Romantasy tome to kick off fall literary launches
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
After a quiet summer, book events are heating up again in earnest as fall creeps ever closer.
First up is bestselling local fantasy author Nisha J. Tuli, who launches Storm Caller on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park location. The book is the follow-up to Tuli’s Storm Breaker in the romantasy series of the same name, described as “Divergent meets The Cruel Prince.”
Tuli will be joined in conversation by Vancouver Island author Demi Winters (The Ashen series).
● ● ●
Winnipeg children’s author Carol Matas has landed on the five-book short list for the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People at the 2026 Canadian Children’s Book Centre (CCBC) awards.
Matas’ book A Storm Unleashed, published in September 2025 by Scholastic Canada, details the life of a half-Jewish girl in Berlin during Hitler’s ascent.
The $3,000 prize is one of six that will be awarded by the CCBC at an awards ceremony in Toronto on Oct. 26. For a complete list of awards and finalists, see wfp.to/ccbcawards.
● ● ●
The finalists for the 2026 Kirkus Prize have been revealed, with six shortlisted titles in contention in each of the fiction, non-fiction and young readers’ literature categories.
Among the fiction finalists are Tayari Jones for Kin, Julie Orringer for Luna, Phoenix, Queen, Douglas Stuart for John of John and Colson Whitehead for Cool Machine.
Non-fiction finalists include Pamela Colloff for Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast (see the review on page G4 of the books section), Patrick Radden Keefe for London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth, Gisèle Pelicot with Judith Perrignon for A Hymn to Life: Shame Has To Change Sides (translated by Natasha Lehrer and Ruth Diver) and Michael Pollan for A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness.
The winners will be announced on Oct. 7; each will receive US$50,000.
● ● ●
Speaking Crow, Winnipeg’s long-running open-mic poetry series, returns on Tuesday to the St. Boniface Library (131 Provencher Blvd.) for an in-person event which will feature a Free Press scribe as the featured reader.
Anucyia Victor Kitching (also known as Free Press arts and life writer AV Kitching) will headline the free event, which gets underway at 6:30 p.m. Sign-up for folks who want to read gets started at 6:10 p.m.
● ● ●
Fans of local comics might find themselves, ahem, drawn to the Manitoba Museum (190 Rupert Ave.) next weekend, as the Prairie Comics Festival returns.
The two-day festival takes place Saturday, Sept. 5 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 6 from noon to 5 p.m. and will feature artist booths, panel discussions and more.
The event is free to attend; check out participants and panel topics at prairiecomics.com or, for exhibitor spotlights, check out the fest’s social media (@prairiecomicsfestival on Instagram).
● ● ●
The long list for the 2026 Giller Prize won’t be revealed until Sept. 8, but organizers behind the annual Canadian fiction award recently revealed the jury — which, for the first time, was comprised entirely of independent Canadian booksellers.
The nine-person jury includes McNally Robinson Booksellers co-owner Chris Hall along with his peers from across the country. Jurors read nearly 150 books for this year’s $100,000 prize. The short list will be unveiled on Oct. 5, and the winner revealed on Nov. 16.
● ● ●
The Manitoba Writers’ Guild (MWG) is hosting a workshop for those aspiring writers curious about going the route of self-publishing.
The workshop will be presented by Winnipeg author Den Valdron, author of numerous self-published books, and will take place Saturday, Sept. 5 from 2-4:30 p.m. in the Artspace boardroom (100 Arthur St.). Registration is $20 for MWG members and $30 for non-members — those interested can sign up at wfp.to/iRg.
books@winnipegfreepress.com
Ben Sigurdson
Literary editor, drinks writer
Ben Sigurdson is the Free Press‘s literary editor and drinks writer. He graduated with a master of arts degree in English from the University of Manitoba in 2005, the same year he began writing Uncorked, the weekly Free Press drinks column. He joined the Free Press full time in 2013 as a copy editor before being appointed literary editor in 2014. Read more about Ben.
In addition to providing opinions and analysis on wine and drinks, Ben oversees a team of freelance book reviewers and produces content for the arts and life section, all of which is reviewed by the Free Press’s editing team before being posted online or published in print. It’s part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Ben Sigurdson
Literary editor, drinks writer
Ben Sigurdson is the Free Press‘s literary editor and drinks writer. He graduated with a master of arts degree in English from the University of Manitoba in 2005, the same year he began writing Uncorked, the weekly Free Press drinks column. He joined the Free Press full time in 2013 as a copy editor before being appointed literary editor in 2014. Read more about Ben.
In addition to providing opinions and analysis on wine and drinks, Ben oversees a team of freelance book reviewers and produces content for the arts and life section, all of which is reviewed by the Free Press’s editing team before being posted online or published in print. It’s part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Advertisement Advertise With Us
Advertisement Advertise With Us
