Sci-fi, fantasy bookstore to land downtown
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New bookstore alert! New bookstore alert!
On Tuesday at 10 a.m., Other Places Books is slated to open its doors at 436 Graham Ave., just a few doors down from mainstay Bison Books (424 Graham Ave.).
The bookstore’s focus will be science fiction and fantasy, and, says the website (opbooks.store), “will be a friendly, inclusive, and very queer space.” Other Places is the project of Didi Chanoch, who has been chronicling the bookstore’s progress on Bluesky (@didichanoch.northsky.social).
Other Places is the third genre-specific bookstore to open in Winnipeg in recent years. Raven’s End Books (1859 Portage Ave.) opened in 2024, specializing in the horror genre, while Bound to Please (995 McPhillips St.) kicked off selling books in the romance genre in February.
Predating them all, of course, is the inimitable Whodunit? Mystery Bookstore (163 Lilac Ave.), one of Western Canada’s oldest shops specializing in the mystery genre.
Winnipeg author (and Free Press copy editor) Ariel Gordon launches a new poetry chapbook on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Public Domain (633 Portage Ave.).
Published by Pinhole Poetry, the collection A Mudlarker’s Diary sees Gordon ruminate on the Red River, her exploration of the river’s banks and what she has found, both physical and otherwise. (Mudlarking is the practice of scavenging a riverbank for items of potential value.)
Gordon will be joined at the launch by Hannah Godfrey, Talia Syrie and Anucyia Victor Kitching, who readers may know as AV Kitching of the Free Press arts and life department. The event will be hosted by none other than John Toews of McNally Robinson Bookseller events fame. Admission is free.
Winnipeg Swampy Cree author David A. Robertson has made the short list for the 2026 Sheila Barry Best Canadian Picturebook of the Year Award.
Robertson’s Little Shoes, illustrated by Maya McKibbin and published by Tundra Books, is among four books in contention for the prize, which is administered by the Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable.
The other books in running: Head Full of Clouds, by Joanne Schwartz and illustrated by Afsaneh Sanei; A Pond, A Poet, and Three Pests, by Caroline Adderson and illustrated by Lauren Tamaki; and The One About the Blackbird, by Melanie Florence and illustrated by Matt James. The winner will be announced in late August.
Robertson’s next task: hosting Tuesday’s visit by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York author Colson Whitehead at WAG-Qaumajuq (300 Memorial Blvd.), who launches his latest novel Cool Machine at 7 p.m. For details and tickets see wfp.to/iMW.
Winnipeg poet and University of Winnipeg professor Sharanpal Ruprai is the latest artist to hold court at the Deep Bay log cabin as part of the Riding Mountain Artists’ Residency.
Ruprai will spend two weeks ending Aug. 9 at the residency, where she’ll have time to work on projects as well as interact and share work with visitors and residents in the area. Her most recent poetry collection is 2019’s Pressure Cooker Love Bomb.
For more on the residency, including how to apply, see wfp.to/iRm.
The Giller Foundation, which administers the annual Giller Prize, has unveiled a pair of new initiatives.
The Foundation announced a new partnership with Book Clubs for Inmates, which administers volunteer-led book clubs for incarcerated readers as well as the Children of Inmates Reading Program.
A new advisory panel called the Giller Prize Writers’ Circle has also been created, made up of Canadian writers who will advise the foundation and the executive director. “The Circle will meet regularly to consider how best to serve and strengthen the literary community, and to support the Foundation’s mission of championing and amplifying Canadian writers and Canadian literature,” says the Giller website.
The first Giller Prize Writers’ Circle will consist of Eric Dupont, Charlotte Gray, Ann-Marie MacDonald, William Ping, Tanya Talaga and Kai Thomas, with new writers bringing a range of perspectives to be added.
winnipegfreepress.com/bensigurdson
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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