Classic 107 blogger Sara Krahn previews the Winnipeg International Writers Festival beginning this weekend. Check out her interviews with Festival Director Charlene Diehl, and writers Patrick Friesen and Armin Wiebe. 

Literary junkies should take note that the THIN AIR International Writers Festival begins this weekend. The festival offers audiences the rare experience of hearing some of Canada's biggest writers read from their own work, as well as the opportunity to chat with their favourite authors. I was able to reach THIN AIR director Charlene Diehl, who filled me in on some of the hallmarks of the festival, and the events that audiences can get excited about this year.

SK: In what ways does the festival help to foster a literary community in Manitoba/what kind of impact does the festival have within the community?

CD: Winnipeg is a city of writers--from the internationally-celebrated to the just-starting. It's a city of readers too, largely thanks to the energy and enthusiasm of McNally Robinson Booksellers and Boutique du livres. An annual festival like THIN AIR supports both those groups, and feeds them too. Writers come and listen to people sharing their craft at a high level--and many Manitoba writers are on our stages too. Readers have a chance to sample some of the best new writing coming out of this country--that's heady! I think we all benefit from the confluence of local and visiting writers, and our visitors invariably take away a very positive impression of this city's hospitality and vibrant culture.

SK: What characterizes the festival and what can audiences look forward to this year?

CD: THIN AIR has a bit of everything, I'd say--readings and interviews, discussions and impromptu conversations. We're hosting about fifty writers, from all over Canada, as well as the US, Ireland, and Denmark, and they represent a broad range of styles, genres, and attitudes. We basically take over the city for just over a week, and invite the city to join in. Our events are serious, quirky, intriguing, hilarious, heart-warming, and everything in between.

It's so difficult to point to specific events that will stand out, because what we offer is a bit like like choosing books: every one of us is looking for something that's going to connect with our current preoccupations and needs, so what will be perfect for one person will different from what's perfect for her best friend!

We have terrific line-ups for our regular programming, like Big Idea (non-fiction at the Millennium), Afternoon Book Chats (informal conversation at McNally Robinson), Pint of Bitter Murder(mystery event at the Park), and Voices from Oodena (our outdoor celebration of local writing at The Forks), ForeWords (slam poetry with our now-famous Haiku Death Match at CCFM) and of course our glam evening MainStage (curated readings at MTYP).

We have some great new additions, like An Evening with Lawrence Hill and Qui sommes-nous et d'où venons-nous? at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and The Poisoned Chalice, an afternoon of horror fiction at The Good Will Social Club.

We have an eclectic line-up of French-language events, and a huge School Program in both languages.

All the details are in our cool little paperback program (periwinkle cover this year) and on our website:www.thinairwinnipeg.ca

SK: What is it that you, personally, enjoy about the festival?

CD: I love meeting and talking with writers. I love their energy, their passion, their imaginative engagement with life--the hard stuff and the fun stuff.

I love readers too, because reading is also a creative act. A story is only fully alive when it's being received, whether that's in a private moment or in a theatre. We have to be willing to go where a writer is taking us--we participate in the unfolding. Winnipeg audiences are wonderful--they're very open and eager. I can't tell you how many writers, over the past dozen years, have commented on what amazing audiences we have here...

I guess the other thing I love is the mad dash from event to event, and watching bits of magic unfold as writers and readers throw themselves into action, and really enjoy the moment. We spend months preparing, and then it's just time to party!

There are a lot of big names to watch out for at this year's festival, including: Elizabeth Hay (Giller prize-winning author of Late Nights on Air), Meira Cook (winner of the inaugural Walrus Poetry Prize and the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award), biographer and poet Rosemary Sullivan (Stalin's Daughter is her latest compelling biography), and Lawrence Hill (author of the award-winning The Book of Negroes).
The names in the lineup that initially stuck out the most for me, however, were the one's with the last names Wiebe and Friesen. Big surprise. My familiar writers would be Mennonite. So I contacted poet Patrick Friesen, and novelist Armin Wiebe, to find out about their newest works and how they are involved with the festival.

Patrick Friesen is a Winnipeg born poet, playwright and essayist. He has collaborated with choreographers, dancers, musicians and composers. Friesen has a number of award-winning books (Blasphemer's Wheel,1996 Manitoba Book of the Year; A Broken Bowl, 1997 Governor-General's award finalist; jumping in the asylum, 2012 Relit Award for Poetry) but I remember his work the most from the breath you take from the lord. This was the book featured during a poetry reading he gave at my parents' place a long (long) time ago. Interesting fact: I just stumbled across one of my journal entries about this event.

Friesen will be participating in the Opening Friday Night reading on September 18th, along with Per Brask and Ulrikka Gernes. Friesen and Per Brask have translated Ulrikka Gernes newest book of poetry (Gernes is Danish). The following day he will be hosting a workshop at the Millennium Library. I corresponded with him via email, asking him about his relationship with fellow writers Per Brask and Ulrikka Gernes, the challenge of translating poetry, and his workshop this Saturday.

"I've known Per Brask ever since he was the dramaturge for my play The Shunning in 1985. He's a dear friend whose take on my writing I always trust. We have worked together on about half a dozen books of translation. We used to sit in my basement study in Winnipeg to work on the translations; now we do it via email and telephone.
I've known Ulrikka Gernes since the 90s. She's a good friend. We've brought her to Canada twice to do reading tours, and we've gotten together in Copenhagen a couple of times as well. The rest of the time we're in touch via email.

"The on-going challenge in translating is how to create a poem that is as true as possible to the original in content and in style and yet works in English. Always, if one is being true to the original, one is creating something that can stand on its own in English, and thus is a little different from the original. A translation is not simply an English version of the Danish; it is unique and justified in English.

"Saturday's workshop focuses on the nature of memory and imagery. The question is: how does one work in a non-narrative, poetic way with selective memory? The poet writes a map of his/her life not in a narrative way but imagistically by finding relationships among events/moments that are not related in a cause and effect way. The workshop is geared toward poets, though I think it could benefit fiction writers as well, if they're interested in creating a "story" non-narratively."

To find out more about when and where Patrick Friesen will be participating in THIN AIR, visit http://thinairwinnipeg.ca/festivals/thin-air-2015/writers/patrick-friesen/

 

 

Armin Wiebe is a Canadian literati, who is perhaps best known for Tatsea (Winner of the 2003 McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award), and the remarkable and endearing novel The Salvation of Yasch Siemens, which pays homage to traditional Southern Mennonite life. Wiebe is at Thin Air promoting his newest book of short fiction, Armin's Shorts, as well as presenting a creative writing workshop at Brandon University. I met up with him at The Neighbourhood Cafe and Bookstore.

"Thin Air really works to put Manitoba's literary community on the map. The festival provides a focus for booklovers every fall, and brings a all kinds of talented and diverse writers into town. For writers it's an opportunity to promote their new books Most of the writers at the festival have new books, and the festival is a wonderful opportunity to introduce their writing to new readers."

For those people who have never attended a writers festival, it can be a very exciting experience listening to an author read in their own voice. Over the course of an evening, you have the opportunity to meet 5 or 6 different writers. There are a variety of voices, and all of the writers are available to chat with afterwards.

In his newest work, Armin's Shorts, Wiebe takes on a different style from his previous novels, most of which are steeped in all kinds of small town Mennonite slang.
"I'm using more standard english in this work, less plautdietsch, and I introduce new characters that are less connected to the world of Southern Manitoba.
"Music also figures in many of the stories. There is a specific passage in one of the stories where the music is described but the piece remains unnamed" (Test your musical expertise! The story is 'A Pleasant Woman' and the music is a string quartet (albeit an obscure one)).

Renowned for his lively and humorous style of storytelling, Wiebe will focus his workshop, held at Brandon University on September 23rd, on the process of jumpstarting one's creative writing brain.
"It is very much a "getting started" workshop. Members of the public are also welcome. And you don't need to have written anything beforehand, the workshop will be very practical, taking participants through a series of hands-on task to get them started with their writing.
"One of the more significant ideas I want to explore is a sense of play within one's writing. I would like to demonstrate how the creative writing process can be spontaneous and fun."

To find out more deets about Armin Wiebe's involvement at THIN AIR, visit http://thinairwinnipeg.ca/festivals/thin-air-2015/writers/armin-wiebe/

 

 

Sara Krahn is a freelance contributer for Classic 107. She is a recent graduate from the Canadian Mennonite University School of Music, and a newlywed! Sara spends her time out and about exploring Winnipeg's vibrant arts and culture scene. Don't be shy, say "Hello" if you see her!