Thin Air Announces 2006 Program
Dan Brown fails to make the cut
EVAN JOHNSON STAFF
The Winnipeg International Writers Festival, which runs September 17 to 24, officially unveiled its 2006 program on Thursday, August 31 in the Artspace Building on Arthur Street. There was cake.
The festival, known as THIN AIR, is now in its 10th year and features a remarkably comprehensive and socially responsible program. It includes a broad variety of events and the participation of some 80 writers from around the continent.
The Campus program will include panels and readings at all Winnipeg campuses, with the U of M portion featuring readings from authors Richard Clewes, Alayna Munce, M. Travis Lane, and Steve McOrmand.
The Mainstage events will be held every evening during the week at the Manitoba Theatre for Young People in the CanWest Global Performing Arts Centre at the Forks, or MTYPCWGPACF as it is commonly known.
On the weekend, there will also be two matinee main-stage events, including the popular “Poetry Bash.” “I suspect it might be in Winnipeg only that you have a great big hit on poetry night,” said Charlene Diehl, the festival’s artistic director.
The festival also has a School program, aimed at younger readers. “It’s one of our strong mandates at the Writers Festival, to support the development of literacy, and even more than that, a kind of literate-ness amongst young readers,” said Diehl. “Teaching children to love to read is a way of opening all sorts of creative space.” The School program will have its own stage, and will also be sending authors out to various schools.
During the portion of the press conference conducted in French and devoted to THIN AIR’s French component, my shameful ignorance of the French language left me unable to discern anything at all except “Mercredi” and “Vendredi,” which, I believe, are roughly translatable to “disarmament” and “salesmanship” respectively.
Later, when the English resumed, it was revealed that the French component this year will, like past years, have a specific focus. This year: female writers. In past years the French portion has focused on western writers, Cajun writers, and Quebec writers.
For those of you who think it’s wise to stay up past 10 p.m., the “After Words” series will be returning this year to offer late-night (10:30 p.m.) readings at the Current Lounge at the Inn at the Forks. Local favorite and jazz-bassist Steve Kirby (and friends) will be on hand to provide the music, Thursday through Saturday.
Finally, THIN AIR will be taking the festival outside of Winnipeg, with the Manitoba Lotteries Corporation THIN AIR Tour, which sees authors carted off to all sorts of places in Manitoba: Gimli, Brandon, Portage la Prairie, Selkirk, Winkler, Carberry, Laurier, Neepawa, and Glenboro. Glenboro?! The tour astutely counters any criticisms that the festival is too Winnipegcentered. Said Diehl: “As a kid who grew up in Boissevain I know there’s a lot of muttering about how this province seems to end at the perimeter.”
The hundred-plus page THIN AIR program guide, which includes detailed information on additional events, is available free of charge and can be picked up at various locations around town and on campus.
