Printed Words Alive

    Being at the Winnipeg International Writers Festival last week was a life changing experience.

    It felt like home; walking amongst peers, mentors and idols. It was inspirational on so many levels. It  was an internal domino effect of events starting with  being asked to blog while knowing nothing about THIN AIR. The magnitude of the audience was daunting but I was ready for the adventure. The events themselves inspired me so organically. I wrote posts about the message each author was trying to get across.

    Through that task, doors opened in my mind. Doors to new career possibilities and hobbies and personal goals, an excitement that feels like it a beginning. A new beginning to an old passion, to write and document and share my perspective and experiences through creative mediums. 

    I ask myself in times of self doubt, what’s so special about my experiences and thoughts? Why would anyone want to read about them? What do I have to say that hasn’t been said before? Isn’t being a writer kind of self-important?
   
    I turned the tables and tried to think of a time when I’ve read something and thought, wow, that person’s self-important, and I couldn’t really. When I’m reading a carefully crafted piece, fact or fiction I’m always only thinking of how thankful I am that this person wrote and shared it with the me, directly or as public domain.

    I’ve learned though this festival and the exposure to different methods of writing that it’s not so much what you have to say but how you say it. What could be an old idea to you, could be brand new to someone else, and often is. For no one thinks exactly as you do or describes things in identical ways. Your boring old idea could be shared in a new way ,with new language and new insight to someone who shares your perception. Better yet, it could be completely fresh idea to someone that serendipitously came across their path.

    The most profound part of the THIN AIR experience for me was observing the crowd. There were people from all ages and walks of life. They were participating in the Q & A with the authors, browsing the books on the McNally table and chatting with their neighbours.

    As a stay at home mom, somewhat disconnected to the public, I was so refreshed to see that there is still a passion in the world for printed word. Most of my reading, admittedly, is from my blackberry, laptop or ipod touch. It’s mostly blogs or shared links to articles to random things or book reviews on parenting strategies. Naturally, when my heart starts to write it’s flows into self-published blogs because a) it’s fast and easy and b) thoughts of publishing a printed and bound book seem like a pipe dream.

    I was inspired by interviews with authors like Jennifer Still, who shared stories of their beginnings. While Kim Anderson told her audience that her book was a scholarly piece that was 10 years in the making and that at times she didn’t know why she was doing this and if it even mattered. It was all so motivating; it felt so familiar.

    Upon attending these events and seeing the enthusiastic audience it showed me why it does matter. As humans we all seek knowledge. Knowledge not only in nature and space discovery but also about personal discovery, the individual experience that is either comforting in familiarity or intriguing in it’s difference from your life.

    Not everyone has this ability to convey their thoughts in comprehensive way, words flow more easily for some than others, and if you have this gift it’s your duty to use it.

    It can be overwhelming to walk into a book store or library and see the masses of books that there just isn’t enough time to read in a lifetime. How could anything I write make any difference in this ocean of pages and words? I am then reminded of one of my favourite quotes by Mother Theresa “We cannot do great things in our lives, only small things with great love.”

    You don’t have to be a best seller, or even get published at all. Small acts, for the love writing, add up and snowball and before you know it you’ve impressed your mother or are being interviewed by fans while sharing your work on stage. All your worries, doubts and re-writes make sense, the pieces come full circle. You’ve done your part to preserve your moment in time in written word and someone’s life somewhere in space and time will be changed by your words.

    As I and the hundreds of people who participated in THIN AIR, in whatever level of significance, have changed forever.

-Leah Edmonds, Guest Blogger

A Pint of Bitter Murder

Question #1: So… you write murder mysteries?

Answer #1: No, I blog about various things.

Question #2: …but you like murder mysteries right?

Answer #2: I’m not sure, I’ve never read one.

He got up and chose another seat some row away from me. I giggled thinking to myself… what in the world am I doing here. Sitting in the back row of Park Theatre on with my notebook and pen in hand, staring down at my “BLOGGER” name-tag hanging from my shirt.

The lights were dim as I sat amongst 60 or more people, eagerly awaiting the show to begin. I'm painfully aware that I am the least knowledgeable person on murder mysteries in the room.

As I wait, I think back to years ago, when I was an English major at The University of Manitoba, and was attending my first Thin Air Festival. I clearly remember attending with my Creative Writing classmates, who were also skeptical about giving up a Friday night to go to a “book reading”.

Now here I am years later, and hooked on the festival and all it has to offer – including “A Pint of Bitter Murder”. A staple in the programming, but one show that I’d never encountered before.

A struggle with the microphone ensues, as is often does when a show is about to begin. The audience is silent and still waiting for the first of the two readers to start. I’ve worked myself up a bit about the ‘murder’ aspect, prior to attending. I’m waiting for someone to cue the eerie music, like the theme to Rod Sterling’s Night Gallery, but the theatre remains silent. 

Alison Preston: The Girl in the Wall

Alison Preston is called up first. She flips to the beginning of her new book entitled, The Girl in the Wall. It seems silly, but to my surprise, the story has begun like … a story.

“George had heard of adults who wished they were dead, but not from children who hadn’t reached their sixth birthday.”

I sit listening,  intrigued by the character Morvin, a young girl who was “born dead”, as the first line of the story states. Morvin is described as a bit off as she grows up, always staring at people awkwardly throughout her childhood without smiling or talking. Her older brother George becomes the main character in the story and Morvin’s eccentricities are described to the reader through his reactions to her.

As Alison reads, the audience doesn’t sit back in their seats, but rather, they lean forward with puzzled looks on their faces. They are curious about the characters. And just as fast as the story has begun, Alison’s time is finished. The audience remains leaned forward in their chairs as if they weren’t ready for the story to stop. There is a quick pause, then applause takes over the venue.

“Well damn it now I need to know what happens,” whispers one lady to another in the row in front of me. 

David Annadale: The Valedictorians 

Next up is David Annadale presenting his book The Valedictorians.

David chooses to read a piece from halfway through his book. He sets the scene at a trendy nightclub in the Hamptons. His style is so easy to follow and to picture as you listen.

Now here is the part I was waiting for. He describes a murder that his main character Blaylock commits. Here is what I'd been telling myself all week to brace myself for- the gruesome and scary murder. But to my surprise (and relief)... I’m laughing. This is a murder mystery with a witty and unexpected humorous tone to it. 

As David reads the audience is right there along with him, following his character as she his held up by gangsters and forced out of her Corolla. But instead of shaking, crying and pleading for mercy, she gets out of her midsized sedan and asks where they want her to go. She points to the house from where the gangsters had emerged and marches past them and towards it egging them on. 

David’s definition of characters is phenomenal and original. The unexpected nature of their actions left the audience laughing and intrigued by the main characters dismissal of common female stereotypes. And just as David describes her leaping from the darkness of the house and stabbing another gangster in the ear – he is finished reading.

Both David and Alison are called back up for a writer Q & A period. The audience poses questions about writer timelines, character discoveries and developments and the impulse to resolve difficulty in plot lines.  I look down at my watch and realize that over an hour has flown by.

A Well Spent Saturday Afternoon

Murder mysteries are not what I expected – they are much more. No longer do I think of those choose your own ending mini-book mysteries I used to hate. “If he walks through the door, go back to page 18. If he sits down on the chair, continue to page 87.” 

Finally I have two books to sit down with, to break into a new genre. That’s the most difficult I think, especially if you have an interest but are not sure where to jump in.

My best advice for Murder Mystery, or for any genre, is to attend Thin Air again in 2012 and challenge yourself to a new genre. Break down barriers and broaden your reading horizons, because there are always gems like Alison and David at your fingertips waiting to be found.

- Miss Stacia Franz

Troupe du Jour

afterwords: 9/24/2011

Explore it. Create it. 
Nervous. Elated.
Stage fright. At night.
Push through. Just right.
Wordsmiths. Word-gifts.
Confess the Songstress.
Strings glow. Brass shines.
Notes flow. Jazz fine.
Fine time. Fine mood.
THIN AIR. Concludes.


THIN AIR's final After Words' celebration ended the 2011 Winnipeg International Writers Festival with verse, song, and a healthy dose of cool. Chairs were ripped from their row upon row designation to form collective groups near the stage to where more than a dozen readers would perform verse, prose, and song.

For ninety minutes, the second-floor space at Aqua Books was dedicated to open mic poetry and jazz. THIN AIR Director, Charlene Diehl, kicked off the first verse with her creation, Banana, dedicated to THIN AIR publicist, Amanda Hope. Miss Hope followed with, Roma, a poetic tale written from her travels in Europe. Both pieces vivid, fun, and echoing the ebb and flow of bass extraordinaire, Steve Kirby, and young guitar master, Kristopher Ulrich, who navigated his strings with talent that defied his years. Before long, jazz trumpet master, Derrick Gardner, was pulled from the audience to create a trio. The three musicians accompanied each open mic performer with uncanny precision. Hard to believe as they had never heard these verses before.

A hush swept the room as a young woman took the stage and sang about her salvation, praising God for the strength he had given her to leave behind a past life in the sex trade and drug addiction. Head gently tilted back, eyes closed, her voice soared above the struggle and to the redemption she had found.

Katherena Vermette, and Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, members of the Aboriginal Writers' Collective, read poems from, xxx ndn: love and lust in ndn country, a book of aboriginal erotica poetry. Their talent and verse burst off the page as each spoke to memories of sexual indifference and the poor choices made in the voyage to realize passion and love.

Chandra Mayor took the stage to read, "window poetry," verses that come to her during the course of her workday while at Aqua Books – Mayor tapes them to the storefront window for passers-by to read. Steven Ross Smith, Director of Literary Arts at The Banff Centre, recited, No Poems, a comical look at the lack of poetry in the newspaper. Professional poets in their own right, but each person who stepped under the lights and up to the mic did poetry proud.

There were murmurs and calls for the poetry to continue, but the night was ending and a new day was about to begin. Shortly before midnight, the crowd of 40 or so rose to exchange good-byes and help straighten up the room. THIN AIR 2011 had come to an end, but the spirit of the week will live in each audience member's heart and mind until September 2012.

We'll see you then.

Posted by Greg Berg, Guest Blogger

Manitoba Reads

Last night I had the immense privilege to be in the audience for the last Mainstage event at THIN AIR, The Winnipeg International Writers Festival. This event was based on Canada Reads, and was called Manitoba Reads.

At this event, four panelists debated on behalf of their chosen book. They had read all four finalists and chose the book that spoke to them best.

Alison Gillmor, a local entertainment writer, selected Reading by Lightning by Joan Thomas.

Vincent Ho, the Composer-in-Residence at the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra chose The Life of Helen Betty Osborne by David Alexander Robertson.

Paul Jordan, the Chief Operating Officer at The Forks chose Bandit by Wayne Tefs.

Niigonwedom James Sinclair, who is a Writer and Professor at the University of Manitoba chose Where Nests the Water Hen by Gabrielle Roy. Roy was the only author who was not still living, so when it came time to play a recording from each author, someone else introduced her book.

The debate was very light, charming and completely engaging. All four panelists were excellent speakers, and each was passionate about the book they were defending. Keran Sanders, who was the host of the show, joked about the debate erupting into violence and tears, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. It was clear that they all respected the four works they’d read, and that they respected each other.

There were three rounds to the debate. Following each round, all four panelists would vote on a book to remove from the running. The first round saw Reading by Lightning removed from contention. The male panelists had difficulty connecting with it, so, despite Gillmor’s passionate defense of the book, it was the first to go.

Round Two

The next round saw a debate about which book was most Manitoban. The panelists passionately discussed their books and what makes them Manitoban. The Life of Helen Betty Osborne and Where Nests the Water Hen were books that looked at Manitoba issues and what it means to be a Manitoba resident, so those authors had quite an easy time. Jordan, who was backing Bandit, had quite a difficult time. Bandit is about the “flying bandit”, Ken Leishman so it’s hardly a novel that encapsulates Manitoba. Jordan had fun with his answer, though, and he had the audience in hysterics. It appears he knew that he was next on the chopping block, as Bandit was next to go.


The Final Round

The final round was a battle for first place between The Life of Helen Betty Osborne and Where Nests the Water Hen. All four panelists chimed in and gave their opinions on both books. When it came time to vote, everyone but Ho choose to remove The Life of Helen Betty Osborne. This means that Where Nests the Water Hen has won the first Manitoba Reads prize.

One of the joys of listening to fellow readers speak about literature is that I got to discover four new books. I haven’t had the pleasure of reading any of them yet, but I definitely will be. In my mind, all four books are winners, because they’ve received the honour of being nominated and the attention that has followed. After the debate, many audience members, including myself went up to purchase copies of the books.

Manitoba is full of gifted writers with beautiful stories to tell about our province. Discovering four new books about my home province was truly a privilege.

-Jennifer Hanson

Looking Back: Friday Night at the Mainstage

 The theme this evening is “Looking Out, Looking In”, and THIN AIR festival-goers are keen to find out what this means. Seats are all full except for the centre row at the front. Six writers will read tonight, presenting their works as “an awareness of the frames” through which we view our lives. The texts will explore movements in perspective: changes in location, attitude, and culture.

Clark Blaise is the first reader. His newest publication is The Meagre Tarmac, a collection of short stories about Indian immigrants. “A Connie Dacuna Book,” the first story in the anthology, centers around a Portuguese family after the Indian army retakes areas formerly Portuguese colonies. The main character is a book editor for a very flashy author, described as wearing “haute-dyke battle gear…she looked and sounded like a piece of hard candy wrapped in cellophane.” It only gets stranger – and funnier – from there, and is at the same time completely believable.

Next to read is Waubgeshig Rice, a member of the Bear Clan from Ontario. His short story collection, Midnight Sweatlodge, parallels his own long journey to understand being an Anishinaabe. Through the book, and Rice’s emotional reading, we glimpse the young Aboriginal experience – “why our spirits are broken”, Rice says. The one overarching message in these stories is a hopeful one, though: it talks about the connection of the Anishinaabe to the land. “The seeds were in the ground, it just needed to rain.”

Guy Vanderhaeghe comes third, reading a self-described “bawdy” excerpt from A Good Man, his latest novel. Three characters form the principal group in this novel, the hard-hitting Mr. Chase, his layabout companion Joe McMullen, and the naïve young Northwest Policeman Peregrin Hathaway. Our excerpt has McMullen telling tall tales to Chase. Hasn’t McMullen already related the story of Lurleen and Fancy Charles? “No, but you will. I see it comin’ at me like a runaway carriage,” says Chase. Well, McMullen is ready. “I hope I die if this ain’t the unvarnished truth,” he proclaims, and then launches into a story about Fancy Charles’ imaginary woman.

The second half of the evening begins with Rosemary Nixon. Her matter-of-fact voice contrasts with the heartbreak in the words of her characters Brodie and Maggie, new parents to a possibly terminally ill child. The scene in which Maggie begs to bathe her newborn daughter – “Kalila finds herself in water. Her expression is surprise” – is so subtly described that it remains in the mind, especially when we learn that Kalila means “beloved.”

David Homel changes the tone with his reading from Midway. Two dinosaurs, a T-rex and a Stegosaurus, are used by the father of their owner in a bit of role-playing. “I was hoping for more sympathy from you,” says the Stegosaurus to his friend. Both dinosaurs, the audience learns, have been drinking, but not social drinking because the rest of their society is extinct. When Ben, the only human in the room, breaks down crying, the dinos come to his rescue. “We’re toys, right? We speak for people,” they insist, telling Ben that he should use them in play with Laura, his wife, with whom he has hit a rough patch. Ben is unsure about role-playing, but the dinos are convinced. “Role playing?” scoff the dinosaurs. “That’s just plain playing.”

Miriam Toews is the last to read. Her young character Irma Voth, from the book of the same name, has been left by her Mexican husband after her family shuns her for marrying him. “We’re sorted like buttons and we’re expected to stay where we’re put,” says Voth in explanation of this extreme reaction. This man, Jorge, with whom she’d dreamed of running a lighthouse even though she hadn’t ever seen the ocean, has left her high and dry. “There’s no lighthouse on my horizon,” Voth says softly at the end of the reading – but it’s Miriam Toews, so we know the story doesn’t end there.

Prizes are drawn, and the packed house clears out to Aqua Books, where Steve Kirby and guitar prodigy Chris Ulrich lay down some smooth jazz as a backdrop to the sound and fury of Steven Ross Smith’s performance poetry. At the finale, Kirby and Ulrich are playing with all their might as Smith tosses signed copies of previous poetry collections into the crowd. It’s a rowdy, fantastic evening – and I can only imagine that the Manitoba Reads/Birthday Bash on Saturday will be even more exciting.

A Good Man From My Hometown

Guy Vanderhaeghe moved away from our hometown the year before I was born. Unfortunately for me, I did not discover Guy's writing until my early 30's. Over four decades later, I met him in person last night.

The first novel that I read of Guy's was, The Last Crossing. This work is a trademark of what he does so well: weaving the history of the Canadian west into compelling and engaging fiction. It had been a long time since a book had energized my imagination, and Guy's writing reminded me of the fantastic story-telling that I had been missing for so long.

I soon picked up, The Englishman's Boy, and I was delighted several years later when the Creative Writing class I was enrolled in would study the novel as part of Red River College's Creative Communications program. The Englishman's Boy was equally as enjoyable as my first introduction to Guy's work, but I wanted more works from this eminent author.

That time has arrived.

Guy visited Winnipeg as part of THIN AIR, the Winnipeg International Writers Festival. If the reading he gave from A Good Man last night is any indication, Guy's new novel is another brilliant example of character development and excellent visual storytelling.

I bought A Good Man during last night's THIN AIR festivities and walked across the stage to ask Guy to sign my copy. I shook his hand and introduced myself.

"We share the distinction of coming from the same hometown," I said.

"Oh, really? What's your last name?" Guy answered.

"Berg," I replied, "B-E-R-G." I sometimes do this as my surname comes out sounding like, "bird."

"Hmm, I don't know that one," Guy replied, "But I left town in 1968. It's changed since then."

I was nervous as hell to talk to this man whose writing I admired so much. I was tongue-tied a couple of times, but we talked for a minute or so before I realized the line of people behind me patiently waiting to talk to Guy as well. I was caught off-guard when he asked how I would like my copy of his book dedicated. I hadn't thought that far ahead. He wrote, "To Greg. Best wishes, Guy Vanderhaeghe."

I told Guy that his writing had re-sparked my interest in reading many years ago – an interest I thought I had lost. Guy, in polite form, thanked me for the compliment. I said that I was very excited to read his latest work, and I shook his hand again and returned to my seat. I opened his book and began to read. A Good Man immediately sucked me in and I read several passages until the intermission ended.

As I write this, Guy is on a plane to Toronto in support of, A Good Man. Guy, it was an honour to meet you. Best of luck on your tour and I'm positive your latest novel is headed for great success.

Posted by Greg Berg, Guest Blogger

Saturday at THIN AIR…

Today is the last day of THIN AIR 2011 – where has the time gone?!

If you’re a writer who wants to know how to improve your work, make sure you take our Writing Craft seminar from 10:00 a.m. – noon at Millennium Library. Writer and poet Steven Ross Smith will guide us through the various ways writers can enrich their work, from taking seminars, to participating in workshops and visiting retreats and conferences.

If you want to get a little scared in the afternoon, visit Park Theatre for A Pint of Bitter Murder with Alison Preston and David Annandale (3:00 – 4:30 p.m.).

Our final Mainstage presentation at Manitoba Theatre for Young People will feature the first-ever Manitoba Reads debate. Four ardent readers will defend the title they have chosen, and at the end, one book will emerge as the winner.

To make things even more exciting, two of the authors featured at THIN AIR 2011 – Wayne Tefs and David Alexander Robertson – have made the final four!

Celebrate our wildly wordy week – and our fifteenth year of great words – at the After Words Jazz Club at Aqua Books. Master jazzers, Steve Kirby & Kristopher Ulrich, join forces with this community’s poets to create an absolutely unique Birthday Party. Bring a poem!

For all the details, visit thinairwinnipeg.ca. And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter at @WPGTHINAIR, because we’ll be live-tweeting from most events!