Astronaut Hansen set for Winnipeg launch Nov. 24

Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen and author John Larsen touch down in Winnipeg on Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 7 p.m. for a ticketed event at Westworth United Church presented by McNally Robinson Booksellers.

In the duo’s new book Earthrise: A Canadian Astronaut’s Journey Into Deep Space, Hansen details his million-plus-kilometre journey into space aboard Artemis II — the furthest distance humans have travelled from Earth, including seeing never-before-seen areas of the moon.

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Tickets are $50 plus fees, which includes general admission for two as well as one signed copy of the book, and are available at wfp.to/ixK.

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Winnipeg author JP Bird will discuss her book Murder at First Sight on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Calabria Market (139 Scurfield Blvd.) in an event that will feature a reading as well as charcuterie and wines paired with each of the book’s main characters.

Bird is the author of four books in her Suddenly Psychic series of cozy mysteries; Murder at First Sight is the first of the four.

Tickets for the event are $70 and include a copy of the book, a guided tasting of four wines as well as charcuterie, and are available at wfp.to/ixb.

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Arts AccessAbility Network Manitoba launches a new collection of writing today from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (85 Israel Asper Way).

Disability Ways: An Anthology about d/Deaf and Disabled Writers was edited by Diane Driedger and L(ani) Zastre and features contributions by the pair as well as, among others, Yolande House, Rae Gunn, Maureen Medved and J.L. Kies.

A physical copy of the book is $30, or an e-book is available for $20 at aanm.ca/book-orders. The book will also be available at the launch, which will feature ASL interpretation (and an option to join via Zoom at wfp.to/ixp).

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A novella inspired by the crash of a Manitoba airman during the Second World War, and a subsequent romance back home, will be the focus of an event at Carman’s Boyne Regional Library (15 1 Ave. SW) on Tuesday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

The independently published To the Very End was written by Manitoba-born, Toronto-based Rebecca Sandulak and based on the story of her grandfather Johnny using newspaper clippings, interviews, letters and more as sources; Sandulak’s grandmother Wilma was a member of the library. The book will be available to borrow there, and will alaso be available for purchase at the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada’s gift shop (2088 Wellington Ave.).

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David A. Robertson has a new horror novel in the works.

The prolific Winnipeg Swampy Cree writer will publish hockey slasher Penalty Kill in fall 2027 with Already Booked, an imprint of HarperCollins.

The book is described as seeing former high school hockey teammates reuniting for a late-night game at the local rink, only to find out someone is out for revenge for past secrets.

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Lauded Winnipeg poet Dennis Cooley launches his latest collection Wind and Horses on Friday at 7 p.m. at McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park location, where he’ll be joined in conversation by University of Manitoba English professor Mark Libin.

Published in August by At Bay Press, the poems in Wind and Horses are described as being full of longing and “partly political in writing the poverty and distress of the times.”

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Reviews of the Taika Waititi-directed adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Klara and the Sun are, for the most part, not great.

Ishiguro’s novel is told from the perspective of Klara, an “Artificial Friend” for sale in a shop, who is purchased for potentially nefarious reasons. The book offers a meditation on love, but also is steeped in the dystopian.

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Many film critics have noted that relative to the book, Waititi’s film is quite saccharine and bland. The film’s score on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer, which aggregates critic reviews, is a dismal 26 per cent, while the Popcornmeter, which aggregates scores from the public, is a more respectable 74 per cent.

The film version of Klara and the Sun, which stars Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams, Steve Buscemi and others, is playing in Winnipeg at the Scotiabank Theatre near Polo Park.

books@winnipegfreepress.com