Meet the Composer featuring Greg Lowe Tuesday Sep 21 2010 7:30 pm - Grant Park in the Travel Alcove, Winnipeg Post a comment

Presenting Contrasting Compositional Situations.

Greg Lowe was born in Winnipeg Canada and began composing his own music immediately after picking up his brother’s guitar at age 10. Initially inspired by blues and rock musicians he eventually found jazz, and proceeded to Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton to learn the basics of jazz harmony. In 1985 on return from a two week stint studying in New York with guitarists John Scofield, John Abercrombie and Steve Kahn, Lowe put a call into Prakash John, leader of Toronto’s premier R&B band The Lincolns, and shortly after began four years of touring coast to coast with many of Toronto’s finest players.

Focusing on composition as much as guitar performance, Lowe’s body of work has grown to include large orchestra, chamber ensembles, theatre, television, dance, radio musicals and dramas. He has released seven CDs after returning to Winnipeg in 1990, all featuring original music in both electric and acoustic formats.

Valerie Fortney -- Reading & Signing Tuesday Sep 21 2010 7:30 pm - Grant Park in Prairie Ink Restaurant, Winnipeg Post a comment

Sunray: The Life and Death of Captain Nichola Goddard (Key Porter)

Twenty-six-year-old Captain Nichola Goddard was the sixteenth Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan. She also earned herself a spot in the history books: the first female Canadian soldier to die in combat. Goddard, say her friends and family, would have hated being singled out for her gender. She was not just a soldier on equal footing with her fellow troops; she was a leader-a “sunray” in military parlance. Sunray examines how a woman raised by self-described “left-wing hippies” came to find herself fighting – and dying – in Afghanistan. Based on in-depth interviews as well as exclusive access to letters and journals, the book tells the story of a remarkable twenty-first century soldier, taking a look at the decision to serve and, ultimately, at the costs.

Valerie Fortney is a veteran Canadian journalist with a successful career in broadcasting, magazines and newspapers. Valerie’s feature writing has appeared across North America and around the world, in publications such as Chatelaine, The Los Angeles Times and Readers Digest International. She has worked at the Calgary Herald since 1988. Valerie was inspired to write Sunray, her first book, after she met the Goddard family in the aftermath of their daughter’s death and wanted to know more about the fallen soldier and her story. She lives in Calgary, Alberta.

Please note that this event will now begin at 7:30 rather than 8:00.

Sharon McCartney and Craig Francis Power -- THIN AIR Afternoon Book Chat Wednesday Sep 22 2010 2:30 pm - Grant Park in the Atrium, Winnipeg Post a comment

The Afternoon Book Chats are the perfect excuse for a coffee break! The Atrium at McNally Robinson Booksellers takes on a café ambiance for this series of relaxed conversations about writing moderated by THIN AIR’s own Charlene Diehl. The messy challenges of family relationships prove to be irresistible for poet Sharon McCartney and novelist Craig Francis Power, and they’ll discuss that draw over the course of this afternoon.

Sharon McCartney has an MFA in poetry from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a law degree from the University of Victoria in British Columbia. She has published several poetry collections, including Under the Abdominal Wall, which was selected for the BC 2000 Book Awards Program, and The Love Song of Laura Ingalls Wilder, which won the Acorn-Plantos Award for People’s Poetry. Her new collection is For & Against. A former resident of Victoria, she now works as a legal editor in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and is a member of the editorial staff of The Fiddlehead.

Craig Francis Power is one of the new storytelling voices out of Newfoundland.. His debut novel, Blood Relatives, has just been released by Pedlar Press. While still in manuscript, it won two coveted Newfoundland writing awards: The Percy Janes First Novel Award, and the Fresh Fish Award. As the Fresh Fish jury citation puts it: "Darkly comic in intent, and times hilarious, at other times unnerving, Blood Relatives creates an utterly believable fictional world that turns the conventions of the coming-of-age novel inside out." Power lives in St. John’s.

Globus Journeys -- Travel Information Night Wednesday Sep 22 2010 7:00 pm - Grant Park in the Travel Alcove, Winnipeg Post a comment

Amazing Cruises & Safaris presents 2011 Avalon Waterways Tulip Time river cruise.

This informative Travel Talk from host Connie Szczerba, Sales Manager, Globus Family of Brands, will focus on a river cruise travelling through Holland and Belgium in the spring. This cruise takes in everything from the fishing village of Volendam to the blooming beauty of the Keukenhof Gardens.

Bill Stilwell -- Book Launch Wednesday Sep 22 2010 8:00 pm - Grant Park in Prairie Ink Restaurant, Winnipeg Post a comment

Manitoba Wild (William Street Publishing)

Many of Manitoba’s most noteworthy and interesting natural treasures are not well-known or well-promoted. The secret to exploring the province’s wild landscape is knowing where to go and how to get there. Manitoba Wild takes readers on scenic drives to places of unmatched natural beauty with spectacular wildlife and nature-viewing opportunities.

Bill Stilwell was born and raised in rural Manitoba. He is an award winning outdoor writer, travel writer, journalist, author and photographer specializing in nature, outdoors and travel. The author of a syndicated newspaper column, he has written thousands of published articles for all types of periodicals and newspapers across North America ranging from Outdoor Canada Magazine to the Toronto Sun. He is also an award winning photographer and the author of Manitoba, Naturally.

Carolyn Gray and Michael Wex -- THIN AIR Afternoon Book Chat Thursday Sep 23 2010 2:30 pm - Grant Park in the Atrium, Winnipeg Post a comment

The Afternoon Book Chats are the perfect excuse for a coffee break! The Atrium at McNally Robinson Booksellers takes on a café ambiance for this series of relaxed conversations about writing moderated by THIN AIR’s own Charlene Diehl. The role of secrets in the fabric of families and communities fuels work by local playwright Carolyn Gray and Jewish novelist Michael Wex and they’ll explore this connection during their conversation.

Carolyn Gray is a Winnipeg writer, actor, director, designer, and puppeteer. She is a founding member of Adhere and Deny Object Puppet Theatre, helmed by Grant Guy. Her full-length play, The Elmwood Visitation, was produced by Theatre Projects Manitoba in 2007 and won the Manitoba Day Award for excellence in archival research. Catarinetta was produced as the MTYP Junior Company the following year. Her most recent play, North Main Gothic, premiered this April with Theatre Projects Manitoba. Gray was the 2008 winner of the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer.

Michael Wex is one of the leading lights in the current revival of Yiddish, lecturing widely on Yiddish and Jewish culture. He is the author of three books of non-fiction: Born to Kvetch, a New York Times bestseller; Just Say Nu, a book which offers more Yiddish vocabulary and support; and How to be a Mentsh (and Not a Shmuck), a happiness manual of sorts. Wex also has three books of fiction: Shlepping the Exile; The Adventures of Micah Mushmelon, Boy Talmudist; and his corrosively funny new novel The Frumkiss Family Business. Wex was born in Lethbridge, Alberta, and lives now in Toronto.

Alissa York -- Book Launch Thursday Sep 23 2010 8:00 pm - Grant Park in Prairie Ink Restaurant, Winnipeg Post a comment

Fauna (Random House of Canada)

The wide ravine that bisects the city is home to countless species of urban wildlife, including human waifs and strays. When Edal Jones can't cope with the casual cruelty she encounters in her job as a federal wildlife officer, she finds herself drawn to a beacon of solace nestled in the valley under the unlikely banner of an auto-wrecker's yard. Guy Howell, the handsome proprietor, offers sanctuary to animals and people alike: a half-starved hawk and a brood of orphaned raccoon kits, a young soldier whose spirit failed him during his first tour of duty, a teenage runaway and her massive black dog. Guy is well versed in the delicate workings of damaged beings, and he might just stand a chance at mending Edal's heart.

But before love can bloom, the little community must come to terms with a different breed of lost soul — a young man whose brutal backwoods childhood is catching up with him, causing him to persecute the creatures that call the valley home.

Alissa York's highly acclaimed novels include Mercy and Effigy, which was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Her short stories have won the Journey Prize and the Bronwen Wallace Award. She has lived all over Canada, and now makes her home in Toronto.

kevin mcpherson eckhoff and Ariel Gordon -- THIN AIR Afternoon Book Chat Friday Sep 24 2010 2:30 pm - Grant Park in the Atrium, Winnipeg Post a comment

The Afternoon Book Chats are the perfect excuse for a coffee break! The Atrium at McNally Robinson Booksellers takes on a café ambiance for this series of relaxed conversations about writing moderated by THIN AIR’s own Charlene Diehl. From irreverent games to delicately rendered impressions, kevin mcpherson eckhoff and Ariel Gordon show the power and play in poetry.

kevin mcpherson eckhoff’s visual poetry has appeared in the anthology Boredom Fighters and in such magazines as dandelion and filling Station. A winner of the Shaunt Basmajian Chapbook Award, he studied English literature at the University of Calgary. Rhapsodomancy, his first full-length poetry collection, was recently published by Coach House. It dives into two notation systems, Shorthand and Unifon, in order to explore the crossed lines between visual language and voice. eckhoff recently traded his life for a house in Armstrong, British Columbia, and a job teaching literature at Okanagan College.

Ariel Gordon is a Winnipeg-based writer and editor. She has two chapbooks to her credit, The Navel Gaze and Guidelines: Malaysia & Indonesia, 1999, and this spring, Palimpsest Press published her first full-length poetry collection, Hump. Gordon coordinates literary events at Aqua Books and for several years has been the driving force behind the THIN AIR’s Hot Air blog. She is the 2010 recipient of the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Writer. When not being bookish, she chases her young daughter or tromps through the woods photographing mushrooms.

Cendrine Marrouat -- Book Launch Friday Sep 24 2010 7:30 pm - Grant Park in the Atrium, Winnipeg Post a comment

Five Years and Counting: A Journey into the Mind of Soul Poetry

Poetry is an evolutional process, a reflection of the human mind. Every person goes through life and changes on a regular basis. That is exactly what Five Years and Counting is about. Cendrine Marrouat, the author, has regrouped five years of poetry and arranged her pieces according to life’s most important stages: birth, teenage years, adulthood, and elevation. This last stage represents man’s understanding and realization of the ultimate fulfillment in life.

Cendrine Marrouat was born in Toulouse, southern France, in 1978, moving to Canada in 2003 where she writes in both English and French. She is the author of five collections of poetry and a spoken word album. Marrouat’s poetry and journalism have been published online and in many magazines. A translator by profession and a former teacher, Marrouat has also authored two plays and is an aspiring photographer. She is a member of the Manitoba Writers’ Guild and live in Winnipeg.

Starlight Jazz Friday Sep 24 2010 8:00 pm - Grant Park in Prairie Ink Restaurant, Winnipeg Post a comment

Live Music

Mainstream Jazz

D.G. Biggs Saturday Sep 25 2010 8:00 pm - Grant Park in Prairie Ink Restaurant, Winnipeg Post a comment

Live Music

Acoustic Blues/Jazz/Folk

Ken Kowal -- Book Launch Sunday Sep 26 2010 2:00 pm - Grant Park in the Atrium, Winnipeg Post a comment

Gimp Crow (Turnstone Press)

A quirky little set of rhymes about a crow with a bad leg blossoms into a free-flying grace of words as the clumsy bird tears free from his boring life in the prairies and his nagging “ol lady” in search of a bigger destiny. Along the way, Gimp Crow collects a magpie from Alberta and a raven from the West Coast, and learns about love and loss.

This collection takes Turnstone Press back to its original poetry roots in the grand (or rather modest) tradition of Dennis Cooley, evoking prairie simplicity of language and an unpretentious approach to the age-old themes of self-discovery and yearning for a different life. Evoking dust-bowl prairie, Hank Williams songs of yearning, and a simple, but meaningful life, Kowal’s story poems bring to life a character that speaks to the heart of any prairie-dweller. Turns of phrase and constant, light-hearted word play make this collection enjoyable to read and accessible to non-poetry readers.

Ken Kowal is a Winnipeg resident who has long been involved in the city’s poetry scene. His chapbook I dream of my father’s hands (1997) was short listed for the Heaven Chapbook award in 1998, and his poems have been featured in the Poetry in Motion project in several cities. He has published two smaller collections of poetry.

Barbara Bowes -- Book Launch Monday Sep 27 2010 7:00 pm - Grant Park in the Atrium, Winnipeg Post a comment

Taming the Workplace Tigers (Legacy Bowes Group)

For many of us, the environment we work in every day can feel like a jungle fraught with danger, pitfalls and calamity. Barbara Bowes knows this all too well and brings her wealth of experience and expertise to help you not only survive, but thrive! By revealing key strategies and coping mechanisms, Bowes will help you navigate your way up the corporate ladder and teach you the skills you need to work effectively with everyone you meet. The strategies presented within these pages are intended to help you to take charge of your career and create positive and lasting change.

Barbara is President of Legacy Bowes Group located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She is a Certified Human Resource Management Professional (CHRP– Fellow), a Certified Management Consultant, (CMC), and holds a Master of Administration in Education. Certified in a number of human resource and proprietary operational strategies, Barbara recently completed all the coursework for a PH.D in business and leadership. A weekly newspaper columnist and the host of the radio program BoweKnows, Barbara has become a leading and respected authority on human Resources.

Zofia Monika Dove -- Book Launch Tuesday Sep 28 2010 7:30 pm - Grant Park in Prairie Ink Restaurant, Winnipeg Post a comment

Unexpected Gifts

In 1987 Zofia Monika Dove immigrated to Canada from Poland, unable to communicate in English. Her Polish Physiotherapist’s credentials were not recognized but finally in 1989 she was employed as an Occupational Therapy Technician at a large hospital in Winnipeg. For the past 20 years she has worked in Manitoba’s rehabilitation services.

To her surprise, she started writing poetry in English in 2006 after being inspired by one of her clients. Her first critics were gravely ill, elderly people who encouraged her to share her poetry with a wider audience. She began sharing her poetry in various public places: open mic events in local bookstores, nursing homes, assisted living residences, even pubs. Her poems were published by the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba, both Grace and St. Boniface Hospitals, and by Cancer Care Manitoba. Her audiences spanned all ages. There were burn survivors, professors involved in teaching writing, lawyers, physicians and even psychologists. She read her poetry to Ukrainian, Polish, Native, Italian and French for whom English was a second language.

Zofia’s poetry has been described by the listeners as deep, inspirational, moving, healing, and universal. She will be reading selections of her work at the 19th Annual Provincial Hospice and Palliative Care Manitoba Conference on September 24th.