Jen Zoratti
@jenzoratti.bsky.social
Winnipeg Free Press columnist/arts writer.🗞Author of the newsletter NEXT, a weekly look forward at culture.💌 jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.ca
Reposted by Jen Zoratti
🏒🇨🇦🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ “Lucas Morneau crocheted and rug-hooked brightly coloured, vintage-inspired jerseys — complete with logos — for all 14 of the QNHL’s teams, which are all named for pejoratives used against #LGBTQ communities in an act of reclamation.” #hockey
✍️ @jenzoratti.bsky.social, @winnipegfreepress.com
✍️ @jenzoratti.bsky.social, @winnipegfreepress.com
Newfoundland artist’s fictional hockey league takes on toxic masculinity, homophobia in the sport
The St. John’s Sissies. The Nain Nancys. The Come By Chance Flamers. These are just some of the teams in the Queer Newfoundland Hockey League, the fictional conference at the heart of a multimedia sol...
www.winnipegfreepress.com
November 15, 2025 at 4:11 PM
🏒🇨🇦🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ “Lucas Morneau crocheted and rug-hooked brightly coloured, vintage-inspired jerseys — complete with logos — for all 14 of the QNHL’s teams, which are all named for pejoratives used against #LGBTQ communities in an act of reclamation.” #hockey
✍️ @jenzoratti.bsky.social, @winnipegfreepress.com
✍️ @jenzoratti.bsky.social, @winnipegfreepress.com
I have been terrible at sharing my work here but I liked this one. You’ll never figure out what you can do if you never try. www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
Opinion: Artificial art a threat to human creativity
Even if you don’t know the name Drew Struzan, you’ve definitely seen his work. It’s been shown in the odd art gallery, but you’ve likely encountered it in popcorn-scented movie theatres, or, even more...
www.winnipegfreepress.com
November 8, 2025 at 4:15 PM
I have been terrible at sharing my work here but I liked this one. You’ll never figure out what you can do if you never try. www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
Reposted by Jen Zoratti
A must-read, from @doubleemmartin.bsky.social:
Ms. Lily's Grade 5 students came to her with a *double-barreled* q last fall: why didn’t Earl Grey School have a paper, they wondered — and if they started one, would she serve as editor-in-chief? #mbed #wfp
www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews...
Ms. Lily's Grade 5 students came to her with a *double-barreled* q last fall: why didn’t Earl Grey School have a paper, they wondered — and if they started one, would she serve as editor-in-chief? #mbed #wfp
www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews...
Winnipeg students develop critical aptitude essential for navigating media landscape
One day in the fall of 2024, two of Lily Godinez Goodman’s Grade 5 students came to her with a question: Why didn’t their Earl Grey School have a newspaper, they wondered — and if they started one, wo...
www.winnipegfreepress.com
October 31, 2025 at 4:33 PM
A must-read, from @doubleemmartin.bsky.social:
Ms. Lily's Grade 5 students came to her with a *double-barreled* q last fall: why didn’t Earl Grey School have a paper, they wondered — and if they started one, would she serve as editor-in-chief? #mbed #wfp
www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews...
Ms. Lily's Grade 5 students came to her with a *double-barreled* q last fall: why didn’t Earl Grey School have a paper, they wondered — and if they started one, would she serve as editor-in-chief? #mbed #wfp
www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews...
Reposted by Jen Zoratti
I am pro teenage trick or treating! Also the story of my bad and weird last Halloween. 🎃 www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
Opinion: Let the teens have their Halloweens
It’s that time of year when parents take to social media to ask a variation of the same question: is my teenage child too old to go trick-or-treating? No. The answer is no. They are not too old. They....
www.winnipegfreepress.com
October 25, 2025 at 2:54 PM
I am pro teenage trick or treating! Also the story of my bad and weird last Halloween. 🎃 www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
Reposted by Jen Zoratti
The spooky season is in full swing, with every streaming service worth its salt suggesting films that go bump in the night. A scary movie is a great date night (see C8 for the year’s best so far), but we suggest burning the midnight oil with one of these gripping, ghoulish reads.
Fearful fictions
A selection of horror, dread and other terrifically creepy tales
www.winnipegfreepress.com
October 29, 2025 at 11:00 PM
The spooky season is in full swing, with every streaming service worth its salt suggesting films that go bump in the night. A scary movie is a great date night (see C8 for the year’s best so far), but we suggest burning the midnight oil with one of these gripping, ghoulish reads.
From 2019: Need some local costume inspo? I got you! (Pleased that the Portage & Main suggestion is irrelevant now). www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
Oct 2019: Treat yourself with a Winnipeg-themed Halloween get-up
When you’re a kid, Halloween means dressing up as a pumpkin and then going door to door to fill a smaller, plastic pumpkin with candy. As an adult, it means being invited to parties that necessi...
www.winnipegfreepress.com
October 27, 2025 at 11:26 PM
From 2019: Need some local costume inspo? I got you! (Pleased that the Portage & Main suggestion is irrelevant now). www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
I am pro teenage trick or treating! Also the story of my bad and weird last Halloween. 🎃 www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
Opinion: Let the teens have their Halloweens
It’s that time of year when parents take to social media to ask a variation of the same question: is my teenage child too old to go trick-or-treating? No. The answer is no. They are not too old. They....
www.winnipegfreepress.com
October 25, 2025 at 2:54 PM
I am pro teenage trick or treating! Also the story of my bad and weird last Halloween. 🎃 www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
Reposted by Jen Zoratti
Nick is *already* missed dearly by his former colleagues.
A lifelong public ed advocate, he always picked up the phone to chat abt the notorious school funding formula.
I’ll keep trying my best to fit into his clown-sized #mbed reporter shoes 🍎🗞️
www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
A lifelong public ed advocate, he always picked up the phone to chat abt the notorious school funding formula.
I’ll keep trying my best to fit into his clown-sized #mbed reporter shoes 🍎🗞️
www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
Ex-Free Press reporter Nick Martin loved a good thriller
Former Free Press reporter Nick Martin, who wrote the monthly suspense column in the books section and was prolific in his standalone reviews of mystery/thriller novels, died Oct. 15 at age 77 while o...
www.winnipegfreepress.com
October 24, 2025 at 1:37 AM
Nick is *already* missed dearly by his former colleagues.
A lifelong public ed advocate, he always picked up the phone to chat abt the notorious school funding formula.
I’ll keep trying my best to fit into his clown-sized #mbed reporter shoes 🍎🗞️
www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
A lifelong public ed advocate, he always picked up the phone to chat abt the notorious school funding formula.
I’ll keep trying my best to fit into his clown-sized #mbed reporter shoes 🍎🗞️
www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
One of the best live vocalists in the biz. Loved seeing Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland up there, too. And surprise guest Paula Cole!!! she was playing her own show last night in town, too. A mini Lilith!
After having to postpone last November’s concert twice owing to acute laryngitis and subsequent vocal rest, Canadian treasure Sarah McLachlan finally brought her Fumbling Towards Ecstasy 30th Anniversary Tour to Winnipeg on Wednesday night.
Sarah doesn’t drop the ball
Eventual Fumbling Towards Ecstasy anniversary show wouldn’t be denied
www.winnipegfreepress.com
October 23, 2025 at 12:40 PM
One of the best live vocalists in the biz. Loved seeing Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland up there, too. And surprise guest Paula Cole!!! she was playing her own show last night in town, too. A mini Lilith!
Reposted by Jen Zoratti
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.
Nick Martin: No-nonsense WWSL referee, retired @winnipegfreepress.com education/legislature reporter and good guy who’d drive you to the ferry terminal from the Victoria airport, RIP.
October 19, 2025 at 1:25 AM
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.
Reposted by Jen Zoratti
Cute news alert!
Annie MacDonald's neighbourhood coffee stand has raised more than $2,000 for CancerCare over the last two months. It's also become the site of meaningful community connections.
In today's @winnipegfreepress.com ☕
www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
Annie MacDonald's neighbourhood coffee stand has raised more than $2,000 for CancerCare over the last two months. It's also become the site of meaningful community connections.
In today's @winnipegfreepress.com ☕
www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
Nine-year-old serves up hot drinks to raise money for CancerCare Manitoba
River Heights’ hottest new coffee pop-up has highly exclusive hours. The stand at the corner of Waterloo Street and Kingsway is only open once a week from 8:20 to 8:45 a.m. before the baristas have to...
www.winnipegfreepress.com
October 17, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Cute news alert!
Annie MacDonald's neighbourhood coffee stand has raised more than $2,000 for CancerCare over the last two months. It's also become the site of meaningful community connections.
In today's @winnipegfreepress.com ☕
www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
Annie MacDonald's neighbourhood coffee stand has raised more than $2,000 for CancerCare over the last two months. It's also become the site of meaningful community connections.
In today's @winnipegfreepress.com ☕
www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
I always enjoy talking to Miriam Toews, who returns to @mcnallyrobinson.com (her old workplace!) tomorrow night to launch her stellar new work of non-fiction, A Truce That Is Not Peace, in conversation with John Samson Fellows and Christine Fellows:
The question at the core of Miriam Toews’ latest book is one she’s been asked many times. It’s a question with no neat and tidy answer, but one the Manitoba-born, Toronto-based novelist felt compelled to try to unpack: Why do you write?
October 16, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Reposted by Jen Zoratti
This is a fun project and a really good idea from our poet laureate. Supported by the Winnipeg Arts Council. www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
Winnipeggers encouraged to share civic thoughts through interactive poetry project
Jennifer Still wants you to help write the story of our city — what is, what was and what could be. Winnipeg’s poet laureate for 2025/26 has just launched The Story of Winnipeg, a citywide poetry proj...
www.winnipegfreepress.com
October 14, 2025 at 1:35 PM
This is a fun project and a really good idea from our poet laureate. Supported by the Winnipeg Arts Council. www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
This is such a beautiful project —if you were at JKS’s shows at the end of September, you got a sneaky peek!
Jennifer Still wants you to help write the story of our city — what is, what was and what could be.
Putting our city on the map
Winnipeggers encouraged to share civic thoughts through interactive poetry project
www.winnipegfreepress.com
October 14, 2025 at 3:24 AM
This is such a beautiful project —if you were at JKS’s shows at the end of September, you got a sneaky peek!
Reposted by Jen Zoratti
New Zealand costume designer Kate Hawley has designed many costumes for the big screen — including for the forthcoming Frankenstein — but Winnipeggers will be able to see her confectionary couture creations onstage this week when the RWB presents the Manitoba premiere of Hansel & Gretel.
Kate Hawley knows costumes are no bit players when it comes to storytelling, both onscreen and onstage.
Feast for the senses
Fairy tale a sweet treat of candy-coloured delights
www.winnipegfreepress.com
October 7, 2025 at 2:21 AM
New Zealand costume designer Kate Hawley has designed many costumes for the big screen — including for the forthcoming Frankenstein — but Winnipeggers will be able to see her confectionary couture creations onstage this week when the RWB presents the Manitoba premiere of Hansel & Gretel.
New Zealand costume designer Kate Hawley has designed many costumes for the big screen — including for the forthcoming Frankenstein — but Winnipeggers will be able to see her confectionary couture creations onstage this week when the RWB presents the Manitoba premiere of Hansel & Gretel.
Kate Hawley knows costumes are no bit players when it comes to storytelling, both onscreen and onstage.
Feast for the senses
Fairy tale a sweet treat of candy-coloured delights
www.winnipegfreepress.com
October 7, 2025 at 2:21 AM
New Zealand costume designer Kate Hawley has designed many costumes for the big screen — including for the forthcoming Frankenstein — but Winnipeggers will be able to see her confectionary couture creations onstage this week when the RWB presents the Manitoba premiere of Hansel & Gretel.
If you read one thing today, make it this!
New deep dive from @malakabas.bsky.social and me on Synergy Inmate Phone Solutions, a San Antonio-based company that's come to dominate the Canadian prison telecom market – now contracting with 12 out of 13 provincial and territorial corrections systems.
www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews...
www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews...
Texas-based firm commands 80 per cent market share of telecom services for Manitoba inmates after securing non-competitive, highly lucrative contracts
Six years ago, at a spring meeting of Manitoba’s jail superintendents, plans were getting underway to start providing electronic tablets to inmates in a few correctional institutions — with the compan...
www.winnipegfreepress.com
October 3, 2025 at 3:24 PM
If you read one thing today, make it this!
Sad to hear Jane Goodall has died. I got the incredible pleasure of sitting down with her for an in-person interview 10 years ago and it remains a career high. www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews...
Sep 2015: Opinion: Jane Goodall remains a road warrior for the planet
When world-famous primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall landed in Winnipeg on Thursday, she opened up her laptop and learned a devastating piece of news. National Geographic — her beloved National Geog...
www.winnipegfreepress.com
October 1, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Sad to hear Jane Goodall has died. I got the incredible pleasure of sitting down with her for an in-person interview 10 years ago and it remains a career high. www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews...
Reposted by Jen Zoratti
Am very honoured to co-anchor today’s CBC News Special on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation - check it out at 2 p.m. ET (1 pm CT) on CBC TV, CBC Gem, CBC News Network, CBC News streaming channels, the CBC News app and the CBC News YouTube Channel
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Join CBC to honour the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation | CBC News
Marking its fifth year on Tuesday, Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (also known as Orange Shirt Day) is dedicated to reflecting and learning together about the enduring legacy o...
www.cbc.ca
September 30, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Am very honoured to co-anchor today’s CBC News Special on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation - check it out at 2 p.m. ET (1 pm CT) on CBC TV, CBC Gem, CBC News Network, CBC News streaming channels, the CBC News app and the CBC News YouTube Channel
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Meet the new guy at @rwballet.bsky.social! Christopher Stowell has officially been artistic director since June 1, and he has been busy. Here’s my profile of the first new RWB AD in 30 years 🩰
One gets the sense that nothing gets by Christopher Stowell.
Starting off on the right foot
New AD has big plans for Royal Winnipeg Ballet
www.winnipegfreepress.com
September 27, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Meet the new guy at @rwballet.bsky.social! Christopher Stowell has officially been artistic director since June 1, and he has been busy. Here’s my profile of the first new RWB AD in 30 years 🩰
Reposted by Jen Zoratti
We're very excited to welcome Sabrina Janke, Alex Judge, and @jenzoratti.bsky.social to the store on Friday November 28 to launch Portage & Main!
www.mcnallyrobinson.com/event-18828/...
www.mcnallyrobinson.com/event-18828/...
Join co-authors Sabrina Janke and Alex Judge for the launch of Portage and Main
McNally Robsinson Booksellers Grant Park in the Atrium
Friday November 28th 2025 7:00 pm
The authors will also be collecting non-perishables in donation to Harvest Manitoba!
McNally Robsinson Booksellers Grant Park in the Atrium
Friday November 28th 2025 7:00 pm
The authors will also be collecting non-perishables in donation to Harvest Manitoba!
September 26, 2025 at 7:46 PM
We're very excited to welcome Sabrina Janke, Alex Judge, and @jenzoratti.bsky.social to the store on Friday November 28 to launch Portage & Main!
www.mcnallyrobinson.com/event-18828/...
www.mcnallyrobinson.com/event-18828/...
Reposted by Jen Zoratti
Korn performs in Winnipeg tomorrow. So obviously I had to pair some of the nu metal band's biggest hits with corn recipes submitted by @winnipegfreepress.com readers.
Read Korn on the Cob below 🤘🌽
www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
Read Korn on the Cob below 🤘🌽
www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
September 24, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Korn performs in Winnipeg tomorrow. So obviously I had to pair some of the nu metal band's biggest hits with corn recipes submitted by @winnipegfreepress.com readers.
Read Korn on the Cob below 🤘🌽
www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
Read Korn on the Cob below 🤘🌽
www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
I spent today remembering a legend 🖤
Stephanie Ballard, the glamorous, sharp-witted Winnipeg contemporary dance icon, is being remembered as a community builder who believed deeply in art and the people who make it.
Prolific choreographer, mentor ‘a champion for dance’
Stephanie Ballard, the glamorous, sharp-witted Winnipeg contemporary dance icon, is being remembered as a community builder who believed deeply in art and the people who make it.
www.winnipegfreepress.com
September 23, 2025 at 11:21 PM
I spent today remembering a legend 🖤
Reposted by Jen Zoratti
“from the get go, it was an exploration of why it was misremembered. Why was all this joy and success and money and progress not celebrated for what it was?” - Lilith Fair doc director Ally Pankiw
In advance of the (excellent) new Lilith Fair documentary's arrival on CBC Gem today, I talked to director Ally Pankiw about how the sexist culture of the late '90s made us memory hole this incredibly successful festival. www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...
New documentary revisits Lilith Fair, gives it the overdue kudos it deserves
In the opening moments of Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, a new documentary about the pioneering all-women touring festival co-founded by Canadian icon Sarah McLachlan in the late 1990s, there’s a se...
www.winnipegfreepress.com
September 21, 2025 at 4:37 PM
“from the get go, it was an exploration of why it was misremembered. Why was all this joy and success and money and progress not celebrated for what it was?” - Lilith Fair doc director Ally Pankiw
Marilyn! 🖤
Marilyn Hagerty — who didn’t give a flying breadstick what the cynics thought — became a national celebrity when her review of a North Dakota Olive Garden went viral. She has died at age 99.
Marilyn Hagerty, Whose Olive Garden Review Went Viral, Dies at 99
“The chicken Alfredo ($10.95) was warm and comforting on a cold day,” she wrote from North Dakota. And suddenly the national media made her a celebrity.
nyti.ms
September 20, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Marilyn! 🖤