About Us
Winnipeg International Writers Festival
The Winnipeg International Writers Festival is a charitable non-profit organization that promotes reading and literacy in Manitoba by curating the annual THIN AIR writers festival and showcasing writers throughout the year.
At the 2003 festival, Margaret Atwood flashed one of her devilish smiles, pulled a scarf up across her face, and quoted Shakespeare’s Prospero: “These our actors, as I foretold you, were all spirits and are melted into air, into thin air.” Then she pirouetted and ducked into the maze of milling people.
That passage—and that moment—hold everything in balance: the ephemeral quality of art-making, the durability of memory, the powerful impact when an artist meets an audience. This is THIN AIR.
Who We Are

Charlene Diehl
Director
Charlene Diehl is a writer, editor, and performer, and since 2003 the Director of the Winnipeg International Writers Festival. She received a Ph.D. from the University of Manitoba in 1992 and was an English professor at the University of Waterloo before returning to her beloved Canadian prairies in 2000. She has published essays, poetry, non-fiction, reviews, interviews, academic studies, and several chapbooks.

Chelsey Young
Administrative Coordinator
Chelsey Young graduated from the University of Winnipeg with her Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric, and Communications in Spring of 2020. THIN AIR 2022 is her 5th festival and she is thrilled to be working toward bringing lively content to the hybrid edition. When she’s not ferociously tracking spreadsheets, you can find her singing pretty much everywhere she goes!

Alina Moore
Communications Coordinator
Alina Moore is the Communications Coordinator for the Winnipeg International Writers Festival. Raised in the small lakefront town of Gimli, Manitoba, located on Treaty 1 Territory, she moved to Winnipeg to pursue a degree in Rhetoric, Writing, and Communications at the University of Winnipeg. She received her 3-year BA, and after a short break is back in classes to pursue a 4-year BA.

Teresa Horosko
Programming Coordinator
Our Programming Coordinator, Teresa Horosko is an emerging writer and recent graduate of the Honours English program at The University of Winnipeg. Her work has appeared in Prairie Fire. When she is not writing or studying, she creates long lists of nicknames for her cat. She was advised that this isn’t the liveliest sounding hobby.

Ryan Steel
Tech Support
Ryan Steel is an independent filmmaker and animator from Treaty 1 Territory. After being introduced to the Winnipeg Film Group at the age of 13, he was sucked into the weirdo world of arthouse cinema.

Brent Kroeker
Tech Support
Brent Kroeker is from Winnipeg, in Treaty 1 Territory. He has worked in post-production in the Winnipeg film industry for four years, but has had a passion for the art of filmmaking for much longer.

Brian Hydesmith
Graphic Artist & Designer
Brian Hydesmith endeavours to connect the visual world with the written word. As a photographer, reporter, and graphic designer he has worked in various capacities on newspapers, magazines, books, academic journals, and visual projects of all types on three continents. Brian enjoys working with Winnipeg’s creative community to assist in sharing all they do to make the world a better place.