Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/11/2025 (360 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba-born, Toronto-based Miriam Toews visited town recently in support of A Truce That Is Not Peace, her non-fiction musings on why she writes. And according to Publishers Weekly, Toews fans won’t have to wait too long for her next novel.

In a report on recent acquisitions of future books, Publishers Weekly notes that Bloomsbury, Toews’ longtime U.S. publisher, has picked up American rights for “an untitled novel by Miriam Toews, which sees a woman unpack the events leading up to her friend’s mysterious death in a religious town.” The book is slated to be published in fall 2027.

● ● ●

Winnipeg Public Library writer in residence (and Free Press copy editor) Ariel Gordon has put out the call for those looking to join a new writing circle for scribes in any genre.

Beginning in December and running through to April 2026, the group will meet at the Millennium Library (251 Donald St.) on the third Tuesday of the month, allowing writers to connect, share work and receive feedback from Gordon and other participants.

The deadline to apply to join the writing circle is Nov. 21; submission are to include a writing sample (up to two pages) and the answer to the question “What do you hope to get out of the writing circle?”

For more information, and to apply, see wfp.to/iX1.

● ● ●

The Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers (CANSCAIP) recently announced the list of winners and finalists for its 2025 Writing for Children Competition, and Winnipeg writer (and Free Press reviewer) Jess Woolford was a co-winner in the picture book category for I Love the Pond.

More than 650 manuscripts were submitted in the picture book, middle grade and young adult categories, with top selections navigating multiple rounds of reading by jurors en route to being longlisted and then shortlisted.

Winners each receive $500, and the entries and finalists in each category are sent to publishers for consideration. For a complete list of winners and finalists see wfp.to/iXQ.

● ● ●

This week’s book launches at McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park location include a Maritime singer, a hockey analyst, an astronaut and Winnipeg’s first bicycle mayor.

The latter, Patti Wiens, kicks things off tonight at 7 p.m. as she launches her new book That’ll Never Work Here, the second book in Great Plains Press’ The City Project, edited by city councillor-elect Emma Durand-Wood and Michael Durand-Wood, the latter of whom wrote the first entry in the series, You’ll Pay For This.

Wiens’ book explores her experiences as a year-round cyclist in the city, and ponders how active transportation might help make the city more equitable and safe for citizens.

● ● ●

On Wednesday at 7 p.m., Sagkeeng First Nation author Lorena Sekwan Fontaine launches Living Language Rights: Constitutional Pathways to Indigenous Language Education, when she’ll be joined in conversation by Fisher River Cree Nation scholar/educator Verna J. Kirkness in an event hosted by Shelagh Rogers.

Fontaine explores the foundations of Indigenous language rights, highlights the responsibility in First Nations law to preserve and transmit language and advocates for the education of Indigenous children in their ancestral languages.

● ● ●

TSN talking head James Duthie stops at McNally Robinson’s Grant Park location on Friday at 7 p.m., where he’ll launch and sign copies of his new book Certified Beauties: More of Hockey’s Greatest Untold Stories.

● ● ●

On Saturday at 2 p.m., Newfoundland singer and road warrior Alan Doyle rolls into town to launch The Smiling Land: All Around the Circle in My Newfoundland and Labrador, where he’ll be joined in conversation with Virgin Radio host Ace Burpee.

Buy on mcnallyrobinson.com

● ● ●

Houston, we have a problem: Tickets for beloved Canadian astronaut-turned-author Chris Hadfield’s book launch event for his new novel, Final Orbit, are sold out.

The event, presented by McNally Robinson and being held in the Muriel Richardson Auditorium at WAG-Qaumajuq, takes place Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and will be hosted by Free Press editor Paul Samyn.

books@freepress.mb.ca