Wednesday of Wild & Wonderful Words, a recurring reading series, is set to take place at Sookram’s Brewing Company near Confusion Corner next week.

Hosted by Sheldon Birnie, these events are an opportunity for local writers to present their work in a “lowkey, low stakes way” without the pressure of academic or highly structured events. 

“I try to get four or five [writers] together. Each of those writers gets up to ten minutes to read […] They can read something either that’s been published or they’re working on. It’s up to them. The focus is fiction or prose as opposed to poetry or free verse,” Birnie explained.

“It’s local writers for the most part. This reading, coming up on Jan. 21, we’ve got an out-of-province writer coming in from Thunder Bay, which may be something we see more of in the future, who knows. But the focus is always on local writers.”

The event is free and open to all ages. Birnie added that it could be a chance for novice writers to see what others are working on. 

Birnie holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from U of M and currently works as a community journalist for the Winnipeg Free Press. He started his career by volunteering and working at the Manitoban, but eventually found himself wanting to do more with creative writing. Birnie also noted a lack of reading events in Winnipeg despite its fair share of local writers. 

“I noticed, especially in the past few years […] that there were a lot of cool-looking reading series going on in different cities in the States, but there wasn’t anything exactly like that happening in Winnipeg, [which] is a very literary city. There’s lots of writers here doing cool things, and [I] figured that might be an opportunity to meet some of these writers that I didn’t know, or to platform writers that I was aware of and like their work, and just make an evening of it,” he said.

Birnie has published several books set in or focused on Winnipeg and western Canada, including his 2015 publication Missing Like Teeth: An Oral History of Winnipeg Underground Rock 1990-2001. His latest book, Where the Pavement Turns to Sand, is an anthology of short stories that take place in the backcountry of the Canadian prairies. 

“I love Winnipeg for a lot of reasons. I’ve got family from here and that, plus the music scene, originally drew me into spending more time and eventually living in Winnipeg. And that goes across all the arts, the music scene, the visual arts, dance theatre, literary arts. It’s a very supportive city,” Birnie stated.

“We’ve got stuff to say and a lot of people do so in their own way in a very high level, and lots of quality and creativity comes out of the city. It’s relatively affordable still, compared to other major Canadian cities, and we often fly under the radar. So I feel it’s great and important, or fun at least, to celebrate what we’ve got here that many people might not realize or pay attention to.”

The next instalment of Wednesday of Wild & Wonderful Words will take place on Jan. 21 at Sookram’s Brewing Company from 7 to 8 p.m. Contact [email protected] for more information.