Greetings from a safe distance! WIWF Updates on COVID-19

How’s everyone holding up out there? These truly are wild and uncertain times, and we sincerely hope you are staying safe, healthy, well, and hopeful through it.

We are receiving notices every day about cancellations or postponements, and it’s certainly the case in the literary zone here in Winnipeg. Events in our Spring Literary series at McNally’s have been put off until better times, Speaking Crow at the Millennium has been cancelled. Prairie Fire has just cancelled Speaking Volumes, their annual fundraiser, and many events in May are looking less and less likely. We’ll keep you posted as things come up.

No doubt you’ve noticed the extraordinary surge of online community-building as people share art, reading, creative projects, information, humour, and encouragement. We may be obliged to practice physical distancing and self-isolation, but we are finding many great ways to stay connected. We’ve gathered together a few of the writing-related options, and we are sharing some on our Facebook page too. We hope you will find some joy and fullness to counterbalance the restrictions we are all facing.

Along with the gestures of shared humanity, we are also witnessing extraordinary and selfless contributions from the essential workers who are doing so much to care for us, protect us, and keep us fed. We know you will join us in sending a huge thank you to these everyday heroes!

With all this unanticipated time at home, we are finding comfort in reading and writing! 📚 We’re prowling through our bookshelves and digging out all of those books we’ve been meaning to get to. It’s amazing how a book can take you to another world–and how important that is to help us stay steady and hopeful in difficult times.

Virtual hugs to all of you. Please take care… 💗
Charlene, Chelsey, Alina, Bruce, and Karen