THIN AIR 2008
September 21 - 28 septembre, 2008

Keith Maillard

Keith Maillard was born in Wheeling, WV, in 1942 and has lived in Vancouver since 1970. He won the Gerald Lampert Award for his poetry collection, Dementia Americana. His novels have been shortlisted for several prizes, including the Governor General's Literary Award and the Commonwealth Literary Prize for Fiction. Motet won the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. In 2004 he was awarded the Polish American Historical Association's Creative Arts Prize for The Clarinet Polka, inducted into the Wheeling, West Virginia Hall of Fame, and awarded the West Virginia Library Association Literary Merit Award. His new novel, Looking Good, is the fourth in his epic project, Difficulty at the Beginning (Brindle & Glass).

Chandra Mayor

Chandra Mayor's work has been anthologized in Exposed: New Writing by Women, The Cyclops Review '02, Breathing Fire II, and Post-Prairie: An Anthology of New Poetry. Her first book, August Witch: poems, was short-listed for the Carol Shields Winnipeg book award and the Mary Scorer Best Book by a Manitoba Publisher, and won the Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for best first book. Her second book, Cherry (conundrum), a novel set in the Winnipeg skinhead/punk scene of the early 90s, was shortlisted for the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction and won the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award. Mayor was recognized with the John Hirsch Award for most promising writer. She lives in Winnipeg.

Steve Mcormond

Steve McOrmond was born in Nova Scotia and grew up on Prince Edward Island. His poems have appeared in literary journals in Canada and elsewhere, as well as in the anthology, Breathing Fire 2: Canada's New Poets. Among his awards are the Milton Acorn Poetry Award, the Alfred G Bailey Prize, second prize in This Magazine's Great Canadian Literary Hunt, and a "Highly Commended" designation in the 2005 Petra Kenney International Poetry Competition. His first book, Lean Days, met with rave reviews and was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Award. Wolsak & Wynn has just released his brilliant new volume, Primer on the Hereafter. McOrmond lives in Toronto.

AndrÉE A Michaud

Andrée A Michaud has built a distinguished oeuvre since La Femme de Sath, a book unanimously acclaimed by critics in Quebec. Her fifth novel, Le Ravissement, won a Governor General's Award for Fiction in 2001, and was nominated for several other prizes, as was Le Pendu de Trempes. This latter title has just been appeared as The River of Dead Trees (Coach House). This elegant translation by Nathalie Stephens tracks a man who is obsessively untangling history to discover the cause of a childhood friend's death. A Radio-Canada review warns: "This book will make readers experience moments of anxiety bordering on insanity." Michaud lives in Montreal.

AndrÉE A. Michaud (Francais)

Andrée A. Michaud est née à Saint-Sébastien (Haute-Beauce). Les paysages de son enfance et de son adolescence ont profondément marqué son oeuvre. Elle a publié cinq romans unanimement salués par la critique : Le Ravissement (L'Instant même, 2001), prix du Gouverneur général en 2001, Les Derniers Jours de Noah Eisenbaum (L'Instant même, 1998), Alias Charlie (Leméac, 1994), Portraits d'après modèles (Leméac, 1991) et La Femme de Sath (QA, 1987). Elle a également écrit deux textes pour le théâtre, un recueil de textes « imagés » intitulé Projections (J'ai vu, 2003), en collaboration avec la photographe Angela Grauerholz, ainsi que divers textes de fiction et commentaires critiques dans différents périodiques.

Carmelo Militano

Carmelo Militano has published two chapbooks of poetry, Ariadne's Thread and The Minotaur's Keys. His first book, Adriadne's Thread, won the F.G. Bressani Award for poetry in 2004. In 2002, he won the San Bernardo Literary Prize for Poetry, awarded to an Italian living abroad. Militano has done freelance writing and broadcasting for CBC Radio One, and is a poetry reviewer for CV2. He is a member of the League of Canadian Poets, the Association of Italian-Canadian Writers, and the Manitoba Writers Guild. His latest work is a travelogue/memoir called The Fate of Olives (Olive Press). He lives in Winnipeg.

Alayna Munce

Alayna Munce grew up in Huntsville, Ontario, and has spent most of her adulthood in the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto. Her work has appeared in various Canadian literary journals and has three times won prizes in Grain's annual Short Grain Contest. In 2003 she won second prize in the CBC Literary Awards' travel writing category, and in 2004 she was featured in Breathing Fire 2: Canada's New Poets. Her debut novel, When I Was Young & In My Prime (Nightwood Editions), a pastiche of voices, diary entries, conversations, and lists, has met with critical acclaim from every direction, and was nominated for the 2006 Trillium Book Award.

Angela Narth

Angela Narth is a Winnipeg writer who brings to her work a background in educational psychology and plenty of experience in the classroom. She has written three books for children, and they've gathered both critical attention and loyal fans. Her first book, Simon with Two Left Feet, about a clumsy Canada Goose, was short-listed for the McNally Robinson Book for Young People Award in 2002. Her newest book, Fergus, Prince of Frogs (GWEV Publishing) is a medieval tale about a homely frog who teaches his friends what friendship and belonging is all about. It was shortlisted for this year's McNally Robinson Book for Young People Award.

Steve Noyes

Steve Noyes has received strong commendations for both his poetry and his short fiction. Responding to his first collection, Backing into Heaven, Al Purdy put it this way: "In a sober and carefully understated voice I say: this is a damn good poet." Noyes taught English at Qing Hua University in Beijing and in Dong Yan Jiao, a small town outside Beijing, in 1997-1998, and that experience provides the backdrop for his evocative new book, Ghost Country (Brick Books). At once lyrical and unsentimental, these poems spring from a lover of a culture who is also, inescapably, an outsider. Noyes grew up in Winnipeg and lives in Victoria, BC.

Anna Paganelli

Anna Paganelli was born in Valenzano, Bari in the Italian region of Puglie and came to Canada in 1967. After 15 years of experience in the specialty food industry, Anna decided to join the De Luca family as instructor of the De Luca's cooking school. Anna prepared all the food for the pictures in the recently published cookbook, The Italian Way: Cooking with the De Luca's (Alba Publishing).

Nicole Pellegrin (Francais)

Née en France en 1944, Nicole Pellegrin est chargée de recherches en histoire au CNRS à Paris. Elle s'intéresse à la période du XVIe au XIXe siècles pour comprendre la culture matérielle des sociétés préindustrielles et les façons de faire communes ou différentes selon l'un ou l'autre sexe. Elle a étudié, entre autres, les sociétés de jeunesse et leurs fêtes, l'utilisation de divers objets textiles pour définir l'identité et les lieux d'apprentissage du travail au féminin. Elle a publié de nombreux articles et livres sur les pratiques vestimentaires, les femmes travesties et les fêtes collectives. Dernière parution : Histoires d'Historiennes (Univ. de Saint-Étienne, 2006).

Louisa Picoux (Francais)

Louisa Picoux est née en Espagne en 1936. Après des études en France, elle enseigne le français et l'espagnol au Vietnam et en Côte-d'Ivoire. Arrivée au Manitoba en 1978, elle poursuit des études à l'Université du Manitoba et au Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface. Elle devient ensuite bibliothécaire. Elle a publié au Manitoba, en France et au Québec plusieurs livres pour les jeunes, notamment Légendes manitobaines (Plaines, 1987), Pauline, détective en tuque (Blé, 1991) et À la recherche de Riel (Blé, 2002). Elle lance un roman pour les jeunes, Pas de panique, au cours du présent festival.

Laurent Poliquin (Francais)

Laurent Poliquin oeuvre dans le milieu de l'édition littéraire au Manitoba. Il a publié trois recueils de poèmes aux Éditions des Plaines, dont Le vertigo du tremble (2005). Ses poèmes ont également été publiés en revue au Québec et en France. En 2006, il est finaliste au prix de poésie Castello di Duino en Italie, et l'un de ses poèmes est sélectionné dans le cadre de Poetry in Motion, un projet de publication de poésie dans les autobus de Winnipeg. Il membre du comité de rédaction de la revue de poésie Contemporary Verse 2.

K I Press

K I (Karen) Press grew up in Edmonton and in the Peace River country of northern Alberta, and has also lived in Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto. Her previous publications include two poetry collections, Spine and Pale Red Footprints. Gaspereau has just published a new volume, Types of Canadian Women, Volume II, a quirkily subversive retake on a 1903 illustrated biographical dictionary of society women--Volume I--she encountered in her work as an archival researcher. Telling "just the good parts" produces a collection that's irreverent, generous, painful, and wise. Press has recently moved to Winnipeg.

Rachael Preston

A native of Yorkshire, England, Rachael Preston has taught English in Tokyo, Vancouver, London, and the Czech Republic. She now lives in Hamilton, where she teaches creative writing at several nearby universities and colleges, and chairs gritLIT, Hamilton's writers' festival. In 2001, she won the Arts Hamilton Literary Award and was nominated for the Journey Prize. Her acclaimed first novel, Tent of Blue, has just been followed by The Wind Seller (Goose Lane), a story of 20th-century piracy in the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion. The Globe and Mail calls it "a literary page-turner, churning with thrilling scenes . . . seamlessly constructed."

Louise RenÉE (Francais)

Neé à Winnipeg, Louise Renée est chez elle au milieu des vastes prairies qui, selon ell, "ouvrent l'esprit à l'imaginaire". Docteur en littérature française, elle enseigne à l"Université du Manitoba depuis 1982. Louise Renée a publié plusieurs articles sur divers auteurs et a co-édite un liver sur Simone de Beauvoir (2005). Elle participe activement aux conférences sur le roman contemporain qui on lieu au Canada, aux États-Unis et en Europe. Tír na n'Org (Terre de la jeunesse éternelle) par aux Éditions du Blé en juin 2006, est son premier roman.

Leo Brent Robillard

Leo Brent Robillard's work has appeared in major journals in Canada, the US and Australia. His poetry has been anthologized, and recognized with the George Johnston Poetry Prize. In 2004, he won the Cold Steel Crime and Mystery Award for his novella, The Prodigal Son. His first novel, Leaving Wyoming, was a semi-finalist for the 2005 Re-Lit Award and a Bartley's Top Five selection in The Globe and Mail. His second novel, Houdini's Shadow (Turnstone), sweeps readers into the decadent underworlds of Montreal and New Orleans in the 20s and 30s. Robillard lives in southeastern Ontario with his wife, their two children, and a Bethlehem of animals.

Eden Robinson

Eden Robinson, the daughter of a Haisla father and a Heiltsuk (Bella Bella) mother burst into visibility as a writer with Traplines, a collection of stories which was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and won the Winifred Holtby Prize. Monkey Beach, her first novel, met with critical acclaim as well, winning the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, BC Book Prize for Fiction, and making the shortlist for the Governor General's Award and the Giller Prize. Her wrenching new novel, Blood Sports (McClelland & Stewart), is set in Vancouver's Downtown East Side. Robinson lives near Kitimat BC.

Marie Rocque (Francais)

Marie Rocque est née à Cochenour (Ontario) et vit à Winnipeg. Titulaire d'un baccalauréat en arts et d'un baccalauréat en éducation, elle a aussi terminé un cours d'écriture pour enfants à l'Institute of Children's Literature au Connecticut. Mère de quatre enfants, elle a travaillé dans des garderies, des écoles et des bibliothèques. C'est lors d'un séjour à Churchill et sur la Terre de Baffin que Marie Rocque s'initie à la vie et aux traditions des habitants du Grand-Nord. En 2005 elle publie la deuxième édition du conte Etuk et Piqati (Plaines, 2005).

Denise Roig

Denise Roig lives in Montreal where she teaches creative writing and journalism and contributes to publications including the Montreal Gazette. She has traveled extensively, living on a kibbutz, exploring Italy and visiting the republic of Georgia, where she and her husband adopted their daughter. Her first short story collection, A Quiet Night and a Perfect End, was broadcast on CBC Radio's Between the Covers and published in French translation. Her stunning second collection, Any Day Now (Signature Editions), proves her to be "an expert anatomist of the human soul" (Vancouver Sun). Roig is at work on a new book, Butter Cream: A Year in a Montreal Pastry School.

Ian Ross

Ian Ross was born in McCreary, Manitoba, and now calls Winnipeg home. His first professional mainstage production, fareWel, won the 1997 Governor General's Award for Drama. His first children's play, Baloney!, about child poverty in Canada, was produced in 1998, and his second play, The Illustrated History of the Anishnawbe People, premiered in 2001. Other plays include The Gap, Bereav'd of Light (Scirocco Drama) and Heart of a Distant Tribe. Ross is also the force behind Joe from Winnipeg, a popular series of comic cultural commentaries on CBC Radio. The most recent Joe from Winnipeg publication is Joe from Winnipeg: All My Best (J Gordon Shillingford).

Kerry Ryan

Kerry Ryan lives and writes in a blue house in Winnipeg. Her poems have been published in The Windsor Review, CV2 and The New Quarterly and are forthcoming in Carousel, Grain and Prairie Fire. In 2002, a number of her poems were collected in Exposed, an anthology of Winnipeg women poets, published by The Muses' Company, an imprint of J Gordon Shillingford press. In 2005, she received support from the Winnipeg Arts Council to develop a book-length manuscript of poetry, for which she is currently seeking a publisher.

Devyani Saltzman

Devyani Saltzman, daughter of award-winning film maker Deepa Mehta and Canadian producer and director Paul Saltzman, was born in Toronto. She received a degree in Human Sciences from Oxford University, and works as a photojournalist and freelance writer. Her first book, Shooting Water (Key Porter), chronicles both the controversial filming of Mehta's film Water, the third in her Elements trilogy, and the gradual rebuilding of an estranged mother-daughter relationship. In starred reviews, the Library Journal names it "an essential read" and the Publishers Weekly calls it "a lush, evocative memoir that is emotional but never cloying." Saltzman lives in Toronto.

Louise-Michelle Sauriol (Francais)

Orthophoniste de formation, Louise-Michelle Sauriol s'intéresse très tôt à la littérature jeunesse et s'émerveille du pouvoir des contes sur l'expression du langage. Fascinée par les civilisations autochtones, l'histoire, les légendes, elle invente des récits pour jeunes lecteurs sous forme de contes et de romans. Louise-Michelle Sauriol consacre aujourd'hui la majeure partie de son temps à la littérature. Elle a publié Margot et la fièvre de l'or (Plaines, 1997) et, plus récemment, Les aventures du Géant Beaupré (Plaines, 2006).

Barbara Schott

Barbara Schott was born and raised in Winnipeg. She studied human ecology and literature at the University, and has always balanced parallel interests in writing and fashion. She was nominated for the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Writer in 1997, and won second place in the Prairie Fire poetry contest that same year. Brick Books published a collection of her poetry, Memoirs of an Almost Expedition, two years later. She is a poetry editor at Prairie Fire and an avid supporter of arts in the city. Schott lives in Winnipeg, but her work as a fashion designer frequently finds her at 35,000 feet, heading west.

Ellen Schwartz

Ellen Schwartz has found a lively and devoted audience with her many titles for young readers. Mr Belinsky's Bagels won the Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice Award in 1999. One of her popular Starshine series, Starshine on TV, was chosen as a Canadian Library Association Notable Book, and Jesse's Star was nominated for the Silver Birch Award, Red Cedar Award, and Chocolate Lily Award, and won a BC Millennium Book Award. This year, she has three new titles: Abby's Birds (Tradewind), a beautiful picture book, and two novels for middle years readers, Yossi's Goal (Orca) and Stealing Home (Tundra). Schwartz lives Burnaby BC.

Gregory Scofield

Gregory Scofield is a Métis poet, writer, activist and community worker whose maternal ancestry can be traced back five generations to the Red River Settlement and to Kinesota, Manitoba. He has published several acclaimed books of poetry, as well as the memoir Thunder Through My Veins: Memories of a Métis Childhood, and has garnered both the Canadian Authors Association Air Canada Award and the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. Scofield's most recent book, Singing Home the Bones (Raincoast), uses poetry and storytelling to reclaim the untold history of the Métis people and his own biological family--including his mysterious father, who turns out to be Jewish. Scofield and his partner live in Calgary.

Birk Sproxton

A prairie bird, Birk Sproxton perches in Red Deer, Alberta, and regularly criss-crosses the prairies. His books include the prize-winning novel, The Red-Headed Woman with the Black Black Heart, a long poem Headframe: , and a best-selling anthology Great Stories from the Prairies. Phantom Lake: North of 54 (U.Alberta), recently won the Grant MacEwan Author Award and the Margaret McWilliams Local History Award. This fall will see two new titles to add to his list. Headframe: 2 (Turnstone) is a new poetry collection; The Winnipeg Connection: Writing Lives at Mid-Century (Prairie Fire) is a gathering of historical and contemporary essays, articles, and documents he has edited and introduced.

Walter Swayze

Dr Walter Swayze served as a Full Professor in the English Department of United College and the University of Winnipeg from 1953 to 1987, and was awarded Emeritus in 1988. In both his academic and personal life, he has made a significant contribution to the serious study of Canadian literature. His up-close engagement with the literary life of Winnipeg fuels his essay, "Before the Beginning: We Were There," an argument with John Metcalfe's contention that little Canadian writing published before the 60s has any value. The essay appears in The Winnipeg Connection: Writing Lives at Mid-Century (Prairie Fire Press), a new literary-cultural history edited by Birk Sproxton.