Plume Winnipeg

Who is plume?

The seeds of Plume Winnipeg were planted in 1997 when Andris Taskans, Robyn Maharaj, and Mark Morton, three leaders in Winnipeg’s literary community, put their heads together to invent the Winnipeg International Writers Festival, a fall celebration of literary excellence. From our origins as a coalition of volunteers contributing their skills and know-how, the festival established itself as the path to discover great new writing in English and French. Over the next five years, through the efforts of many individuals, including the original trio, Kathleen Darby and her small group of contractors, members of the Collectif post-néo-realiste, and committed board and advisory board members, the Winnipeg International Writers Festival became a respected cultural organization in the city. In 2003, writer and former English professor Charlene Diehl took over the artistic direction of the festival which assumed

hide

the name THIN AIR, a light-hearted Shakespearean reference to Prospero’s claims about the magical impact of storytelling. Over the next few years, with contributions from various contract workers, THIN AIR/Livres en fête expanded in scope through innovative programming and creative partnerships with cultural organizations in the city and beyond. Audiences attended daytime and evening events in several neighbourhoods and in communities outside the city, and the festival added workshops for writers. Thousands of students encountered writers on stage and in classrooms as part of our School Program/Programme scolaire. Under Diehl’s leadership, we began to develop programming outside the festival as well. From evening events at McNally Robinson Booksellers in the spring and fall to gala celebrations of Canada Council winners, we stepped up to champion great writing throughout the year.

In 2019, we assumed responsibility for Speaking Crow, a long-running monthly poetry open mic, and we hosted several iterations of Fantasmagoriana, an overnight writing experience for horror writers in a purportedly haunted heritage mansion in Winnipeg. We also teamed up with the Winnipeg Public Library to deliver Inside the Writer’s World, a weekend of workshops for local writers. In 2021, we moved programming for young readers from September to February, establishing THIN AIR KIDS/Livres en fête juniors.

We have taken on several ambitious projects. In 2016, we led a delegation of prairie writers to showcase “The New West” at the prestigious Edinburgh International Book Festival. In 2018, we teamed up with Montreal’s Blue Metropolis and other Canadian festivals to facilitate writing workshops for Newcomer Canadians; we mentored Winnipeg youth whose stories were published in an anthology called My Roots/Mes racines.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action have helped shape several initiatives. In 2016, we introduced “Talking Reconciliation” into our festival programming; in 2021, that event became Niizhotay Stories, an event named in honour of Elder and writer Theodore Niizhotay Fontaine and held each year on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. In 2017-18, with a major grant from the Canada Council’s New Chapter fund, we teamed up with Prairie Fire and CV2, two Winnipeg-based literary journals, to deliver Voices in the Circle: Celebrating Indigenous Writing in Canada, an ambitious initiative with events, workshops, and an anthology. A special grant from Canada Council’s Digital Now program is underwriting Story Lodge, a video library of high-profile Indigenous writers sharing their learning and mentorship. For several years, we have supported the Treaty 1 Project, a research and writing residency for Trevor Greyeyes whose ancestors actively resisted their community’s displacement at the creation of the province of Manitoba.

My recollection of how the Winnipeg International Writers Festival began is a bit fuzzy, because (like many things that take root and flourish) it was an organic process,

In 2020 when the world was overtaken with the pandemic, we intentionally leaned into the potential for online programming, and having connected with a far-flung network of readers, writers, and thinkers, we are committed to maintaining some hybridity in our programming even as people are freely meeting in person again.

The dramatic demands of the pandemic, layered onto twenty-five years of growth and development, have presented us with an opportunity to revisit our mandate, our presence, and our identity. In 2024, the Winnipeg International Writers Festival—now no longer a single festival but the host of year-round literary programming and several major initiatives—has become Plume Winnipeg, bringing

together the quill pen and smoke signals in a name which functions in both English and French. Our new logo shows a vibrant book at the tip of the plume, an invocation of the creative energy released by reading.

Plume Winnipeg is proudly rooted in one of Canada’s truly multicultural cities on Treaty 1 Territory, right in the heart of Turtle Island. These are the traditional lands of the Anishinaabeg, Ininiwak, Anisininew, Dakota, and Dene Peoples, and the homeland of the Red River Métis Nation. In all of our programming, we strive to honour the First People’s rich tradition of sharing stories as the ground for building genuine community and restoring right relations.

Don Aronovitch

President

Lynne Martin

Vice-President

Brock Peters

Treasurer

Sally Ito

Secretary

Amanda Hope

Member

David McLeod

Member

Primrose Madayag Knazan

Member

Rebecca Cooke

Member