The stories and essays in We Will Rise Again, a new SFF collection edited by @older.bsky.social @annaleen.bsky.social and Karen Lord, already hit hard, but in the new year I daresay they're even more on point. www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...

I mean if you woke up and this was the first thing you saw about "the situation in Venezuela," you would have no idea a) what had happened and b) that the U.S. was involved at all. Apparently the elbows only go up about this far: 🤷

Looking for some bubbly to help ring in the new year? Here are 10 I tried (in every price range) for this week's @winnipegfreepress.com drinks column: www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...

Babs' version of Jingle Bells remains untouchable: youtu.be/BhbgQh6LVWk?...

It will always be wild to me that J*ffrey Epst*in is consistently referred to as a "disgraced financier." Like we're not out here referring to Hitl*r as "failed Austrian artist"

A special Christmas Eve edition of Turning Pages as I air my conversation with Scott Oake about For the Love of a Son, recorded as part of the Plume writer's fest earlier this year. umfm.com/programming/...

For today's @winnipegfreepress.com arts and life section, I rounded 10 notable local books published this year (which probably could have been 20): www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...

Bluesky has the juice

Got a feeling this will be the year when the consensus on Wonderful Christmastime flips to “it’s good”

Wondering what to get younger readers this holiday season? Here are some new and notable books for kids young and old: www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...

So today I got my fitst Xmas gift! It came in the form of Harriet Zaidman’s kids books holiday gifts column in today’s Winnipeg Free Press, which included a review of Blood Letters, my epistolary/graphic novel hybrid with @gmbchomichuk.bsky.social! @greatplainspress.bsky.social I’m so happy!

At the beginning of the month we adopted a third cat, Charlie (formerly Cheeseball), who had been in foster homes for over a year. He is the sweetest, cuddliest cat ever (he’d make a great therapy cat), and… he hilariously lounges around like he’s in a centrefold

tis the season

Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.

Watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation last night and discovered a) Clark's boss is played by Bill Murray's brother and b) the score was done by Angelo Badalamenti, who the following year scored Twin Peaks.

Looking up a book on Am*zon and found the price difference in formats... interesting.

HAMNET.

Hey hey! The @winnipegfreepress.com reviewers picked their best books of 2025. (I picked @shteyngart.bsky.social's Vera, or Faith and Maria Reva's Endlings.)

i made a photo zine of people standing in front of glenn danzig’s house that has outsold this book

Just went and checked out the fresh-out-of-jail U.S. products at Liquor Marts. Thursday at 2 p.m. and a good dozen or so folks swarming the bourbons, which seem to be the hot seller. J. Lohr Cab Sauv was apparently a hot ticket too. (I bought Belgian beer and a Portuguese red)

“I am so bored by AI. One of the things I love about the theatre is AI can’t do it.” Ethan Hawke is a dude 👌🏻

Got this year’s Christmas Ghost Stories from the sweeties at @biblioasis.bsky.social!!! With groovy covers by SETH! Can’t wait to crack ‘em!

Not surprisingly, on the wine side of things it's 99.5% boring products I wouldn't have bought in the first place.

WINNIPEG – The Manitoba government is going to sell alcohol products from the United States that it had pulled from the shelves to protest American tariffs.

Update: Value of Monthly U.S. Wine Exports, Jan 2023–Aug 2025 From January to August, U.S. wine exports declined year over year by $251.7 million, or 30.1%. Most of that is due to a decline in exports to Canada, the most important U.S. export market, which fell by $188.8 million (–78.1%).

Nova Scotia looks to get rid of its remaining inventory of U.S. alcohol worth $14 million before it expires; all proceeds go to charity. New Brunswick is also selling its remaining $3.4 million worth of U.S. alcohol in storage at discounted prices. Quebec donated it. globalnews.ca/news/1154636...

Is this anything? (As seen on my 50th while out for dinner. Hammy Birthday to me)

Just drove past some convoy, including a “no to the new world order” sign…. Googled what it’s about and lost about 12,000 brain cells in the process

In the @winnipegfreepress.com newsletter I co-write with @evawasney.bsky.social, I wrote about opening a special bottle for my 50th – one that's as old as I am: www.winnipegfreepress.com/briefings/po...

"Cannibal's Delight" 😬

So I will be offering a Writing Circle through the @wpgpubliclibrary.bsky.social that meets monthly from December through April. And the deadline is THIS FRIDAY, November 21.

"things happen" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

For today's @winnipegfreepress.com I chatted with novelist Terry Fallis about his new comic thriller The Marionette, which he launches at @mcnallyrobinson.com tonight: www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...

Wow, Souvankham Thammavongsa wins the $100K Giller Prize for her debut novel Pick a Colour. Her short-fiction debut, 2020's How to Pronounce Knife, won the Giller that year. Here's my @winnipegfreepress.com interview with her from October: www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...

I just turned 50 and I’ve been writing the @winnipegfreepress.com wine/drinks column for 20 damn years now — at least 1,000 Uncorkeds, 750,000 words. Thankful to have an outlet for this silliness, and for an employer who supports me. www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...

I chatted with Alan Doyle in advance of the launch of his new book The Smiling Land, which is all about Newfoundland and Labrador. He's at @mcnallyrobinson.com Saturday at 2.

Maria Reva is the 2025 winner of the $70,000 #AtwoodGibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize for Endling, published by Knopf Canada. This year's prize purse is increased from $60,000 to $70,000 this year with generous support from the Balsillie Family Foundation. #WTAwards #canlit

Is there a more apt way to ring in an Old Guy birthday than realizing you're exactly a half-century older than the new Costco?

Cried some nice tears while writing this. Tim Brandt has been cycling to a new little free library every day to disperse his late brother's book collection and honour his memory. “I think Les would be glad to know his books are travelling,” he says. www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...

Jon Hamm is in Winnipeg filming a TV series, and is absolutely crushing fall chunky sweater season. (First pic at Vera Pizza, second at 529 Wellington)

Nick Martin was at both the London Free Press and Winnipeg Free Press - but it’s a whodunnit if he ever retired. It’s because, after being the education and legislature reporter, he continued to write a mystery book column until he died #RIP passages.winnipegfreepress.com/passage-deta...

Wrote a little bit about Nick Martin, voracious reader and @winnipegfreepress.com books section suspense columnist (and former education reporter), who died earlier this month while on holiday in Scotland. Hope he managed to have one last pint at the Oxford Bar.

Souvankham Thammavongsa has followed her much-lauded collection How to Pronounce Knife with a debut novel, the Giller-shortlisted Pick a Colour. She's at @mcnallyrobinson.com tonight to launch the book; I chatted with her for @winnipegfreepress.com: www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...

There are a few spots left in this Saturday’s FREE urban nature creative writing workshop! Sign up/help me get the word out! @greatplainspress.bsky.social @wpgpubliclibrary.bsky.social @atbaypress.bsky.social

Gutted to hear of Nick’s passing while in Edinburgh on holiday. His contributions to the books section after his retirement from the Free Press were immeasurable, and there was no one else who wrote like him. I’ll miss him dearly for that and so many other reasons.