, another evening giving myself virtual papercuts.

But as you see from the excellent contributions from both Daria and JS, this wasn't possible.

Ah well...

Tomorrow will be a compromise. Two readings in the morning (Brenda Hasiuk, Lois Braun, and Janice Kulyk Keefer) but also a nap in the afternoon.

Out-take: festival staff

2007-09-25T23:20:00.000-05:00

Here's an admittedly contrived picture from Monday night's Mainstage performance, featuring Charlene Diehl (the choker), THIN AIR Director and emcee for the evening, and Perry Grosshans (the chokee), THIN AIR General Manager.

Line of Inquiry: Emily Pohl-Weary

2007-09-25T21:30:00.000-05:00

Toronto author Emily Pohl-Weary grew up and still lives in the city's west end. Parkdale, a formerly elegant but now down and out neighbourhood, seeps into everything she writes.

She's currently writing a four-issue girl pirate comic (illustrated by Willow Dawson). Her young adult mystery novel, Strange Times at Western High, was published by Annick Press in the fall of 2006.

A slim collection of her poetry, Iron-On Constellations, was published in late 2005. In the fall of 2004, her first novel was released. A Girl Like Sugar is about a girl who's haunted by her dead rock star boyfriend. A critic called it "a candy kiss hiding barbed wire...as fun as eating a Ferrero Rocher."

1) As a writer (i.e. someone whose artistic practice is predicated on time spent alone) how do you approach performance? What do you get out of it?

Honestly? I still get very nervous before stepping out from behind my computer to do a reading or speak in public. Usually the butterflies hit seconds before it's my turn to get up on stage, so I try to use the anxious energy to propel my performance. Sometimes it works, sometimes, well...ahem. The times it doesn't are when the audience probably gets a taste of the real me. But there's a certain adrenaline rush that comes from forcing yourself to do something out of your comfort zone. It's good to shake yourself up a little.

2) What do you want people to know about Strange Times at Western High?

Strange Times was my opportunity to rewrite my high school years. Ha ha. I was able to create an alter-ego named Natalie Fuentes - a fearless teen girl who doesn't really care about being popular, has more on her mind than boys and clothes (she self-publishes a zine), and doesn't falter in the face of peer pressure or threatening situations.

3) What are you looking forward to in Winnipeg?

I love visiting the galleries like Plug In and Mondragon Bookstore, so hopefully I'll have time to just wander around a bit. I'm also looking forward to checking out some of the other readings and seeing friends.

4) What are you reading right now?

Okay, I tried to stall on answering this question until I was reading something that's not too embarrassing. The sad thing is that time will never come.

I've got about five books on the go and none of them are exactly high-brow.

Open on my bedside table are: Tamora Pierce's Sandry's Book (Circle of Magic Book 1); Lynne Ewing's Goddess of the Night (Daughters of the Moon Book 1); Lauren Haney's A Curse of Silence (a mystery set in ancient Egypt); Francine Pascal's Starting Over (a Sweet Valley High novel); and Vikki Stark's My Sister, My Self: Understanding the Sibling Relationship That Shapes Our Lives, Our Loves, and Ourselves.

I've also been watching old episodes of Gilmore Girls for like the 4,000th time.

It's all "research." Right?

Right?

Emily Pohl-Weary will be appearing at THIN AIR, Winnipeg International Writers Festival:

September 26 - School Stage, with Brendan McLeod.
September 27 - Campus Program, with Maureen Fergus.

What Are They Currently Reading: Rona Maynard

2007-09-25T21:08:00.000-05:00

A Husband and Wife, at Grant Park food court, on their way to Rona Maynard, on What They Are Currently Reading:

Husband: We've both been studying a lot about Sweden, because right after Rona Maynard we're moving there tonight.

Me: Tonight? This is a momentous occasion. What are you reading about Sweden?

Wife: Mostly we're reading about the language, counting, simple phrases, cities and towns. Actually kind of boring stuff.

Me: Are you reading other stuff, too?

Wife: Oh yeah, some here and there. Of course I'm reading Miriam Toews, in a certain way she's the best in Canada. Also because I'm of French Metis heritage I still always turn to Gabrielle Roy and lots of historical information on Louis Riel. I read some late French Symbolist poets, like Paul Valery.

Me: Valery, don't you think he was sort of ruined from over-canonization by T.S Eliot?

Wife: No. And I like going to the Manitoba Archives and checking out the trading records of the Northwest and Hudson Bay Companies.

Me. Pretty impressive. Nice selection. And you, good Sir?

Husband: Well currently reading alot about Sweden. Also, because I've got the travel bug, I've been reading alot of Alvaro Mutis, the friend of Marquez, who has that fascinating character named Maqroll.

Me: Whoa, slow-up, I'm trying to write!

Husband:I'm actually halfway through a Scandanavian saga - I'm trying to get the feel for northern Baltic culture - The Saga of the People of Eyri. I guess for the same reasons I've been reading up on Ibsen, just the less famous ones, like The Master Builder. Oh, and lots of Knut Hamsun, from whereever he's from somewhere up in the cold there.

Me: Knut Hamsun, the Nazi sympathizer?

Husband: I would debate you on that, Sir.

Me: I would likely concur to your side of the debate; still, it does hang over his body of work.

Husband: Well, no use debating now, we have to finish our Pad Thai, then getting packing after Rona Maynard.

Me: True. I wish you the best of luck on your journey and I can only hope you bring your spark of erudition to learned people of Europe.

Husband: Please leave.

* * *

J.S. is a propagandist and pamphleteer for over sixty-six Crown and Association publications. He has been both staff and contributing writer for weekly newspapers such as the Selkirk Journal, the Gimli Spectator, and the Midnight Sun, in Dawson City, Yukon. His poems and prose have appeared in the Golden Buzz (now the Force Gazette), Tart Magazine, and as low, low, low-run chapbooks. He is also founding member of the now defunct rap-futurist collective, Xenophane Six.

Interview: Alice Kuipers

2007-09-25T17:55:00.000-05:00

Alice’s first novel Life on the Refrigerator Door was published in Canada and the United States August 28th by Harper Collins – talk about hot off the press.

It has sold at least three copies in Winnipeg – I know because I bought one and forced two of my friends to buy the others. Seriously though, it has sold in 21 countries. The book is written entirely in notes left between Claire and her mother, Elizabeth, during a difficult and ultimately tragic year.

Alice drove with her parrot, Fernando, into Winnipeg last evening, from her adopted hometown of Saskatoon. She described the drive “as thrilling as cleaning out the refrigerator.”

Not that she would know ANYTHING about refrigerators. On the way back she plans to visit Margaret Laurence’s home. [This is fascinating stuff – Alice.]

Last night we indulged in a bit of red red wine and engaged in some riveting discussion and research. We analyzed the Britney Spears performance at the VMA’s concluding that we would have done a much better job and have far better bodies. We then proceeded to watch Justin Timberlake’s Dick in a Box, twice, before heading off to bed.

Alice thinks that I should mention that we actually know each other and we met at The Sage Hill Writing Experience last summer and she hasn’t just shown up at my house looking for booze. Both unpublished, unknown, lonely writers at the time – Alice’s book has gone on to sell in a trillion languages, my book will be printed in English – if the publisher doesn’t decide to dump me.

On with the interview…

Having written a book set on fridge what is your favourite appliance?

I like blenders.

What do you like to blend?

If I had a blender, I would like to blend things into soup. But I don’t want to “wash one up” [Alice is British and talks funny sometimes] so I don’t have one.

What’s in your fridge right now?

A lot of YOP and not much else. There was a deal at SUPERSTORE. Actually the YOPS are now in your fridge, Daria.

Why do you have a parrot (that is sitting on my shoulder)?

When I lived in Panama, the owner had a parrot and for a writer they are really good pets. And I’m not allergic to Fernando. He’s named after my diving instructor. I took diving in Spanish. God knows what I actually know about diving – especially in Spanish.

This bird on my shoulder is really starting to creep me out. Do you use post it notes?

Yup. Doesn’t everyone. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t use them.

Why did you become a writer?

I spend most days writing and have done since I was quite young. I’ve written lots of things; LOTRD is not the first book I’ve written.

What happened to your first book?

It lies unseen. It’s really awful. It was called Repeat. And I wrote a book called Aquaplane – also unpublished and I wrote a book called Always Present is about incest and I think lots of first time writers have a book about incest in them.

I think because it’s taboo and taboo is interesting to write about. Rose and the Defiant Imagination was the first book I wrote that I thought was a good book.

And I have two collections of short stories which are unpublished, both of which I like for different reasons.

I think emerging writers would find it interesting that you have five books plus two collections of short stories, all unpublished, and LOTRD sells in 21 countries.

Do you have any more notes in you?

The format of using only notes to tell a story was really interesting to me; could I describe a full relationship giving as little information as possible. The format fits the story; it’s about running out of the time. The format had to say something in itself or the novel wouldn’t have worked. I’m not interested in pursuing that idea in another book.

No, what I meant was do you have any more actual post-it notes to write?

Thousands.

Favourite kind of pen?

My computer.

What’s up with that fancy keyboard of yours?

I have carpal tunnel in my right hand. Not ideal for a writer. People at my
Saskatoon launch thought this wrist thing was a fashion accessory.

I think it looks a bit 80s and was wondering if you had a matching headband.

I might get one. Great interview, Daria. Thanks.

But we’re not done yet?

Yeah, I have to go do some blending.

I thought you didn’t have a blender? Never mind.

* * *

Daria Salamon’s first novel, The Prairie Bridesmaid, will be published in fall 2008 by Key Porter Books. Daria’s journalism has appeared in The Globe and Mail, Winnipeg Free Press, and Uptown Magazine; one of her non-fiction pieces appears in A/Cross Sections: New Manitoba Writing. She lives in Osborne Village with her son, Oskar, husband, Rob and cat, Dr. Puddles.

Reading Copy: Gil Adamson

2007-09-25T00:38:00.000-05:00

Gil Adamson has published two startling poetry collections, Primitive and Ashland, as well as an acclaimed collection of linked stories, Help Me, Jacques Cousteau.

She cites as her influences Michael Ondaatje, Raymond Carver, Richard Ford, and Mark Richard, and her writing shows a similar attention to craft and a willingness to explore characters who are both brilliant and alienated.

Her first novel, The Outlander (Anansi), is an Adamson take on the western, following a young woman at the turn of the 20th century as she flees from desperate circumstances toward Frank AB, home of the massive landslide. Adamson lives in Toronto.

Click here for
Gil Adamson's
Reading Copy.

* * *

Caught Gil Adamson after her startlingly good reading from The Outlander at tonight's THIN AIR Mainstage performance.

Managed to convince her to contribute a Reading Copy, the first of two I have in the can (many many thanks to Anita Daher, who contributed the other after what must have been a long long day!).

There's more to say about Mainstage and even about Adamson, who leaves Winnipeg tomorrow morning 'very early,' but I need to get a few good hours of sleep...so, until I can return to this post and be pithy-pith-pith, enjoy the soundslide!

Lecture Review: Brian Henderson

2007-09-24T23:58:00.000-05:00

There was no Power-Point presentation or laser pointer. There was no popcorn or confectionery candy. Rather Ballsy, in our over-scripted-lecture-era, that Henderson didn’t have even a pine podium from which to read his latest collection of poems, Nerve Language.

Not often will a lecturer rouse me (for probably a decade I’ve listened to mundane-talkers while quietly lusting more hyperized stimuli like video games, reality programming, and gonzo-blogging) so when the packed lecture hall at the University of Winnipeg finally settled, and Henderson was set to begin, I questioned whether I’d stay engaged.

Henderson was pique and handsome, dressed in a fantastic black sweater with matching black slacks, and he possessed an angular intensity from the very outset of his talk that couldn’t help but keep the most pixelated of attentions engaged.

Henderson explained that the subject of Nerve Language was Daniel Paul Schreber, a late 19th century German judge, who was institutionalized for lunacy at time predating any conceptions of the unconscious.

“I was reading Shreber’s memoirs,” Said Henderson, “and I was taken by the poetry of the language, the German phraseology.”

Henderson explained it was first time he had got into a relationship with a dead writer, and he wanted to make a body of poems less forensic than the memoirs left to history and its multitude of psychoanalysts.

Henderson talked in that brilliant circuitous manner that is impossible to summarize; he is no stodgy tweedsmuir variety of Prof. When it came time for the audience to ask questions, Henderson considered each answer thoughtfully and answered with never too much authority, with just the perfect modulation of mirth to let the audience enjoy his answers for what are all answers, in Art, but speculation?

* * *

J.S. is a propagandist and pamphleteer for over sixty-six Crown and Association publications. He has been both staff and contributing writer for weekly newspapers such as the Selkirk Journal, the Gimli Spectator, and the Midnight Sun, in Dawson City, Yukon. His poems and prose have appeared in the Golden Buzz (now the Force Gazette), Tart Magazine, and as low, low, low-run chapbooks. He is also founding member of the now defunct rap-futurist collective, Xenophane Six.

Nine or so Questions with Derek Dawda

2007-09-24T00:50:00.000-05:00

How come there's no bio for you in the program?

There's not? (Giggling and grinning) Organizers probably forgot with how hectic it is.

You of course have an accent. Where are you from?

Poland. I speak Polish.

How long have you been writing in English?

Since 2000, the Millennium exactly. Maybe I wrote my first poem in English on New Years Eve. (We're both giggling and grinning now)

Can you see a connection with Canadian and Polish literatures?

(We both slap our knees with the hilarity of such a heavy question.)

Lots. But maybe not so much. I'd have to really think about it.

Now for typical Paris Review Questions: What's your advice for a young writer?

I like the Paris Review. My advice (I gotta admit we can barely look into one anothers' eyes for the cliche of my question) is probably read, read, read. And be open, engaged with the world.

I'm asinine for asking that question, sorry Derek. What are you reading right now?

Brendan McLeod.

The novel he wrote in three days or something like that?

Did he? It's really good.

What got you into SLAM poetry?

I was in Vancouver and they have a really strong spoken-word scene there. I just learned how to write for performance.

What made you perform a surrealist cut-up for your opening night at the WIWF?

I was at a festival in Brandon, and we started trying these cut-ups and really amazing work came out of that.

Is your name, Dawda, pronounced like the movement itself, Dada?

Yep, same way, but my stage name is Drek Daa, the organizers didn't put that on the handouts.

* * *

J.S. is a propagandist and pamphleteer for over sixty-six Crown and Association publications. He has been both staff and contributing writer for weekly newspapers such as the Selkirk Journal, the Gimli Spectator, and the Midnight Sun, in Dawson City, Yukon. His poems and prose have appeared in the Golden Buzz (now the Force Gazette), Tart Magazine, and as low, low, low-run chapbooks. He is also founding member of the now defunct rap-futurist collective, Xenophane Six.

Video: Voices from Oodena

2007-09-24T00:12:00.000-05:00

Tonight was the opening night of THIN AIR, Winnipeg International Writers Festival. Meant to be at the Oodena at The Forks Market, the event was rained out at 5:00 am, when it stormy stormed.

Though that's not entirely true, because it was the storm that was supposed to break mid-evening that pre-emptively rained out the event, moving it inside the Forks Market itself.

Having the event inside the Forks didn't seem to affect anyone but me - in that I couldn't stop thinking about Bindy's, two stalls over - as over 150 people showed up and sprawled over the space available (for the record, blue/brown plastic stacking chairs pulled from storage and also foodcourt wooden chairs, a pair of which weighed more than Perry Grosshans, WIWF General Manager).

It was a prop-heavy night, with bicycle jerseys, signboards, three-year-old children, and, of course, my video camera, as I was recording a time-elapse video.

The camera was taking a still image every two seconds, but WIWF staff, nervous, flighty creatures, kept fleeing from the camera, not knowing that they wouldn't be noticeable unless they stood in plain view for a minute or more.

As I walked away from the Forks Market, tripod under one arm, extension cord under another, flashes of lightning played across the sky. It was the most reasonable/pleasurable rain delay I'd ever experienced....

And so, for your viewing pleasure, the two plus hours of Voices from Oodena, compressed down to, well, two plus minutes...

Opening Night

2007-09-24T00:04:00.000-05:00

In a taxi on the way to this year's WIWF I engaged my driver in some litterati chit-chat.

"What's your favorite book? All time. Or your favorite author?"

I hoped to hear a multi-syllabled East Indian word or name connected with some cyclic-tome on love and war and rebirth.

"Why, Sir?"

"I'm a blogger, writing for a writing festival."

"At The Forks? This is where all the people are going."

He scrunched his spectacled face. "I like Donald Trump books, you know, on getting rich, these things."

"Awesome. Ever read Tony Robbins?"

It was the only name I could recall that shared the genre.

"Anthony Robbins. Of course."

"You should check out this guy tomorrow talking at the University of Winnipeg, Brian Henderson, he's a writer."

"Does he speak about the power of positive thinking?"

"I think so. He's a poet. He's very positively received."

"Maybe I'll go then. Monday is my day off."

* * *

J.S. is a propagandist and pamphleteer for over sixty-six Crown and Association publications. He has been both staff and contributing writer for weekly newspapers such as the Selkirk Journal, the Gimli Spectator, and the Midnight Sun, in Dawson City, Yukon. His poems and prose have appeared in the Golden Buzz (now the Force Gazette), Tart Magazine, and as low, low, low-run chapbooks. He is also founding member of the now defunct rap-futurist collective, Xenophane Six.

Intro: Jason Stefanik

2007-09-23T16:21:00.000-05:00

Landing on the Tarmac - Touched down seconds ago from far northwestward of here.

In Prince George thousands reveled, raged, and paraded since the most Honourable Gordon Campbell, apparent Premier-superstar for B.C, gave a gazillion dollars to the UNBC for building the Northern Sports Centre.

An eco-spec university set amid autumnal pines on the side of a mountain, with green banners waved by gorgeous Aboriginal athletes to usher in the 2010 Winter Olympics, and enough lumpfish and ice-wine to sink a yacht of Monte Carlo's most affluent; Holy frick, I thought, how unlike gritty ole Winnipeg...

Yet how different we are here is why I love here - what trite vodka-maxims from a red-eye flight. For if we are anything in Winnipeg we are a community of artists and our venues.

I was reminded of this fact when seeing none other than the esteemed David Bergen sharing passage homeward in economy class (likely even a Giller can't take the bargainer out of a Winnipegger!)

And it's not just the writers at this year's festival that have me so horny, but the venues: the metal ribs of the Millennium Library for freaky sci-fi guy William Gibson: the narrow alleys with boarded-up warehouses in the Exchange for writing workshops: plus enough midnight slam poetry for the peeps and gangsta-girlz in the hood to keep amped....

How relevant internationally our festival has grown in a sense overwhelms; while waiting for my luggage to clunk down the airport shoot I've a good mind to walk over to David Bergen and ask him if he's attending this year's Thin Hair Festival.

* * *

J.S. is a propagandist and pamphleteer for over sixty-six Crown and Association publications. He has been both staff and contributing writer for weekly newspapers such as the Selkirk Journal, the Gimli Spectator, and the Midnight Sun, in Dawson City, Yukon. His poems and prose have appeared in the Golden Buzz (now the Force Gazette), Tart Magazine, and as low, low, low-run chapbooks. He is also founding member of the now defunct rap-futurist collective, Xenophane Six.

Line of Inquiry: Dave Margoshes

2007-09-23T00:05:00.000-05:00

The author of twelve books, including three novels, Dave Margoshes has had his work published in numerous magazines and anthologies throughout North America, including six times in the Best Canadian Stories volumes. Margoshes worked as a newspaper reporter in the US and Canada, and has taught journalism and creative writing. His writing has won a number of awards, including the City of Regina Writing Award, the John V. Hicks Award for Fiction and the Stephen Leacock Prize for Poetry. He lives in Regina.

1) As a writer (i.e. someone whose artistic practice is predicated on time spent alone) how do you approach performance? What do you get out of it?

You're right, writing is an extremely solitary art form. Doing readings is a way of connecting with the audience that can be gratifying (also terrifying). It's also a way of test driving a piece of writing. I really like reading from something I've just written and gauging the response. With a book, which I'll be reading from at the festival, it's too late for that, of course.

2) What do you want people to know about Bix's Trumpet & Other Stories?

That's tough question. I want people to read it. OK, so I guess what I want people to know about it is that it's a good read.

3) What are you looking forward to in Winnipeg?

The festival, of course. I haven't been to it before, but I've heard good things about it. And I'll be glad to be back in Winnipeg, which I spent 9 months in in the mid-'90s as writer in residence. I enjoyed that time, and alway enjoy getting back.

4) What are you reading right now?

I just read Rebecca Lee's The City Is a Rising Tide - a stunning novel (she's a Canadian, living in the States) - and Pat Krause's wonderful memoir, Acts of Love. I'm now in the midst of former Winnipegger Terry Heath's Joe Fafard, a companion book to the sculptor's retrospective show that's opening in Regina soon and will be in Winnipeg in another year or so. It's excellent, and filled with great art.

Dave Margoshes will be appearing at THIN AIR, Winnipeg International Writers Festival:

September 24 - Mainstage, with Gil Adamson, Shauna Singh Baldwin, Brian Henderson, Sidura Ludwig, and Jim Nason.
September 25 - Campus Program, with Pamela Banting.

Out-take: Anita Daher

2007-09-22T00:05:00.000-05:00

I'm calling this an out-take, but it's mostly a preview of an upcoming HOT AIR feature that I'm calling Reading Copy.

(Thanks THIN AIR's School Stage YA author Anita Daher for providing me with the opportunity...and the photos!)

Based on The Guardian Review's Writers'Rooms, Reading Copy will give HOT AIR audiences an insight into how writers prepare for readings.

How it works is this: after finding an author amenable to such things, I'll photograph the text they use to read from, whether it's a sheet of 8.5" X 11" with a large-print poem suitable for the podium or a copy of their book with strike-outs and underlining.

Then, I'll get them to comment on how they prepare their texts to prepare to read.

So, look for Anita Daher's Reading Copy over the next couple of days...in the meantime, check out her excellent blog.

Anita Daher will be appearing at THIN AIR, Winnipeg International Writers Festival:

September 24 - School Stage, with Cary Fagan.
September 25 - School Stage, with Sidura Ludwig.

Intro: Daria Salamon

2007-09-21T22:23:00.000-05:00

Call security, festival-obsessed freak, banned from the readings – I might have heard these words bandied about in association with my name. But then someone over at THIN AIR headquarters realized it was a losing battle so they might as well enlist the festival crazies as bloggers.

So here I am, after a long session of rolling around (nude of course) in books by the likes of Alice Kuipers, Shauna Singh Baldwin, Lawrence Hill – preparing for my role and hoping a bit of literary brilliance from this year’s attendees just might rub off.

Not only is security not going to remove me again this year, they want me to blog about my festival experiences.

So, when I’m not in the hospitality suite licking salt off the chips I shall hit the festival events – the Nooners, the Afternoon book Chats and the Mainstage events and bring all the gruesome highlights.

Entirely against my will, I’ve even agreed to visit the After Words venue, CYRK, to drink wine and report on late night festival activities.

If you do happen to see security hauling me away – again, try not to chuck books at me. See you at the festival!

* * *

Daria Salamon’s first novel, The Prairie Bridesmaid, will be published in fall 2008 by Key Porter Books. Daria’s journalism has appeared in The Globe and Mail, Winnipeg Free Press, and Uptown Magazine; one of her non-fiction pieces appears in A/Cross Sections: New Manitoba Writing. She lives in Osborne Village with her son, Oskar, husband, Rob and cat, Dr. Puddles.

"Wonderful messages on the fridge door..."

2007-09-17T20:41:00.000-05:00

A review of the new novel from THIN AIR author Alice Kuipers was in this weekend's Winnipeg Free Press Books Section, written by Lexi Walker.

Quite a geographically diverse undertaking, if you're keeping score. Walker is a Winnipegger living Victoria, while Kuipers is a Brit now living in Saskatoon.

Here's a snippet from the review:

Life on the Refrigerator Door
By Alice Kuipers
HarperCollins, 220 pages, $20

Reviewed by Lexi Walker

AS any household with working parents and busy teenagers will know, time spent together can sometimes be sparse.

Life on the Refrigerator Door, by Alice Kuipers, is a short novel about a mother and her 15-year-old daughter faced with exactly this problem. It is comprised entirely of notes left on the refrigerator door, their only way of communicating with each another.

Kuipers was born in London, England, and now lives in Saskatoon, where her partner is Yann Martel, the Canadian author of the prize-winning novel Life of Pi. She has had stories published in literary magazines and has produced for CBC Radio. Life on the Refrigerator Door is her first novel. [...]

Alice Kuipers will be appearing at THIN AIR, Winnipeg International Writers Festival:

September 26 - Mainstage, with Maureen Fergus, Susan Juby, Brendan McLeod, Janice Kulyk Keefer.
September 26 - Nooner at the Millennium Library.

Line of Inquiry: Brendan McLeod

2007-09-16T00:07:00.000-05:00

Brendan McLeod has been the Vancouver poetry SLAM champion, the Canadian SLAM champion, and finished second at the 2005 World SLAM championships, held in Holland. Last year, his novel The Convictions of Leonard McKinley beat out over 500 original entries to win the International 3 Day Novel Contest. As both a solo performer and a musician with the spoken word/music troupe The Fugitives, he has performed at hundreds of literary readings in both Europe and North America. He has an MA in Philosophy from the University of Waterloo, and currently resides in Vancouver.

1) As a writer (i.e. someone whose artistic practice is predicated on time spent alone) how do you approach performance? What do you get out of it?

I actually haven't spent very much time alone over the past couple of years. The Convictions of Leonard McKinley is my first book; prior to it I've been touring as both a spoken word artist and as a musician with the band, The Fugitives.

I really dig on performances and try to make them as interactive and engaging as possible. It has really been everything to me for the past few years - there is nothing quite like an amazing show (or a bad one). It puts me in moods of elation (or horror) for days afterwards.

2) What do you want people to know about your book The Convictions of Leonard McKinley?

It's the winner of last year's 3 Day Novel Contest. It is the result of inordinate amounts of caffeine and lack of sleep, but I'd love for people to give it a chance and read it.

It's a story about a boy named Leonard who grows from the age of 6-21 during the course of the novel (he was supposed to get older, but I ran out of time, whoops!).

Unlike most people who disregard their random crazy thoughts, such as "I should push this person into a bus", Leonard takes these thoughts seriously and tries to figure out where they're coming from. He's led into dark territory as he explores these facets of himself, but the book is set against a pretty light backdrop of coming of age in the Prairies, going to high school dances, trying out for the basketball team, etc.

3) What are you looking forward to in Winnipeg?

The crowd! Holy cow - the Fugitives did the Winnipeg Fringe Festival this year and were blown away by the enthusiasm of the Winnipeg audiences. You guys love your arts! In that way, it's easily one of the most inspiring cities I have ever toured through.

Plus, it won't be January, so it won't be cold.

4) What are you reading right now?

Peter Carey. The guy is insanely good! Each book has a completely different voice from the others. I don't know how he does it. I'm so jealous I want to steal his
brain.

I have also been digging on Mary Karr, both her memoirs and her poetry. Also, Lilli Thal, who wrote a YA book called Mimus. Wow, what a killer read!

Brendan McLeod will be appearing at THIN AIR, Winnipeg International Writers Festival:

September 26 - Mainstage, with Maureen Fergus, Susan Juby, Alice Kuipers, Janice Kulyk Keefer.
September 26 - School Stage, with Emily Pohl-Weary.
September 27 - After Words

Out-take: Alison Calder

2007-09-13T00:18:00.001-05:00

Here's an out-take from Alison Calder's 'photo shoot' in her book-filled office at the University of Manitoba.

Not wanting to distract Alison while she patiently recorded the audio component to her soundslide three times, I scanned the titles of her three or four shelves of poetry titles.

Also the Edward Gorey poster on the back of her door.

A multitude of multimedia

2007-09-12T23:42:00.000-05:00

I've spent the last couple of days in tech-land, punching buttons and twiddling knobs, all in preparation for the multimedia content I'm going to be posting to HOT AIR.

Currently in the works:

An interview with 3 Day Novel Winner/Fugitive Brendan McLeod.

An interview with YA/Hiplit writer Emily Pohl-Weary.

An interview with Regina writer and editor Dave Margoshes.

A soundslide featuring a reading with Winnipeg poet and prof Alison Calder.

I haven't yet decided on a posting schedule but suffice to say there'll be new multimedia content every day, so check back often!

I'm also this close from being able to introduce the four other bloggers that will be contributing to HOT AIR over the course of THIN AIR, Winnipeg International Writers Festival.

We're just a editorial meeting (and a week and a half) away from HOT AIR...I hope you'll like it.

10,000 programs

2007-09-06T20:26:00.000-05:00

From THIN AIR General Manager Perry Grosshan's facebook page:

"This is what 10,000 THIN AIR 2007 paperback programs look like. Ready to be delivered to the WORLD! Look for them around the city of Winnipeg (McNally Robinson Booksellers, The Forks, cafes, street corners, libraries, etc, etc) and beyond the perimeter..."

(Here's hoping Perry doesn't mind my thievery!)

WIWF schedule released!

2007-09-05T18:02:00.000-05:00

Worked through the WIWF Press Conference but still managed to get my hot little hands...well, reasonably warm largish hands...on the THIN AIR schedule before the end of the day.

From the THIN AIR, Winnipeg International Writers Festival site:

"Right out of THIN AIR, a heap of amazing writers! From the very established to the just arriving, from the funny to the serious, from poets to storytellers to playwrights to novelists, from writers for kids to writers for anybody who ever was a kid – THIN AIR has the full hurrah.

The festival publishes a little paperback every year and every year I have to spend at least an hour reading every-which-way, dog-earing pages, highlighting events/authors I don't want to miss.

Ever since they settled on the THIN AIR theme a few years ago, each year's program is the same shape and uses the familiar pages-in-the-breeze graphic.

The only thing that changes is the colour scheme...and this year's colour is red. But muted red. Sunset-through-fog red. A glass of rose red.

So there I was, with the 'full hurrah' in hand, and in addition to coming up with red-but-not-RED analogies, I came away from my first glimpse at the program looking forward to Monday's Mainstage performances.

Called On The Edge, it features Gil Adamson, Shauna Singh Baldwin, Brian Henderson, Sidura Ludwig, Dave Margoshes, and Jim Nason.

It has the perfect mix of known-to-me writers, writers I've vaguely heard of and want to check out, and complete strangers who happen to be writers.

I'm also looking forward to taking in some of the readings at Winnipeg's university/college campuses.

Two of the venues (U of Wpg and RRC) are within walking distance for me, especially now the the Princess Street campus of RRC is hosting the readings instead of the main campus, and I enjoy getting a tea and slipping into a seat.

The only drawback is that some of the authors don't prepare more than one performance of their work and give the same reading in their university slot as in their mainstage slot. Which is initially disappointing, but such feelings are fleeting, given all that's on offer....

I'm already planning to check out Janice Kulyk Keefer's U of Wpg mid-morning reading September 27th where apparently she'll dip into her poetry and "talk about the power of poetic form."

I've also been meaning to check out Winnipegger Brenda Hasiuk's work, so I'll probably be taking in one of her RRC events September 25 or 26th.

And then there's Saturday night's Poetry Bash, which is a tradition for the festival and also for me, though I will admit to missing the intimacy that the West End Cultural Centre provided as a venue...

I could go on like this for pages and pages, but won't. Suffice to say there'll be much scheming as to where/when/how as the WIWF draws near. Fun!