32 events over the course of four days will turn the Winnipeg Book Festival into a veritable saga. As large as it is, the team at Plume Winnipeg that presents the festival knows that it could be much bigger.
“We could have programmed double that,” says Laura Meuckon, Plume Winnipeg’s executive director. “There’s so much to talk about when it comes to reading and writing and what’s happening with new writers, experienced, seasoned writers… there’s a lot happening.”
The events include events like panel discussions, poetry slams and industry events for writers that will span the course of a more condensed format at the festival’s new home at The Forks.
Events for everyone
Erin McGregor, the festival’s program coordinator, notes that within the variety of events is a goal to include all types of participants in the literary celebrations.
“There’s a lot of well-renowned authors who have come from Winnipeg and are still coming out of Winnipeg, authors who have relocated to Winnipeg,” McGregor says. “We want to celebrate that core community, but we also really wanted to reach out to anyone who likes to pick up a book and read.”
“We’re really hoping that everybody who likes to read will see something on that list – either a book or an author or a panel that piques their interest enough that they can come out and spend a couple of hours at The Forks.”
McGregor adds that the industry was keen to contribute as well with over 160 books pitched to the festival. “Generally, it wasn’t as much of what people were talking about… but it was also looking at the pitches, and there was a lot of really interesting material coming across our emails from the publishers both big and small.”
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A bright future
While acknowledging the foundation built for the new edition of the festival built by longtime executive director Charlene Diehl, Meuckon is excited to see what the Winnipeg Book Festival can become. Even before the festival gets underway, she and her team are taking stock of what they have learned to make the festival into an operation with longevity.
“This is an experimental year for us,” she says. “We’re going to see what Winnipeg wants out of this festival, but we want them to come, to experience it. That’s why we’ve really rolled the dice by making most of our events events free except for two, because we just want people to come and understand that the Winnipeg Book Festival is Winnipeg’s next big festival.”
The Winnipeg Book Festival runs October 1 through 4 at The Forks. A full programming lineup can be viewed at Plume Winnipeg’s social media pages.