Some people read books to escape – but not Charlene Diehl.

For Diehl, director of the Thin Air Winnipeg International Writers Festival, reading is a “profoundly creative act.”

“A book on a shelf is just a thing, it’s just a lump,” she said by phone from her Exchange District office last week. “Those words are all static until you put your eyes on them and provide the energy to let them move.”

If you read with commitment and some respect for the work that went into writing the book, she added, you’ll discover not only the sorts of things that are the thinking of the writer, but you’ll also discover things that are of your own thinking and imagining.

Diehl is hopeful that Winnipeg readers will take part when the 13th annual festival begins this Sunday, Sept. 20.

Over the course of a week, more than 50 writers from across North America will participate in almost 100 events around the city; from readings to discussions to the premiere of a new television show.

“It’s always a joy when people tell me they’ve never been to a reading before, but they came to the festival and had a lot of fun,” Diehl said, before adding with a laugh: “I’m trying to convert people one at a time. It’s a kind of slow city takeover, but I’m patient.”

There are more than 10 events series held at places like the CanWest Global Performing Arts Centre, the Millenium Library, McNally Robinson Polo Park, Aqua Books and on campus at the University of Winnipeg.

Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, graphic novels, book for kids, books for adults, serious books, playful books, books in English and books in French are all represented.

People appearing at the festival include Robert J. Sawyer, George Elliott Clarke, Nick DiChario, Hal Niedzviecki, Margaret Sweatman, Lynn Johnston and Guy Maddin.

“ A book on a shelf is just a thing, it’s just a lump. Those words are all static until you put your eyes on them and provide the energy to let them move.

Charlene Diehl, director,  Thin Air Writers Festival

If there’s recurring themes, Diehl said they are family, multiculturalism and looking into the past and into the future.

She added that, for people who are new to the festival, the nightly mainstage events are a good place to start.

“It’s kind of the best answer to people’s reservations about the sort of snob factor or the sort of stuffiness [associated with] bookish people,” she said. “Those mainstage nights are funny and smart, and really like a release for the dreamer in all of us.”

Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for students or $35 for a nine-show pass. However, many of the events are also free – something Diehl said is “absolutely critical” to her.

“We’re all feeling the pinch,” she said of the current economic climate. “The thing that happens when economic concerns start to trump people’s anxiety list is that what seems like leisure activities really get pushed off to the side.”

That’s not good for anyone, in her opinion.

“I really believe that rich encounters with cultural activities are actually what nourish us, so if we push those things off to the side because they aren’t as important as saving for that one more item, that one more thing, it’s to the detriment of our own comfort, joy and ability to live our lives creatively.”

Published in Volume 64, Number 3 of The Uniter (September 17, 2009)