Didion memoir hits the stage April 9 at PTE
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/04/2024 (519 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A play based on the autobiographical bestseller by American author Joan Didion opens on Wednesday at Prairie Theatre Exchange in Portage Place (300-393 Portage Ave.), but a preview performance is open to the public April 9.
The Year of Magical Thinking chronicles Didion’s grief after her husband dropped dead at the dinner table a month before their 40th anniversary — while their daughter was in hospital in an induced coma.
The play was adapted by the late author herself — Didion died in 2021 — and is being directed by Shakespeare in the Ruins artistic director Rodrigo Beilfuss. The Year of Magical Thinking runs through to April 21; for tickets and more information see wfp.to/yYU.
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Prince Harry’s memoir Spare was the top-selling book in Canada in 2023, according to new data released by BookNet Canada in the publication The Canadian Book Market 2023.
Spare drove a 16 per cent spike in sales in the biography and autobiography category and was also the top-loaned library book in 2023 in Canada.
The fantasy and romance category of the fiction genre also saw an increase in sales, led by Rebecca Yarros, Sarah J. Maas and Colleen Hoover. Carley Fortune’s romance novel Meet Me at the Lake topped titles by Canadian authors, while Kate Beaton’s Canada Reads-winning graphic novel memoir Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands, published by Montreal’s Drawn & Quarterly, was the best-selling book by a Canadian-owned publisher.
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Flo Bambenek releases a memoir about her childhood in rural Manitoba tomorrow (April 7) at 2 p.m. at Artspace (100 Arthur St.) as part of the Manitoba Writers’ Guild’s spring book launch series.
Country Girl chronicles her innocent perspective in childhood, how her world began falling apart and how, in later years, Al-Anon helped steer her and her daughter’s life in a better direction.
In addition to Country Girl, Bambenek has written a novel, Yearning, under her own name as well as Doing the Best I Can, a novel loosely based on her mother’s life, which she wrote under the pen name Tammie Holiday.
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A compilation of work by Métis women scholars, artists, community leaders and more launches Thursday at 7 p.m. at McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park location.
The collection Around the Kitchen Table: Métis Aunties’ Scholarship (University of Manitoba Press) was edited by Laura Forsythe and Jennifer Markides focuses on the work of Métis women in post-secondary environments.
Forsythe will be joined by contributors Lucy Fowler, Chantal Fiola and Nicki Ferland at the launch, which will also be streamed on McNally Robinson’s YouTube channel.
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Former Winnipegger Casey Plett is a finalist for the 2024 Lambda Literary Awards, which celebrate the best in LGBTTQ+ literature.
Plett is a finalist in the transgender non-fiction category for her book On Community, published by Biblioasis in November 2023, which explores notions of the titular topic in Mennonite history, Silicon Valley, transgender literature and more, including how we can form and foster bonds with each other.
Plett has twice won a Lammy (as they’re affectionately known) in the past in the transgender fiction category — once for her 2014 short-story collection A Safe Girl to Love and once for her 2018 novel Little Fish, which was also the winner of the Amazon.ca First Novel Award.
For a complete list of the Lammy finalists, see wfp.to/yYV.
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It’s last call for the Friends of the Winnipeg Public Library book sale, which takes place today and tomorrow (April 6-7) from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the St. James Civic Centre (2055 Ness Ave.). Stock up your bookshelves for a bargain while supporting the Friends (they’ll also be selling CDs, LPs and DVDs on offer).
books@freepress.mb.ca
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.
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History
Updated on Tuesday, April 9, 2024 11:32 AM CDT: Clarifies that PTE show has preview performance April 9 but officially opens April 10