Canadian comedy legend Norm Macdonald’s ten greatest moments

Winnipeg Book Festival starts a new chapter

Once known as Thin Air, the 2026 Winnipeg Book Festival marks a new chapter heading into its 29th year celebrating fiction, non-fiction and poetry with a new name, new staff and a shorter, more streamlined fest based at The Forks.

Thursday kicks off with a festival blessing and two events with Indigenous authors. Story Lodge (noon to 2 p.m.) features two videos from the new series by Rosanna Deerchild and Kim Wheeler profiling Indigenous authors working in a range of genres. From 3 to 4 p.m., a quartet of children’s authors will discuss the importance of storytelling and Indigenous languages and culture. The Love Local event on Thursday at 6 p.m., brings together a trio of Winnipeg authors — C.C. Benison, Philipp Schott and Margaret Sweatman — all working in different genres.

On Friday at noon, Niigaan Sinclair, Noé Préfontaine and Anna Dewar will discuss author Elaine Dewar’s posthumously released Oblivious, which explores the dark legacy of Canada’s residential schools and segregated hospitals. That event will be followed at 1:30 p.m. by a panel including Samantha Beiko, Ericka Fiddler and Kirsten Wurmann talking about a forthcoming graphic novel from the Prison Libraries Committee.

Aspiring writers will want to attend the 7x7 event Friday at 3 p.m., featuring seven speakers (including author Zilla Jones, publisher Kyla Neufeld and Chris Hall of McNally Robinson) each offering seven-minute presentations about writing and publishing. Both Saturday and Sunday kick off with river walks with writers at 10 a.m.

Today’s horoscope

MOON ALERT: Avoid shopping (except food and gas) and important decisions after 9 p.m. The moon is in Gemini.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

Your mind is focused, giving you common sense and practical ideas. This is an excellent day to sign up for a course or learn something new. Don’t hesitate to listen to the advice of someone older or more experienced because after all, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Hero fought to remember children lost at residential school

The story of the gravesites of students who attended the Brandon Indian Residential School underneath the Turtle Crossing Campground is truly a Manitoba tragedy.

Who has been invited to the table?

Last Friday, I spoke at Booth University College’s inaugural Honour and Hope Harvest Dinner in support of Shelter U. I had been asked to speak about the power of art in the community, a subject I have spent much of my professional life thinking about — as a museum director, writer and teacher, and now through my consulting work with Civic Muse.

What continues to interest me is not simply what museums, universities and other public institutions do, but whether their work actually matters — whether they make a difference in the lives of the people and communities around them.

Preparing for the evening brought me back to an even more fundamental question: Who has been invited in?

One of my museum mentors used to remind me that institutions often begin the conversation about public engagement too late. Before engagement comes the welcome, and before the welcome comes the invitation. We can create extraordinary buildings, exhibitions and programs and say that everyone is welcome. But unless people believe that these places are also meant for them, many will never cross the threshold.