Hands on: Amy Jo Ehman

Amy Jo is a locavore. Which puts her in the same camp as slow food enthusiasts. But Amy isn't slow. During her lecture, she bumped the mic twice. And while she was graciously chatting with the people wanting her to sign their books, her hands were constantly in motion. I couldn't get a sharp image and I was pestering her and them every instant I stood there, taking pictures...so you get a diptych.

Line of Inquiry: George Murray

George Murray has published poems and fiction in journals and anthologies in Canada, the United States, Australia, and Europe.

His work has been recognized with the PIP Gertrude Stein Award in Innovative Poetry, and has been shortlisted for other awards, including the EJ Pratt Poetry Prize, the Atlantic Poetry Prize and the CAA Poetry Prize.

His five books of poetry include The Hunter, The Rush to Here, and a new collection, Glimpse: Selected Aphorisms (ECW).

He frequently reviews books for The Globe and Mail, and is the editor of the popular literary website bookninja.com.

Murray lives in St John’s, Newfoundland.

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 am a somewhat reluctant performer, in that I don't make a lot of big gestures or inflect my voice in that "poet" way some people like to. I just simply read the work at hand, though I am pretty good at joking with the audience between pieces. I like the immediate feedback of the audience energy, but I also like the nerves of getting there. Backstage I'm a wreck, but once on stage, I'm usually fairly okay.

2) What do you want people to know about Glimpse: Selected Aphorisms?

It's fun and has depth and is accessible and interesting to other poets and critics, but also to the general public. Besides the breadth of its content, this range of accessibility is probably the reason I'm most proud of it. I like it when people who got dragged out to a poetry reading (boyfriends, wives, friends of poetry lovers, etc.) come up to me all excited after and say, "Hey, I don't normally read poetry, but I'll read THAT." I hope Glimpse is a good gateway book for people you feel might otherwise be too reluctant (or intimidated) to try reading contemporary poetry.

3) Will this your first time in Winnipeg? What have you heard?

I've been to Winnipeg several times before, but mostly on business. I've heard great things about the arts and culture community there, and I know the literary community is first rate. I've published a few times in Prairie Fire and CV2, so I hope I have a foot in the door with the locals and see some friends.

4) What are you reading right now? What are you writing right now?

I'm reading several novels and a raft of poetry books. Notably: Annabel by Kathleen Winter and Far to Go by Alison Pick, as well as new poetry by Robin Robertson, Seamus Heaney, and Geoffrey Hill.

5) What was your process for writing/editing the aphorisms that make up Glimpse? Did it differ markedly from your process when writing long poems?

With Glimpse, I culled most of the aphorisms whole from old journals. I hadn't even realized I was writing them at first. Once I harvested a critical mass of them (about 1000), I went about sorting and discarding the bad or repetitive ones, and then edited the good ones for craft and brevity. Since then, now I've realized they are part of my writing process, I am much better able to recognize them as they form. So now, when I write an aphorism, it's not by pleasant accident, but generally on purpose.

* * *
George Murray will be appearing at THIN AIR, Winnipeg International Writers Festival:

September 23 - Campus Reading at RRC.
September 24 - Panel, with Sina Queyras.
September 24 - Mainstage, with Ariel Gordon, Nora Gould, Ignatius T Mabasa, kevin mcpherson eckhoff, Sina Queyras.

* * *
Ariel Gordon has two chapbooks to her credit, The navel gaze (Palimpsest Press) and Guidelines: Malaysia & Indonesia, 1999 (Rubicon Press), and this spring, Palimpsest published her first full-length poetry collection, Hump. She recently won the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer at the Manitoba Book Awards. When not being bookish, Ariel likes tromping through the woods and taking macro photographs of mushrooms.

We were good as married in my mind

there was definitely something queer in the air last night.
Besides the obvious i mean.

I've been pondering how to convey to you the debauchery of the evening past, without of course, giving too much away.

I would have to say it started when Charlene walked on stage wearing a pants suit. Immediately I knew something was off.

Jay, Stacy, Chandra and I serendipitously met up in the lobby and decidedly stuck together for the remainder of the evening. I knew this would compromise my stealthiness slightly, but what with the electricity in the air, I figured tonight I may need to throw caution to the wind, and see if that would lead to further developments in my case. Sometimes, you just have to lose some to win some.
##thatisnottheexpression

It became painfully obvious that the four of us were having the most fun. It wasn't the wine. What was it??

I pointed out to Stacy the error of Charlene's ways, as she she informed the crowd that if they wanted more information on the festival to check out the information table in the lobby.
"Wrong!" I yelled (to Stacy only. And perhaps the few audience members in close proximity)
"You mean check out the blog!" (but still, I yelled it)


Spy fail #4: Do I even need to tell you. Really. I yelled about the freaking blog for crying out loud.

She did proceed to mention the blog, as she informed the crowd we were "creeping around the events" (direct quote)
My stomach sank. My suspicions were confirmed. Charlene was onto me.
Worse yet, she suspected us all. Had I compromised the safety for my fellow bloggers, i wondered, as I threw back my red wine.


As for the other indications that there was something afoot, they are almost too many to name. I will provide them in list form:
A guitar named Verna, a post modern mash up, Pink Triangle by Weezer. Vagina jokes with surprisingly heartfelt laughter from unnamed Thin Air staff. Stacy going for a run at intermission. Jay giving blog hugs. Fashion shows, beaver references, WD40, and Charlene calling on the spirit Akna. And actors.

My head was spinning.
This mission had taken a sharp turn.
We were no longer on the straight and narrow, so to speak.

Now, every spy has to have a line they just won't cross
##imnotsurethisistrue
And so, while the events that unfolded in the hospitality suite, post reading, add significantly to my case, I am unable to reveal the details of them at this time.
Just trust me when I tell you, the night was chaos of the best kind.

Conclusions are hard to come by at this point. Perhaps the linear approach of my detective mission has been permanently skewed.
Perhaps there are no conclusions, save one.

Just when you think the queer is missing, coordinated chair shuffles happen like a rehearsed dance performance. An involved discussion of salmon vs magenta unfolds and clarification is provided when someone points out that magenta is "like red, but gay".
And someone somewhere eats a cheese curd in a hotel room filled with joyfully melancholic writers.

over and out

Courtney Slobogian was born in Winnipeg and likes it that way. She is a writer/understated activist/ irreverent feminist.

Some of her work can be tracked down in quiet corners of the internet.

She co-hosts a radio show on CKUW called Tiger Lilies are Poisonous, dislikes cotton socks and is currently working on developing her spy skills.

Hands on: MP part the second

Usually I don't "groom" the hands-on photo set-ups. But Marj's friend wanted to. So I let her.

* * *
Ariel Gordon has two chapbooks to her credit, The navel gaze (Palimpsest Press) and Guidelines: Malaysia & Indonesia, 1999 (Rubicon Press), and this spring, Palimpsest published her first full-length poetry collection, Hump. She recently won the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer at the Manitoba Book Awards. When not being bookish, Ariel likes tromping through the woods and taking macro photographs of mushrooms.

Hands on: Marj Poor

Marj Poor, teacher and editor of Prairie BOOKS now. She takes a week off work during THIN AIR. If you go back through the four years of HOT AIR, there are probably several pictures of her, because she's at everything...and because she's at everything, she carries around several book bags. So for this photo, I got her to empty one of her book bags.

* * *
Ariel Gordon has two chapbooks to her credit, The navel gaze (Palimpsest Press) and Guidelines: Malaysia & Indonesia, 1999 (Rubicon Press), and this spring, Palimpsest published her first full-length poetry collection, Hump. She recently won the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer at the Manitoba Book Awards. When not being bookish, Ariel likes tromping through the woods and taking macro photographs of mushrooms.

Big Ideas: Eating Local

Amy Jo Ehman's big ideas lecture at the millennium library.

The Nooner: Sandra Birdsell

I missed mainstage last night so I made sure to catch Sandra Birdsell today when she read for the largest nooner crowd I've seen yet.

She read from Waiting for Joe, her new novel that was sparked by an infuriating comment about the right religious beliefs being the key to financial abundance.

Waiting for Joe is about a couple who has gone bust and the spiritual journey that Joe embarks upon alone. (From what I gather, although I haven't read it yet.)

Sandra said the novel took six months to write, but really it took over four years. Writers are a bunch of liars.

*****

Brandon James Bertram is a perpetual student. When he's not at the university you might find him going casually about his business in his West Broadway apartment or spending his leftover student loans on beer at Cousins. He sometimes reviews music for the Uniter and his poetry has been published in Rhubarb magazine. He might graduate with a bachelor's degree next year.

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Tea & sympathy

A Thin Air lunch...

Library humor

All the suits quizzing by, the slightly quizzical looks...

hot on the trail: revolutions and mothers

i think someone or some thing, may be onto me.

I can't be certain, nor could I reveal the information were I certain, but lets just say that yesterday afternoon in the midst of one of the most personally profound readings I have ever attended, the soothing voice of David Carpenter expressing the profundity of engaging with nature in the role of hunter, was suddenly interrupted by the sound of what seemed to be a large plane or tank of some sort, overhead.

I was immediately alarmed, though the Millennium library security calmly closed the door to the the Carol Shields Auditorium, as if this was a regular occurrence.

'Has this happened during the Nooners?' I thought to myself.
'Or does this unidenitfied onlooker only concern itself with monitoring the Big Ideas series?' Afterall, we all know what happens when people have big ideas. Revolutions happen, is what.

(Another clue? Is this why people attend the festival? Are they are looking for a revolution?? Is Charlene ready for this? Does she know? Can she tell? The audience has been a little feisty this year. Nothing like bringing up the long-gun registry or an interest in break and enters during a writers festival.
Oh wait. It was Charlene that brought up B&E's....)

I quickly reached for my sunglasses and sunk lower into my seat.
Stacy shot me a knowing glance.
Could it be the Millennium Library hot on my trail? Was Thin Air using the library to try and scare me out of my mission?
It could make sense, but I am not jumping to any conclusions.
And we all know, I am not the only blogger with a sense that something might be out to get them ##jaydiazvsthinair

More recently, I came across Stacy's hypothesizing of my double agent status and was absolutely shocked at the suggestion.
Once I had googled it.
But I can assure you that the target agent I am spying on (Thin Air Attendees) is one and the same as the controlling organization I am claiming to be a part of (I am a Thin Air attendee). Therefore, the only threats against my life, are the ones I create......
##thatsdeep

With the possibility of being found out at the forefront of my mind, I knew that my cover for mainstage last night had to be as inconspicuous as possible.
The theme for the evening was Family Business.
The only option: bring my mother.

It worked well, though I was so caught up in being an 'authentic' looking audience member, I barely payed attention to the goings on. So much so, that as Stacy, my mother and I sat discussing the first half of the evening, expressing our intellectual musings over the magnificent readings of Uma Parameswaran, Craig Frances Power and Sharon McCartney, I failed to notice that 2 of the 3 were sitting DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF US.

Spy fail #3: Do not discuss the mission, at the mission site. And for f*** sakes, pay attention to your surroundings.

Luckily Stacy didn't think they had been there the whole time. I'm considering asking her to be my side kick. I will have to consult my spy manual to see if spies are allowed to have those ##myspymanualisgoogle

My most recent conclusions are as follows:
Families, hunting, spy work and Thin Air are complicated matters. You can never be too careful, but if you pay attention in the right ways, you will learn more then you bargained for.

All four are breading grounds for revolution. You just have to look for the signs.

And don't forget to keep an eye out, you never know who might be watching. Your mother, a bull moose, Charlene, the Tin Man. Anything is possible.


over and out.


Courtney Slobogian was born in Winnipeg and likes it that way. She is a writer/understated activist/ irreverent feminist.

Some of her work can be tracked down in quiet corners of the internet.

She co-hosts a radio show on CKUW called Tiger Lilies are Poisonous, dislikes cotton socks and is currently working on developing her spy skills.

Swag swag author bag!

So when I dropped by the hospitality suite on Sunday, THIN AIR staff person Tavia Palmer did two very important things:

1) She posed underneath the see-thru glass sink in the bathroom, which made me happy because it was blog-worthy.

2) She made me sign for my author bag. Which made me happy, and, as it turns out, is blog-worthy.

It should go without saying that I'm honoured to be reading at the festival this year. But I think I should say it.

And then roll around on the all the goodies in the author bag like I was Demi Moore and I just got a million dollars for sex. In paroxysms of desperate glee. Yes...



...except the author bag had a mug in in, which would probably work best in my cupboard with all the THIN AIR mugs I've accumulated from years of HOT AIR-ing for the fest.

After it's been washed, that is. And I'll probably use the pad for grocery lists, as I've used other THIN AIR note pads, as I prefer a full-sized notebook for my lit jottings. (Specifically, black with a spine and lined paper. NOT a moleskine.)

And the pen will rattle around the bottom of one of my bags. And be used for lit jottings AND for grocery lists.

I don't think the feeling-honoured will get used up the same way. Because I've been dreaming of reading at THIN AIR for a long time. And the festival has been very kind to me.

(The Poetry Bash! An Afternoon Book Chat! i.e. JUST what I would have chosen to do, if I'd been asked...)

Of course, I hope that kindness is because of the work and not because of this impertinent blog or the years of impertinent volunteering or because I work at Aqua impertinently. Because the (impertinent) work is what's most important.

* * *
Ariel Gordon has two chapbooks to her credit, The navel gaze (Palimpsest Press) and Guidelines: Malaysia & Indonesia, 1999 (Rubicon Press), and this spring, Palimpsest published her first full-length poetry collection, Hump. She recently won the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer at the Manitoba Book Awards. When not being bookish, Ariel likes tromping through the woods and taking macro photographs of mushrooms.

Line of Inquiry: Sandra Birdsell

Sandra Birdsell was born in Winnipeg, the fifth of eleven children, to a Dutch-Mennonite mother and a French-speaking Métis father.

Among her nine fiction titles are The Two-Headed Calf, The Chrome Suite, The Russländer, and Children of the Day.

Along with several Manitoba and Saskatchewan book awards, Birdsell’s work has been recognized with the WH Smith Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Marian Engel Award, as well as nominations for two Governor General’s Awards and the Scotiabank Giller Prize.

In 1996, Birdsell moved from Winnipeg to Saskatchewan, a relocation that is mirrored in her new novel, Waiting for Joe (Random House).
She 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?

When I read from my work it is a chance for me to "hear" it as readers' might be hearing it as they read. I have within me the impulse and emotion of what the characters are thinking, saying and doing and I think that comes out during a reading.

2) What do you want people to know about Waiting for Joe?

Waiting for Joe was 4 years in the making and behind it is a lot of reading about the roots of his boyhood faith.

3) Will this your first time in Winnipeg? What have you heard?

Winnipeg is my second home. I lived there for decades, and Westminster Avenue, the elms, still has a strong pull.

4) What are you reading right now? What are you writing right now?

I'm in a book club and reading for that right now. I've begun writing what I think could be a short story.

5) The majority of the action in The Russlander took place in 1910. The Children of the Day is set in 1953. After spending so much time fictionally in other eras, what is it like writing something so contemporary?

Writing something so contemporary is really not much different than writing Historical fiction. People are moved and changed by the same things regardless of the time period.

* * *
Sandra Birdsell will be appearing at THIN AIR, Winnipeg International Writers Festival:

September 22 - Mainstage, with Sharon McCartney, Uma Parameswaran, Craig Francis Power, Michael Wex.
September 23 - Nooner.
September 23 - Rural Tour, Portage la Prairie.

* * *
Ariel Gordon has two chapbooks to her credit, The navel gaze (Palimpsest Press) and Guidelines: Malaysia & Indonesia, 1999 (Rubicon Press), and this spring, Palimpsest published her first full-length poetry collection, Hump. She recently won the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer at the Manitoba Book Awards. When not being bookish, Ariel likes tromping through the woods and taking macro photographs of mushrooms.