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A new chapter: Renamed Winnipeg Book Festival takes to The Forks this fall

Winnipeg’s long-running annual literary festival returns this fall, once again featuring a slate of authors, local and beyond, ready to engage with readers.

New this year is pretty much everything else, including a new name, executive director and team of staff — as well as a shift to a tight, condensed timeline and a move to hold all events under one roof.

The festival formerly known as Thin Air/Livres en fête is now the Winnipeg Book Festival; the event takes place Oct. 1-4 at The Forks Market, with most events offering free admission.

It’s a lot of changes for the stalwart literary festival, which was run for more than two decades by Charlene Diehl, who stepped away in late 2025.

Dealing with what’s left behind … in the cloud

Sooner or later, we will all face it; if we’re wise, we plan for its arrival. Death.

What's up: art show, Streat Feast, RWB Revealed, Burt Block Party, Bouchra

Under $100 art showToday, 5-10 p.m.; Friday to Sunday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.Portage Place, 393 Portage Ave.Tickets $15-$23 onlineSnag some local art for a steal at the Under $100 Art Show, running today through Sunday at Portage Place.

The show features original paintings, prints, ceramics, jewelry, textiles and ceramics made by dozens of Manitoba artists and all priced at less than $100.

The event includes daily live music and is hosted by Art Spot, a Calgary arts organization that has mounted similar sales in cities across Western Canada. This is the first time the concept has come to Winnipeg.

“Our mission has always been to make art accessible,” Art Spot founder Emma Justine McCaul said in a media release. “When people buy directly from local artists, they’re not only taking home something beautiful — they’re helping creative entrepreneurs build sustainable careers while strengthening the cultural fabric of their city.”

It’s one thing to climb aboard rail-relocation train, quite another to pay for the ride

Anyone who wants a brighter, safer, healthier future for the city of Winnipeg should really want the renewed hopes of rail relocation to finally become reality. And the sooner, the better.

Premier Wab Kinew announced Wednesday the province was going to forge a plan to relocate the Canadian Pacific Kansas City central yards and many of other the lines that run through Winnipeg to a bypass that runs around the city.

This “plan to design a plan” strategy was devised by a task force headed up by former federal MP and cabinet minister Lloyd Axworthy, who in 2024 was given a two-year mandate to find the best way to rid the city of some or all of its rail infrastructure.

For the record, Kinew and Axworthy said a relocation would likely take 20 years to complete, which makes this week’s announcement an important statement of intent, but little more. The sobering reality is that this promising idea has been proposed by political leaders, and then abandoned, for decades.

Moving rail lines outside city would make Winnipeg ‘major transportation hub’

After decades of calls to move rail traffic to the outskirts of Winnipeg, a plan that would benefit residents, railways and taxpayers is now on track, says the former Winnipegger leading the way.

A rail line bypass south of the city, using Crown-owned land and the Manitoba Hydro corridor, would take 20 years to complete, remove 120 railway crossings that are a safety risk and free up about 250 acres of Winnipeg land over time for development, Lloyd Axworthy said Wednesday.

“The visions that we have have to be implemented,” Axworthy said at a news conference announcing the launch of a 90-day feasibility study to move freight rail traffic out of Winnipeg’s urban core along Manitoba Hydro’s southern transmission corridor, connecting east to west along the Perimeter Highway.

The former federal transport minister and Manitoba MP was tasked by Premier Wab Kinew in October 2024 to lead a two-year rail relocation feasibility study.