May 15, 2012

Valgardson's What the Bear Said wins INL Reads!

Congratulations to W.D. Valgardson for winning this award! Valgardson showcased What the Bear Said at THIN AIR 2011. If you want to listen to Valgardson read from the book when he was on our Mainstage, check out the podcast here.

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Turnstone Press is pleased to announce that What the Bear Said: Skald Tales from New Iceland by W.D. Valgardson is the winner of the INL Reads! Book for 2012. What the Bear Said was voted in by the INL (Icelandic National League) convention during this year’s Icelandic National League of North America’s Annual conference, “Embracing Icelandic Culture,” held in Brandon, Manitoba, May 3-6, 2012.

INL Reads! is an interactive, online book club for Icelandic clubs and communities located in various locations across North America, including Seattle, North Dakota, Minneapolis, Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Foam Lake, Regina, Winnipeg, Gimli, Arborg, Brandon, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Nova Scotia. INL Reads! is intended for Icelanders and those who love Icelandic literature. For more information about INL Reads! visit the Icelandic National League of North America’s website: http://www.inlofna.org/

To read more about this press release, please check out Turnstone's website: www.turnstonepress.com. To order copies of the book, check their website or visit McNally Robinson Booksellers, our official Festival Bookseller!

May 8, 2012

Richard Stursberg's "Tower of Babble"

In 2004, CBC television had sunk to its lowest audience share in its history. That same year, Richard Stursberg, an avowed popularizer with a reputation for radical action, was appointed as the head of CBC’s Television services. In 2008 his role was expanded to head of all English services: television, online and radio. With incisive wit, Stursberg tells the story of the struggle that resulted—a struggle that lasted for six turbulent and controversial years.

April 30, 2012

Congratulations at the Manitoba Book Awards

Congratulations again to all the nominees at the 24th annual Manitoba Book Awards! And a big congrats to all the winners Saturday night, particularly these THIN AIR alumni: Sue Sorensen, Jennifer Still, Alison Preston, Larry Verstraete, and past WIWF board member J.R. Leveille!

Also, a special congratulations to Susie Moloney, who won the first ever Michael Van Rooy Award for Genre Fiction; an award co-sponsored by us, Prairie Fire Press, and Aqua Books. More info about the reward on our blog, and here on our website.

More info about the award winners and the evening can be found in this Free Press article, and at the Manitoba Writers' Guild Facebok group (pictures as well).

April 26, 2012

Return of the FICTION istas

Our own Charlene Diehl, writer, editor, performer, author of Out of Grief, Singing. and director of the Winnipeg International Writers Festival, will be hosting a FICTIONistas event at McNally Robinson booksellers on May 5th at 2:00pm

FICTIONistas is a collaboration among the publishers Coteau Books, Coach House Books, Signature Editions, NeWest Press, and Goose Lane Editions. First conceived in 2006, Canadian independent publishers bring together women writers from across Canada under the FICTIONistas banner for a series of reading events 'with a difference'. All the latest information on the tour can be found at the official Fictionistas blog. The discussions are lively, the performances are stellar, the secrets are...revealing!

The Spring 2012 FICTIONistas include Margaret MacPherson, whose latest novel is Body Trade; Arley McNeney, presenting her first novel The Time We All Went Marching; Alison Preston, with her newest Norwood Flats mystery The Girl in the Wall; and Sarah Kathyrn York, with her debut novel The Anatomy of Edouard Beaupré.

Check out the website of the festival's official bookseller McNally Robinson Booksellers, for more information about this event and others!

April 26, 2012

April 16, 2012

THIN AIR June 7 Event - Nora Young

We generate enormous amounts of online data about our habits: where we go, what we do, and how we feel. Some of that data is information we choose to record; some of it we leave behind in digital trails merely by going about our daily lives in an increasingly digital world.

NORA YOUNG, host and creator of Spark, CBC Radio’s lively technology and culture show, examines both the positive power and the potential danger in these data trails in her new book, THE VIRTUAL SELF: How Our Digital Lives Are Altering the World Around Us.

Nora is one of the most dynamic and open-minded adventurers in the digital world, and THE VIRTUAL SELF is an essential handbook for all of us who want a better understanding of where our present is leading us.

The THIN AIR team is excited to welcome Nora to Winnipeg! She will be exploring the issues in her new book in an on-stage conversation with THIN AIR Director, Charlene Diehl. The superb Karl Kohut Electric Quartet will offer a musical angle on technological interventions.

Join us on Thursday, June 7, 8:00 pm, at The Park Theatre. Food and beverages are available on-site, and McNally Robinson Booksellers will have copies of the book for purchase.

Tickets available for purchase May 1, 2012, through the office, online here, or McNally Robinson Booksellers.

“Nora Young has shared an essential book, beautifully written and perfectly timed. In just two years, the ideas in this book will be everywhere, but her readers will have understood them first.”

– Seth Godin, author of We Are All Weird