Well folks, it appears the festival is over for this year. It was my first time attending Thin Air, and obviously my first time blogging for it.

Not fully knowing what to expect I went into the week a little anxious but excited. And, it was awesome!

I jumped right in, attending three out of five nooners, fiver out of the six evening mainstages, four of the campus readings, two AfterWords, and one TV premier.

There were many great moments throughout the week but the highlight for me was George Elliott Clarke who I made sure to see twice. I was a little disappointed when he ran out of books at Red River (he was selling them for $15) but I made sure to buy one (for $24.95) at the AfterWords reading at Aqua Books. I waited to meet him and have him sign the book and it was worth it. He's very kind and seems to enjoy chatting with his fans. Inscribed in my copy of his new verse-novel I & I are these words:

For Brandon--who is a poet already , given the sincerity and the passion!

Truly,

George Elliott Clarke
25 September IX

Now I have to write.

****

Brandon James Bertram is an English/Creative Writing student at the University of Winnipeg. He reads, writes, rides bikes, and drinks coffee.

Michael Van Rooy is THIN AIR's Audience Development Coordinator. He also has a weekly column on writing and publishing in the Winnipeg Free Press and administers CMU's School of Writing...and there's probably things he does for money I don't know about.

Michael is also a writer, specifically a writer of thrillers. (A thriller-writer? A thrilling writer?)

Here's the bio they used for Michael when he performed at the festival last year instead of working for it:

Michael Van Rooy writes for documentaries, magazines, newspapers, and the Internet, and has been short-listed for the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer. His first book, An Ordinary Decent Criminal, gained him an enthusiastic audience as well as the 2006 Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book by a Manitoba Writer. His second book, Your Friendly Neighborhood Criminal (Turnstone), introduces Monty Haaviko, an ex-thief, ex-burglar, ex-armed robber, ex-smuggler, and ex-drug-dealer who’s lured into using his nasty talents again. Michael Van Rooy was born in Kamloops BC, and grew up in Winnipeg where he lives now with his wife and three children.

Well, this week, when Michael was trotting from event to event, he got some VERY good news. Which I thought I'd share here, in case you missed it (also, in case HE missed it)...as published in the Winnipeg Free Press:

"WINNIPEG writer Michael Van Rooy's first two thrillers have been picked up by an American publisher. Thomas Dunne Books will release Van Rooy's debut, An Ordinary Decent Criminal, on its Minotaur mystery imprint in July 2010.

Van Rooy's U.S. editor, Peter Wolverton, confirmed the deal by e-mail this week.

In 2011, Wolverton said, Thomas Dunne will release Van Rooy's followup Your Friendly Neighbourhood Criminal.

Thomas Dunne Books is a division of the New York-based St. Martin's Press."

So, to sum: Yay Michael! And: Get some sleep!

* * *

T'ai Pu was the closing performer of the festival, when you think about it. I mean, Sunday's programming consisted of a screening of Book Shorts, which are book-inspired videos, but that's not an in-person author. Which means that on Saturday night, it was Guy Maddin, George Toles & T'ai Pu.

Anyways, T'ai plunked his hands down on Aqua's counter after his performance, pulling out a ring that broke during his set for the first series of pictures. Then he remarked, "I'm a bangle person," and rolled up his sleeves to reveal a number of bracelets.

But those photos weren't as good, so you'll just have to imagine the bangles.

* * *

T'ai Pu's bio:

T’ai Pu, aka PuConA, was born in rhyme cyphas, groomed in drum circles, nourished by DJs and bands. His word/sound power is expressed through verbals (lyrics, written pieces), spitz (extemporaneous spoken word), voxbox (beatboxing, chants), and percussion. T’ai Pu has performed at jazz and folk festivals, radio-shows, nightclubs, special events, and community projects, and has recorded with several artists. He has captured the attention of young kids in schools and at Kidsfest with his lively poetry&music show, “Keep Sweepin’!” He’s equally adept with teens and adults, mesmerizing audiences with his verbal virtuosity and genuine warmth. T’ai Pu lives in Winnipeg.

* * *
Ariel Gordon is the Winnipeg-based author of two recent small press chapbooks and has had poetry published in fine lit mags such as Carousel, PRISM International and Prairie Fire.

Her first collection of poetry, Hump, is forthcoming from Ontario's Palimpsest Press in spring 2010.

When not being bookish, Ariel likes tromping through the woods taking macro photographs of mushrooms.

During the first half of THIN AIR, I usually make it to three quarters of my yah-yah-yah list.

But then, as the days pass, I start to get tired.

Events during the day, events at night...and I ruefully eye the filling sink, the un-shuffled laundry in the washer, mostly in passing. My daughter waves to me from the dining room table, where her dad is feeding her dinner.

This year, I made it to more Mainstages than ever before, but by Friday morning, I was tired, so I didn't make it to ANY of the Friday daytime events I'd circled. And the only reason I made Friday night's After Words event was because I was wearing my working-at-Aqua-Books hat...

But watching George Elliot Clarke read and talk at such length, with such great gory pleasure, about his I&I verse-novel, was rejuvenating.

His face nearly split open as he recited and he seemed eager to lose himself in the work, to inhabit the psyche of his 15 year-old self.

(GEC explained that he was reading through his teenage journals before donating them to a university library and he was compelled by a line here, a line there, so he copied them into his journal...and then a narrative appeared.)

(He also said this one was written for fun; the gory pleasure of sex & violence, music everywhere, the loose incredible energy of youth.)

It took THIN AIR staff nearly an hour to pry GEC away from the people who stayed to chat and get their books signed, an hour they clearly would have loved to spend sleeping, but it was a good way to spend my mid-fest slump.

(I should also note that Kelly Hughes, the owner of Aqua Books, sent me upstairs after he'd intro-ed GEC out of the kindness of his heart. He'd had me come in to mind the store while he played host, after all...)

Here are some pictures of the George Elliot Clarke reading at Red River College. I can't tell you how great it was. I spent all afternoon trying. If you saw him, you know what I mean.









It was awesome.

Seriously.

J.

* * *

Tim Wynne-Jones, who read a segment from The Uninvited about a ailing mother with designs on her doctor's emerald necklace, very cooperatively put his unadorned hands on the poppy-coloured on-stage couch. Of his hands, Wynne-Jones said, "I always felt they were sort of small."

* * *

Tim Wynne-Jones has 3 books out this year:

Pounce De Leon. Markham: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2008.
Rex Zero, the Great Pretender. Toronto: Groundwood Books, 2009.
The Uninvited. Cambridge: Candlewick Press, 2009.

* * *
Ariel Gordon is the Winnipeg-based author of two recent small press chapbooks and has had poetry published in fine lit mags such as Carousel, PRISM International and Prairie Fire.

Her first collection of poetry, Hump, is forthcoming from Ontario's Palimpsest Press in spring 2010.

When not being bookish, Ariel likes tromping through the woods taking macro photographs of mushrooms.

And so it went... I made my way to Polo Park expecting to be early enough to browse the bargain book section before the event was to begin. But when I got there (at 6:45) Robert J Sawyer was already up front talking about the process of adapting his book to tv. When I inquired I was told that the time was bumped to 6:30 as opposed to the 7:30 start time in the program (I guess Charlene was onto something when she said check the website because things can change).

But anyway, I was there, and the show hadn't started yet.

BUT...the place was packed! The only chairs left were at the very back and when I finally wormed my way through the crowd to an empty seat and sat down I found I could only see the top third of the screen. This was just not going to work, so when the show finally started, after hearing Sawyer yap on and on about how good the acting was and how satisfied he was and about how much money he was making, and on and on, I, along with the gentleman next to me, decided to stand up so we could see the screen better. This was okay, but not the most comfortable way to spend an hour, but hey, there are commercial breaks, right? I can sit down then.

WRONG. There were commercial breaks, but before the first one even arrived who should come in even later than myself and find and sit in the seat that I had been sitting in? Why Christian Bok of course, along with his ragtag gang of two.

So there I was, standing at the back, leaning against a wall of military history books, right behind Christian Bok and company. FOR AN HOUR.

Was it worth it?

I kept telling myself that there was always the option of cutting out early, maybe even heading to the mainstage where there are chairs and cheese and Margaret Sweatman, but I. could. not. seem. to. pull. myself. away.

It caught me, it pulled me in. The premise is this: everyone in the world blacks out at the exact same time for the exact same length of time, 2 minutes 17 seconds. During that time, each person has a vision of their life exactly six months into the future.

Crazy, right? That couldn't happen. But I guess that's why they call it speculative fiction. Anyway, it's one of those serial dramas, like Lost, which means you have to keep watching every week or you won't know what's going on. But you'll want to know what's going on so you will watch because it's interesting and mysterious. They got me. Now I have to try to find someway to watch it next week to see what happens. And then, I'll have to find someway to watch it the week after that, and the week after that. This is not good. Especially since I don't have any tv stations. But, with things the way they are these days, I can probably find it online which would be just dandy.

There are also some pseudo-interesting philosophical undertones to the story: questions of whether or not us knowing the future can allow us to change the future, and things like that.

It was all pretty good, but I kind of wish I hadn't gone, because now I have to keep watching and if I don't, I'll forever be left wondering why it was that Harold (from Harold and Kumar) didn't have a vision...a FlashForward of his future.

Sawyer was extremely happy with how it turned out and it seemed Christian Bok and friends were as well, when at the end they started chanting, "Sawyer, Sawyer, Sawyer."

Thankfully, no one else joined in.

****

Brandon James Bertram is an English/Creative Writing student at the University of Winnipeg. He reads, writes, rides bikes, and drinks coffee.

Usually I like the festival’s Poetry Night. It’s my favorite. They have poetry and that stuff I’m going to try and make it one post without mentioning. Poetry night has always been like a little slice of heaven for me, until now.

It all started out normal enough, heck, I’d say better than normal; my wife was going to be joining me for this one. Going out isn’t something we get to do very often. We have two small children at home so getting out is a real treat. We were both pretty excited. She wore a blue skirt and I wore a brown slacks. She looked beautiful and I wouldn’t detract.

We arrived at quarter to 8 and slipped past the door people. I use the words “slipped past” due to the fact my wife never paid. That’s right. She actively engaged in the theft of poetry. I tried to stop her, but she’s really pretty and she makes me feel better about myself, so what can you do? Me, I aid and abed.

After committing our requisite crime for the evening, we went to celebrate with a drink at the bar. Thievery makes you thirsty. We filled up on red wine and cubed things, and headed to our seats. The lights dimmed and the show was on.

Some people read some poetry.

Then there was intermission.

We went back to the bar and had more wine. My wife found out where to get the stuff in the baskets that had the green bits in it and we lent Ariel a camera. Pretty normal night. Pretty nice night. Until the second set. As the house lights dimmed I caught my first glimpse of him, David O’Meara; the man who would seduce my wife.

Yup. That’s right. David O’Meara seduced my wife. Right there. Last night. In front of everyone. I swear they all heard her gasp. I did. It was right after the last line in the boat accident poem.

Ya, that’s right, he seduces women with boat accident poems. He’s that good.

Anyway, I tried to comfort myself with little lies. You know like, “She hates poets.” “She hates boats.” “You’re good looking Jay, really, you are.” Nothing worked, I knew she was his.

I was so distraught. I barely understood a word Christian Bok said. And really, looking around, I fear I wasn’t the only one.

As soon as the lights came on I did the only thing a man can do in this situation, I grabbed my wife’s arm and ran. I had to get her away from O’Meara’s wonderful web of words, but she was too far gone. She quickly swung our course towards the McNally Robinson table and snapped up the nearest copy of any book with the name O’Meara printed on the cover.

I lowered my head and paid.

While the book girls giggled, we spent the next 20 minutes waiting for an autograph.

I spent the next 20 minutes hoping there’d be cheese left on the way out.

Damn.

Almost.

* * *
Jason Diaz is a Winnipeg-based writer and stay at home dad. His poetry and prose has been published in dark leisure magazine. Last year he joined the Thin Air collective and has been awaiting the festival’s arrival ever since. He has still only been interviewed by The Uniter once, and is sadly no longer licensed to drive forklift.

I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed by all the readings (mainly poetry with a little prose scattered about) and am going to take a break tonight and just watch some TV. I'm going to go to McNally Robinson Polo Park for the Premier of FlashForward, the television series based on Sci-Fi author Robert J Sawyer's book of the same name.

I've never really been a big sci-fi fan, but like I said, I need to take a break from the readings and try something a little different.

Should be interesting. But I don't think there'll be cheese there.

****

Brandon James Bertram is an English/Creative Writing student at the University of Winnipeg. He reads, writes, rides bikes, and drinks coffee.

* * *

After receiving the Banff Center Bliss Carman Poetry Award - i.e. the ring - Linda Frank contemplated the other rings she always wears, a simple wedding band on the one hand and a silver double-ring on the other. She adjusted the rings, moving the Bliss from one hand to the other and wiggling her fingers until her hands felt 'right.'

* * *

Linda Frank's Books:

Cobalt Moon Embrace. Ottawa: Buschek Books, 2002.
Kahlo: The World Split Open. Ottawa: Buschek Books, 2008.

* * *
Ariel Gordon is the Winnipeg-based author of two recent small press chapbooks and has had poetry published in fine lit mags such as Carousel, PRISM International and Prairie Fire.

Her first collection of poetry, Hump, is forthcoming from Ontario's Palimpsest Press in spring 2010.

When not being bookish, Ariel likes tromping through the woods taking macro photographs of mushrooms.

It’s been a different festival this year for me.

Last year, I attended far more of the afternoon book chats and far fewer of the Mainstages.

Mainstage #1: Bonnie Burnard’s tough frailness while reading and thinking through how to describe her book about middle-aged friends.

How she quietly and unmusically took over the stage after the more performative Gregory Scofield, despite the fact that even she didn’t think she could do it.

This year, it’s been Nooner/Mainstage every day and I haven’t hit any of the uni readings. They’re sort of like my dirty little lit secret, you know? Mostly attended by students, who get assigned to write something about the book or the author, they’re a different window into the festival, a different audience, a different attempt to connect with readers…

Afternoon Book Chat #1: Observing the unspooling of Cyril Dabydeen quick and prodigious memory. He was charmingly self-praising and even, as THIN AIR director Charlene Diehl noted, glossed his own poems for the audience. And they had a little afternoon tea-table set up, where I was able to get orange pekoe and date square.

But I will console myself collegially tomorrow with George Elliott Clarke at RRC and the Friday afternoon panel (The Future!) at UW.

That panels consitutes another of my festival traditions. No matter the subject, no matter the authors, they’re always always memorable.

Mainstage #2: The familiarity terrain – geographically and, also I think poetically - of David O’Meara’s S. Korea poems. We talked bibimbop afterwards, mostly because I was feeling nostalgic about my time in S. Korea. Also, although I only caught the tail-end of Jaqueline Larson’s reading, I greatly appreciated her storm-trooper boots but also the sass and energy of her work.

Tonight is my last Mainstage, on the theme Love Actually. I haven’t seen local Struan Sinclair read yet, or heard Margaret Sweatman’s new novel yet, and both Rhea Tregebov and Tim Wynne-Jones’s fictional work is entirely new to me.

See you there?

Today at the nooner Jeanette Lynes told us that it took her 7 years to write her debut novel. (It’s called The Factory Voice and I’m gonna get me a copy.)
But Ariel quickly got her to point out that during that time she had also published numerous books of poetry, and also she teaches.

But anyway, 7 years has got me thinking.

I have been sorting through a lot of thoughts lately, about what makes a writer. What validates a writer as a writer and what makes a writer ‘good’.
I’ve concluded that, despite the popular pressure of
publishing = writer = good writer= writer that feels validated in their craft

its all bs and everyone that wants to write is entitled to be called a writer, and who even knows what’s good or not when its all based on opinion anyway and there are SO many different and wonderful styles of writing in the world.

Really it’s about people having a voice and being able to share that voice with other people, and about connecting with other people through voice.

So that means that sometimes you might not write a damn thing for months, or years, or sometimes you find your grandma’s old journal but its not actually a journal, it’s a bunch of short stories scribbled down and partly finished and you realize that she is a writer and you are a writer and even that girl in your first year English class who really liked to write about the time she found her cat dead and rotting and how it was really just a poorly veiled metaphor for how she felt in high school, she is a writer too.

I know I’m being idealistic. And I know that there are probably some of you out there that are editors or teachers and you are like “Courtney, I have seen all kinds of writing, and trust me darling, not everyone that wants to be a writer is a writer”
And I respect that I have never been in your position.
I also respect that it can be important to support people in developing their writing.
(but always we have to ask-who's support? who's ideas of developing?)

I just feel like it is so dangerous to put limitations on who can write, and what is good, and what is good enough to be shared. What I am interested in is knowing that everyone feels like their voice is good and valid and valued.

Because writing is an act of resistance.

All of this has nothing really to do with Jeanette Lynes or her reading today. I really enjoyed what she shared of her novel, it was fun and intriguing and it made me laugh. And she also wrote a poem about her mother’s feet and I liked that too. Oh, and I really like her hair.

Have a good day.
See you tonight at mainstage.






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, and dislikes cotton socks. She wrote a thesis once.

Bloggers at the nooner, having made up.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone

Sometimes, when playing Scrabble, I find myself facing a tray full of vowels, consider myself unlucky, and carefully add one or maybe even two of them onto a previously placed consonant on the board, making a word like 'eye' or 'ewe' or 'tea' or 'tee,' for minimal points, and reach into the bag of letters with closed eyes hoping for anything other than an a, e, i, o, or u.

From now on when I find myself in that situation I'll think of Christian Bok (I don't know how to place the dots over the o) and wonder what he would do in a similar situation. Maybe he'd find an N on the board and make a word like 'eunoia,' the title of the book that is his wild and daring love affair with vowels.

Hearing Bok read from Eunoia (which, as it happens, is the shortest word in the English language to contain all five vowels) at last night's mainstage poetry bash was an experience to say the least. An experience all together different from reading the work on one's own.

In fact, I was so into the reading that I didn't even think about the cheese on the table near the bar! Imagine that.

***

See Christian Bok today (Thursday) at 1:00pm in room 3M69 at the University of Winnipeg.

****

Brandon James Bertram is an English/Creative Writing student at the University of Winnipeg. He reads, writes, rides bikes, and drinks coffee.

* * *

Priscila Uppal originally aped Elisabeth Bachinsky's on-the-shoulders pose but then quickly flipped her hands over to show me her palms, saying that she had "old people's hands" and that "fortune tellers love my hands, all the lines."

* * *

Over the next year, Priscila Uppal's books include:

The Exile Book of Canadian Sports Stories (Editor: Priscila Uppal). Exile Editions, 2009.
To Whom It May Concern. Penguin India, 2009.
Successful Tragedies: Selected Poetry 1998-2010. UK: Bloodaxe Books, 2010.

* * *
Ariel Gordon is the Winnipeg-based author of two recent small press chapbooks and has had poetry published in fine lit mags such as Carousel, PRISM International and Prairie Fire.

Her first collection of poetry, Hump, is forthcoming from Ontario's Palimpsest Press in spring 2010.

When not being bookish, Ariel likes tromping through the woods taking macro photographs of mushrooms.