Author Gregg Norman

Posted on by Mitchell Toews

Lake Dauphin is part of a unique prairie watershed. It is the wind-worked home to pickerel and pike surrounded by wetlands and peaty sedge meadows. The lake represents a mature ecology bounded by strong parkland features and clearly influenced by the seemingly unending prairie to the south and west. The northern-influenced climate and relatively sparse human population present a persona still wild in its soulful inner self but outwardly, a place of calm and quiet strength.

This account of place could just as easily describe one of the region’s residents: five-book author Gregg Norman. I’ve had the good fortune to stumble onto Gregg’s writing and just as enjoyably, his cordial, affable, and knowledgeable personality. After a few years of comments and emails, reading each others’ work and becoming online friends it’s time to write a proper review.

Drawing from two of Gregg’s novels—A Gift of Scars and Bingo at the Legion—here’s a summary that offers an overview of author Norman’s overall skills and attributes as a writer, as well as commentary on these two excellent reads.

In Gregg Norman’s books, we find a stabilizing foundation beneath the storytelling. Part of his underlying prose meter is to allow readers to view life and its intricacies, complexity, and sudden reversals almost exclusively through the experiences of the characters. As a result, fiction readers looking for an escape from their own day-to-day entanglements will find in these books a place where transportation into a virtual world is pleasingly easy and without the slippery footing so common in current literary fiction. Norman’s gripping realism feels exacting and personal even if it is drawn from places and characters that could be right next door. The scenes arrive, ruddy-cheeked and vital, from any one of a number of common memories and experiences that the author provides. Common only in their familiarity; uncommon in their singular personality and well-delivered descriptions. Norman steeps his stories in slowly revealed character studies, influenced as they should be, as they must be, by landscapes and neighbourhoods and relationships that this strong, characterful author knows well. Knows in his bones and his scars and his mature sensibility. He communicates fluidly, with the firm hand and big heart we desire from a storyteller.

Even treacherous ground like a failed high school romance renewed does not succumb to treacle or overwrought plotting and stilted dialogue. Instead, the relationship is renewed with subtle vibrancy, coming off the page and drawing us in with the feelings and emotions we know to be true to the situation. Norman has that deep well to draw from:

“The supreme question about a work of art is out of how deep a life does it spring. Paintings of Moreau are paintings of ideas. The deepest poetry of Shelley, the words of Hamlet bring our mind into contact with the eternal wisdom; Plato’s world of ideas. All the rest is the speculation of schoolboys for schoolboys.” —James Joyce, Ulysses

Norman adheres to this Joycean ethic without seeming as though he is trying to. His books about average, flawed people are indeed, “paintings of ideas;” word paintings, cut carefully with dialogue, imagery, word craft and the caring of a fully-invested artist.

Sometimes the characters may at first appear bleak or we find they are placed on stoney emotional ground. But unfailingly, they evolve at a pace well controlled—never contrived. Feelings furrow the ground, turning aside our first inclinations towards the character and revealing the core individual Norman has created. By allowing the characters to emerge more fully, the reader is brought along without effort or disbelief.

Families behave like families do: there is a hint of dysfunction and imperfection, even if the core is based on love and respect. Friendships have rough spots. Cars don’t always start when you need them to. If there was a rocket ship or a superhero or a cataclysmic event in a Norman book, it would sputter or flutter or remind you of butter—this author is simply not tempted by overkill and literary hyperbole. Rather than depend on mighty but unlikely events or personalities, Norman’s stories move along in less imposing circumstances and arrive where they should, after a satisfying and trying struggle. The author leaves the reader—and often the main character—worse for wear, but better for the experience.

People fall in love. They become ill. Some recover and others die. Dreams die too, though somehow we know that among those dreams, even those belonging to characters we first believed to be weak or ignoble, might be given a second chance.

A Gift of Scars: Gritty, untarnished realism with the deftly applied fictional touch of an observant and world-wise writer. At times darkly shaded, in the end, Scars leaves us with the feeling that perseverance, emotional honesty and the ability to keep striving despite our despair will serve us well.

In Bingo at the Legion, we think we have happened upon a quotidian gathering of “ordinary folks.” While this is not untrue, the underpinning fact is that there are no ordinary lives and that life is both fickle and generous. We know from watching Brenna, Grady, and Jasper that past missteps can be retaken and it is within our scope to alter what fate has given us no matter how unlikely it seems.

The lessons available through these enjoyable contes de vie are provided with a delicate touch—no authorial overburden. The characters become known to us and real in our minds. When we reach the tightly written conclusions, we may be surprised but never shocked or taken outside of the story. The characters reveal what we have been skillfully led to see in them.

The perfect Christmastime getaway? Travel to Lake Dauphin and back via Bingo at the Legion, Oz Destiny, Not My Dog, A Gift of Scars, and Lovely Way to Burn. https://greggnormanauthor.com/books/

“

Poetry to be Stickered

Posted on by Mitchell Toews

they are the grit in my mennonite eye
says the young mother
with the hundred year sigh

the bitter green melon at the tom boy store
the one that is rotten
to its pale green core

you are the bread that would not rise
lonely and sad
under cotton dry skies

his is the hand with the frail wrinkled skin
the piano teacher
softly
let us begin

they are the fist clenched in loud might
tell me then girlie
what wars did you fight

he is the kind of girl we all knew
a solo skirmish
on a pew made for two

die owlah grips my arm with a clasp o so firm
until seven or eight
the extent of my term

so pitter and patter
and round we all go
fox and geese in the binary snow

time comes for us all
surprisingly fast
and the first ones now
shall later be
last

~ ~ ~

My old hometown, Steinbach, Manitoba, has recently enacted a policy through the City Council requiring library staff to place a warning label—an “LGBTQ content” sticker—on the cover of children’s books in the city’s public library. Is it permissible for a publicly funded institution to do this? LGBTQIA2S residents of Steinbach may ask why the City Council is using public funds to enact and fund a bylaw that discriminates against them. After all, neither LGBTQIA2S taxpayer parents in the city nor their children need a warning sticker on books with LGBTQIA2S content. In fact, they desire these books to be in the public library along with other non-dominant topics and are entitled as citizens of Canada to this. Does the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation? Is the Council edict not discriminatory in its intent? It is certainly not comparable to a library listing books under broad literary genres like Mystery or Cook Books or Christian but rather is an attempt—potentially—to isolate LGBTQIA2S authors and their work. It is bullying. It is openly segregationalist. LGBTQIA2S stickers are tantamount to book banning in a conservative community like Steinbach. It is religious overreach disguised as generic public policy. Is this not an aggressive move by a homophobic, ideologically unified Council to effectively banish (or “shun”) certain authors based on their sexual orientation? Will The Writers’ Union of Canada become involved in prosecuting actions that mistreat its members?

The Steinbach Public Library is not the private library of the City Council nor is it a private church library.

Warning: RACCOON CONTENT! Recently, while discussing this issue with other ex-pats from Steinbach, I asked this: “Are LGBTQ cover stickers not the same as demanding that a sticker be placed on a children’s book about raccoons? After all, if a children’s book can coerce children into wanting to change their sexual orientation, it must also—by definition—be able to persuade kids to want to change their species.” Is it not just that ludicrous? A book cannot coerce a child to change their species or their sexual orientation. No stickers are required for either raccoon books or LGBTQIA2S books.

Were ANY LGBTQIA2S members of the local community asked for input when the policy was under discussion?

Last, here’s some rainbow logic of my own colourization: You don’t have to be green to recognize that the colour green exists. You don’t need to be the blue sky to co-exist in a world that contains a blue sky. Bullies are all yellow.

Characters: What It’s All About

Posted on by Mitchell Toews

IMAGE: Jackson Pollock at the MoMA, by joansorolla Creative Commons site

“I respond to character-driven material, regardless of its origin. I fall in love with the characters and generally respond to stories featuring ordinary people who succeed in overcoming extraordinary challenges.” —Producer Gale Anne Hurd

If I had a mantra while writing Pinching Zwieback, it could have been this.

During the Morden library reading on November 28, an astute reader commented that in a normal short story, the reader can be frustrated because the story ends so soon, unlike a novel where characters receive more development. By using recurrent characters and a narrative arc that goes from beginning to end, much as a novel does, the readers get to know the main characters in PZ quite well. 

These observations are true for readers and I can comment that it’s true for the author too! I learned a lot about these characters from the structure of the storytelling and by “letting them tell the story” as they developed personality and definition during the writing of the book.

My expert editors, including Matt Joudrey, Alana Brooker, Nina McIntyre, and Priyanka Ketkar did a lot to bring these distinct characters out and let them fulfil their roles as individuals in the larger story told by the collection as a whole.

This aspect of writing Pinching Zwieback was one of the most enjoyable—and cathartic—for me as I did an emotional freefall and let my imagination go, using the characters as the vehicle to rewrite life events from my past and explore alternate outcomes.

I didn’t always use the outcomes I imagined, but just the act of creating them allowed me to think more freely about my own history without being bound by what “really” happened. My job as a storyteller benefitted from this exercise, particularly with the help of my expert team of editors.

In addition, I tried to let the characters come alive and to have them think and sound in the genuine way I imagined they would.

“[…] I like the rawness of the pure untarnished colloquial voice in the reading. Having something to say is essential to me. That is to say, I’m not impressed with a great volume of rarely used words thrown together to impress the reader with the vast knowledge of the writer on command of English, tricks of writing, ancient history, or the places they’ve travelled.”—An excerpt from an interview by writer, editor, publisher Judith Lawrence in, “Six Questions For…”

A Strong Post from Author-Essayist-Blogger MaryLou Driedger

Posted on by Mitchell Toews
What Made Yesterday Special?

Somebody PINCH Me!

Posted on by Mitchell Toews

“Mitchell smiled with his bruised mouth,” to paraphrase Mr. Steinbeck.

50% BOOK SALE: Act Fast! Nov 16-19

Posted on by Mitchell Toews

Wow! My publisher must have sniffed one VOC too many. For a short while, Pinching Zwieback and, in fact, all At Bay Press titles are up for grabs at HALF PRICE. For American readers (with their powerful US Greenbacks) it’s almost like I’m PAYING YOU to buy my book! That negative income proposition is not the way I was led to believe it worked via my extensive research of Snoopy cartoons. (Ending in a whole Romeo-Juliet thing with me and Peppermint Patty. . .)

No matter. To buy my collection of short stories hit this SALE LINK. USE CODE: BIG50

Here’s a Pinching Zwieback-specific mnemonic device to help you remember the BIG50 sale code. It’s 50% off, which allows you to buy a case of this stuff, which is the brand consumed by characters like Big Johnny Fear (Fehr) and Dick Loewen. Hart Zehen, of course, was a Carling Black Label guy.

“Like a Mennonite ‘Dubliners’ set in the Canadian West, Pinching Zwieback follows the lives of recurrent characters on a rumble strip road filled with pick-up trucks, strong women with sad eyes, and those who were once ‘the quiet in the land.'”—Nope, no one ever said this or wrote this blurb. To see some actual opinions, hit this LINK! https://mitchellaneous.com/2023/10/11/early-praise-for-pinching-zwieback-2/

Miss the sale? Have no fear there are many places to grab a copy: December 3 at the Park Theatre in Winnipeg at the Fireside Book Market https://www.instagram.com/p/CzMQfn_gWL4/ or online from numerous vendor sites including McNally Robinson Booksellers (online or in person in Wpg or Saskatoon) or at one of the many book launch events at which I’ll be reading, signing, and selling. (Pus other Christmasy bookish opportunities coming up!)

Follow my Facebook page for a list of upcoming events or contact me to BOOK me. Here’s the current schedule, with dates in Abbotsford, Winnipeg, Lac du Bonnet, and several in Steinbach already in the rear-view:

Nov 18​ The Public​ Brewhouse, S​teinbach​​​ 7 P.M. with MC award-winning author Andrew Unger |Nov 21​ Altona Library 7 P.M. | Nov 22​ Pinawa Library 7 P.M. | Nov 23​ Winkler Library 7 P.M.​ | Nov ​28 Morden Library 7 P.M.​ | ​Fireside Book Market ​Dec 3​ Park Theatre, Winnipeg​ 10 A.M.-6 P.M. | The Listening Room Dec 13​ Open Mic​, Lac du Bonnet | PLUS events in Kenora, Brandon, Lac du Bonnet, TBA

If you don’t find Pinching Zwieback at your local bookshop or library, request it and/or shoot us a note and we’ll make it easy for them to get a copy or, as Snoopy would have me believe, fifty-five.

Fast Links: Pinching Zwieback by Manitoba Author Mitchell Toews

Posted on by Mitchell Toews

THIS PAGE HAS BEEN CONSOLIDATED HERE: https://mitchellaneous.com/2023/09/30/pinching-zwieback-book-author-publication-event-details/

October 24, 2023: The official launch day for Pinching Zwieback, Mitchell Toews debut collection of short stories from At Bay Press. Release Date is November 7, 2023. Mitchell and wife Janice live on Jessica Lake, in the boreal forest on Treaty 1 & 3 territory, the home of the Métis Nation.

Events: https://mitchellaneous.com/2023/10/20/pinching-zwieback-events/

Where to Purchase: “Pinching Zwieback” ISBN 9781998779055 by Mitchell Toews (At Bay Press, Wpg) may be purchased at:

From At Bay Press: “Individual orders are placed through our website by adding books to your cart and then checking out with our secure online payment. Orders may also be placed over the phone by calling 204-489-6658 and payment will be taken over the phone. You may send an email with any questions or concerns to atbaypress@gmail.com.”

McNally Robinson Booksellers all locations.

The gift shops at both Mennonite Heritage Village (Steinbach) and Mennonite Heritage Museum (Abbotsford).

CommonWord Bookstore and Resource Centre in Winnipeg, MB

Manitoba Made Events & Shop in Lac du Bonnet, MB

Shop in person: Canadian Bookstore Map or visit the At Bay Press website SHOP LOCAL page to find the Independent book store near you.

Virtually all ONLINE book sources WORLDWIDE including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Thriftbooks, etc.

Libraries and booksellers in Canada and the U.S. may purchase books from At Bay Press’s distribution partners:

Canada: http://www.litdistco.ca/

U.S.: https://www.casemateipm.com/9781998779055/pinching-zwieback/

Aus/NZ: https://peribo.com.au/

Other countries: Please see https://atbaypress.com/ordering or contact Matt Joudrey atbaypress@gmail.com

Requesting “Pinching Zwieback” by Mitchell Toews (At Bay Press, Wpg, 2023) at your favourite bookstore or library is also a simple way to get a copy!

Be sure to look out for author and publisher events and check with Mitch or Matt on how to receive signed copies or for information concerning special situations like review or interview requests.

“Imbued with the turbulence of an ancestral river, the joy of a toboggan careening down an icy run, and the despair of dreams broken on a distant hockey rink, Mitchell Toews’ stories ask universal questions, about belonging, conforming and dissenting, all the while rooted in the snowdrifts and sun-drenched fields of a small prairie town. The answers emerge hot from the oven, fragrant like the zwieback buns of the title: we find ourselves in our family, and memories, and forgiveness, as familiar and soothing as the worn leather of a much-loved baseball glove.”—Zilla Jones, Journey Prize winner and finalist for the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award

Pinching Zwieback Events

Posted on by Mitchell Toews

Image: Author Mitchell Toews reads at the annual Prosetry event at Jessica Lake, in the Winnipeg River basin of eastern Manitoba.

Book launches, book chats, readings, panel discussions, and writing sessions coming up as Mitchell Toews’ debut collection of short stories is mixed, proofed, punched, cut, pinched, and baked.

Action shot pinched from The Steinbach Tribune

Pinching Zwieback: Made-up Stories from the Darp (Updates and schedule changes provided asap)

Nov 2 Mennonite Heritage Museum, Abbotsford “Books and Borscht” meal at noon, book chat at 1 P.M.

The view in Abbotsford, Nov 2. Borscht (or Chicken Noodle, your choice) preceded a reading to a friendly and engaged audience. Host Robert Martens (a poet and author himself) did an exceptional job of introduction and “connectivity” for the well-attended gathering. Excerpts from “Swimming in the Bazavluk,” “The Raspberry Code,” “The Peacemongers,” and “”The Grittiness of Mango Chiffon” were presented. Thanks to Robert, the MHM, and Jennifer Martens for this excellent and cordial event! Also to attendees from Vancouver, Matsqui (via Steinbach), Yarrow, Lynden, and beyond!

Nov 8 McNally Robinson Booksellers Grant Park, Winnipeg Mitch will read from “Pinching Zwieback” and will join Ariel Gordon (co-author-poet, with Brenda Schmidt) who will introduce “Siteseeing,” a book in which, “The poets wrote about the natural world and people making their way through it all.”  The evening will be hosted by Sue Sorensen (another At Bay Press author) and Sue will read for Brenda who cannot be in attendance this evening. 7 P.M.

The always-entertaining (insightful, convivial, talented…) Ariel Gordon

Nov 9 St. John’s Heritage Church & Arts Centre, Lac du Bonnet with Ariel Gordon (“Siteseeing”), Mitch and At Bay Press publisher, Matt Joudrey. Local musicians will complement the readings: singer-songwriters Bernadette Carlson, Lefty Auger (Daryl Reimer), and Paul McIntosh. 7 P.M. This event will rock.

Nov 15 Mennonite Heritage Village, Local Authors Night in Steinbach with Host Nita Wiebe, and Elma Koop, Mary Lou Driedger, Noreen Janzen, and Mitch. 7 P.M.

Mary Lou Driedger (Lost on the Prairie, Sixties Girl), Andrew Unger (Once Removed, The Best of the Bonnet) and Mitch discuss Steinbach—the literary city—at The Public Brewhouse.

Nov 18 The Public Brewhouse, Steinbach with EmCee Andrew Unger and co-hosts Dave Driedger and John “Hans” Neufeld for beer (or tasty non-alcoholic alternatives) and book chat. 7 P.M. (Arrive early—limited seating.)

Nov 21 Public Library, Altona 7 P.M. Book launch.

Nov 22 Public Library, Pinawa 7 P.M. Book launch.

Nov 23 Public Library, Winkler 7 P.M. Book launch.

Nov 28 Public Library, Morden 7 P.M. Book launch.

Mitch reading at a venue in Vancouver for PULP Literature Magazine, with daughter Meg and granddaughter Hazel in attendance.

Dec 3 Fireside Book Market, Park Theatre, Winnipeg with authors and publishers from four local presses for a fall fest of book sales, signings, and lots of book chatter. 10 A.M.—6 P.M.

Dec 13 The Listening Room Open Mic, Lac du Bonnet 7 P.M. Mitch will sign-up on the Open Mic list and read a few selections from Pinching Zwieback in the historic St. John’s Heritage Church & Arts Centre. (Books for sale, here at one of Mitch’s “happy places.”)

.
Dates TBA in the Public Libraries in Kenora (2023) and Lac du Bonnet (Spring 2024)

https://atbaypress.com/books/detail/pinching-zwieback

On child birthdays we toss the kids in the air, make wishes and offer a “pinch to grow an inch.” Pinching Zwieback is a gathering of pinches as a young man, dough in the hands of powerful albeit diminished women that rises in the oven of cultural expectation to a better understanding of his place in the world beyond the kitchen of his creation… Life is reaching for the light, which never falters even as the human characters flicker and fade.—Poet Laureate, feminist, and author Linda Rogers Van Krugel

~ ~ ~

Mitch Toews speaks from the margins of small-town society, claiming a space for the underdog and the undervalued. His characters must go through all manner of tests and challenges, but in the end–love wins. —Ralph Friesen, author of Between Earth & Sky: Steinbach’s First 50 Years and Dad, God, and Me.

~ ~ ~

Moves like a tide through visceral daily experiences—quintessentially Canadian, some heart wrenching, each powerfully evocative.”—Alanna Rusnak, Blank Spaces Magazine.

~ ~ ~

Mitchell Toews’ stories range from Tom Sawyer-like tales of boyhood squabbles to the heartbreak of family dysfunction to the cruelty of small-town hypocrisy. Hilarious and tragic in turn, Toews explores facets of Mennonite life that other Mennonite writers have not touched.—Armin Wiebe, author of The Salvation of Yasch Siemens and Grandmother and many more.

Would You Read?

Posted on by Mitchell Toews

Menno Porn? “Uhhh… what is that (?) and no thanks.”

Historical Mennonite Fiction? “Yes, I love those. They represent the combined zenith of art and social discourse. I love immersing myself in a lush imaginary world with numerous distinct characters… and six generations, two wars, eight church splinterings…and a book that WestJet charges extra to bring on board. I love them but I need a bigger purse. I love them, but…”

Okay. So, not unlike historical fiction but possibly a bit more compact? Something with some angst? Something with some joy? A little grit? (A LOT of grit?) Some humour? Something true to the heart, but with a roaming nature and an observational stance? Short stories perhaps? Episodes with an eclectic recurrent cast of recognizable (but fictional) characters wound around a common core—barbed wire both rusted and new, braided with ribbons of a brighter hue? A book where “love wins” but the issue is often in doubt? A not-so-quiet telling of the quiet in the land, by one who is part-outsider while ineffably an insider’s insider? “Hmmm. Possibly. Does it happen to have a Plautdietsch glossary guaranteed to start arguments at the Tim Hortons and Adult Sunday School?”

PinchingZwieback fr cvr (Final1)_800_1257_90.jpg

THE REMAINDER OF THIS PAGE’S CONTENT IS CONSOLIDATED HERE: https://mitchellaneous.com/2023/09/30/pinching-zwieback-book-author-publication-event-details/

“Pinching Zwieback: Made-up Stories from the Darp” is now available to order. 

Mitchell Toews’ debut collection of short stories from At Bay Press (Wpg) is in stock and ready for orders from booksellers, libraries, and individuals. (Reviewers: please inquire.) It will be carried by McNally Robinson Booksellers, Manitoba Made (Lac du Bonnet), the gift shop/book shops in the Mennonite Museums in Steinbach & Abbotsford, and (hopefully) many other bookstores. All the usual online sources will carry PZ. Ask for a copy at your favourite bookshop or library!

Where to buy—a GROWING LIST: At Bay Press (Wpg), the gift shop/book shops in the Mennonite Museums in Abbotsford, BC & Steinbach, MB, the University of Victoria Bookstore, McNally Robinson Booksellers (Canada wide), Manitoba Made (Lac du Bonnet, MB), CommonWords, (Wpg,) and many other bookstores to follow. All the usual ONLINE sources will carry PZ including Amazon, Amazon.ca, Indigo-Chapters, Google Books, Barnes & Noble, Thrift Books, Booktopia, Tertulia, WHSmith, Magers and Quinn Booksellers, Wook, Mighty Ape, Peribo, Foyles, Angus & Robertson, Bol.com, Bertrand, 49th Kids, Books-a-Million, Okian (Japan), and more.

From 1874 Russia to 21st century Manitoba and British Columbia, Mitchell Toews’ linked stories present us with a boisterous and poignant family saga unlike any other in Mennonite literature.—Armin Wiebe, author of The Salvation of Yasch Siemens and Grandmother, Laughing. http://www.arminwiebe.ca/ 

(More review blurbs: https://mitchellaneous.com/2023/10/11/early-praise-for-pinching-zwieback-2/)

Look for the in-depth review by renowned Canadian poet, author, and raconteur, Linda Rogers van Krugel of Victoria, coming soon with more reviews to follow from other literary sources in the US and Canada.

Of note: October 2023, Mitchell Toews’ new story “Saskatchewan” was Shortlisted for the inaugural Nona Macdonald Heaslip $15,000 “Best Canadian Short Story” Competition and Award in memory of Morley Callaghan from Exile Quarterly/Exile Editions. 

Contacts, ordering:
At Bay Press
Matt Joudrey
319 Queenston St.
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
R3N 0W9
atbaypress@gmail.com
204-489-6658

Cdn distributor for At Bay Press, LitDistCo: http://www.litdistco.ca/ 
USA distributor, Casemate: https://www.casemateipm.com/9781998779055/pinching-zwieback/

Schedule of Events: Mennonite Heritage Museum, Abbotsford Nov 2, McNally Robinson Booksellers, Grant Park, Wpg Nov 8, Lac du Bonnet Nov 9, Mennonite Heritage Village, Steinbach Nov 15, The Public Brewhouse & Gallery with emcee Andrew Unger, Steinbach Nov 18. Pinawa Library, Pinawa, MB, Nov 2023 (TBA), Lac du Bonnet Regional Library, LdB, MB Spring 2024 (TBA).

Mitch (“Has books, will travel”) is available for book readings and events and is particularly interested in discussions on “writing your culture.”

“I come to writing fiction from the storyteller’s places: the campfire, the backseat on a long drive, the beer parlour.” —MJT

BOOK REVIEWS, AUTHOR INTERVIEWS, COMMENTARY & “BLURBS”

Posted on by Mitchell Toews

“Pinching Zwieback: Made-up Stories from the Darp”

Overview; Artistic Creed

I come to writing fiction from the storyteller’s places: the campfire, the backseat on a long drive, the bar stool.

Everyday people’s stories inspire me because they demonstrate how extraordinary every life is and allow us to recognize what unites and divides us. As editor, poet, and writer Judith Lawrence of Lambertville, NJ has suggested and what I strive for is, “A unique writer’s voice… the pure untarnished colloquial rawness in the reading. Having something to say… to be startled, drawn into the story, even if it’s in the stillness, or the lines between the lines of the work.*”

*https://sixquestionsfor.blogspot.com/2013/07/six-questions-for-judith-lawrence.html

Literary Indices

“Pinching Zwieback” is indexed here: Mennonite/s Writing in Canada Bibliography: https://mennonitebibs.wordpress.com/mennonite-s-writing-in-canada-bibliography/

Overall Summary

Nov 16, 2025: Mitchell Toews, since 2016, has been placed on 27 shortlist-longlist-finalist groupings in contests in the US, the UK, and Canada. In addition, Toews was nominated by Pulp Literature for the 2025 Writers’ Trust McClelland Stewart JOURNEY PRIZE for his story “All Our Swains Commend Her” and has received four PUSHCART PRIZE nominations, from three separate periodicals (two in Canada, one in the US).

Pinching Zwieback: A McNally Robinson Bookseller “BEST BOOKS OF THE SEASON” selection, a staff pick, and a multi-week Manitoba bestselling paperback fiction book. #6 across CANADA in January 2024 on the Hamilton Review of Books Indie Bestseller list!

Pinching Zwieback: the Winnipeg Free Press Book Club selection for November 2024. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/book-club?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwyo60BhBiEiwAHmVLJejsiQ1BSxLcUz1km7UP6BI0ggBeBSJNMegjokTfgxfsgxNBemh5ghoCA4cQAvD_BwE

Mitchell Toews: Miramichi Reader’s “Why I Wrote This Book” feature. https://miramichireader.ca/2024/08/why-i-wrote-this-book-issue-33/

Reviews, Launches, Interviews, and Excerpts

Prairie Books NOW Synopsis: Fall/Winter 2023 “These stories portray small-town Mennonite life with humour and poignancy. Linked by a common community and recurrent characters, the stories show families reconfiguring as necessary, young boys growing to be men, and women learning to be bold in the
midst of tight societal expectations.” (At Bay Press, $24.95 pb, 400 pages, isbn: 978-1-998779-05-5)

Free Press Book Club Synopsis: November 19, 2024 “In the 20 linked stories Toews has created, characters pop in and out, are introduced and then briefly forgotten, re-emerging later in the book in a different stage of life, bringing new voices in the form of kids and grandkids along with them... Though these stories are ‘made up from the darp,’ as Toews says, Pinching Zwieback reads like a memoir; the characters Toews has developed feel full, real and relatable.”—Ben Sigurdson, Winnipeg Free Press Literary Editor https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/2024/11/09/mennonite-manitoba-stories-on-tap-for-free-press-book-club

“Pinching Zwieback” Book Review Dec 30, 2023 https://www.WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/books/2023/12/30/chekhov-of-the-darp “a stunner…”

“Why I Wrote This Book” feature in The Miramichi Review, August 4, 2024 https://miramichireader.ca/2024/08/why-i-wrote-this-book-issue-33/ “Like most authors, I had numerous reasons to write my book. Legacy, heritage, tell my story my way, and so on. Valid reasons. I had these plus some ulterior motivation…”

“Pinching Zwieback” Book Review/Author Interview June 13, 2024 (Jake Epp Public Library, Steinbach, MB) https://steinbachonline.com/articles/local-authors-debut-book-strikes-global-chord-with-relatable-tales- “Local author’s debut book strikes global chord…”

“Pinching Zwieback” Book Review Nov 22, 2023 https://anabaptistworld.org/new-books-for-2023-fiction-books/ “a collection of stories of practical folk discerning across generations what should remain and what should be let go…”

“Pinching Zwieback” story selected as a Mentor Text for the Moving Writers website, a US/Ca site for English teachers, by English teachers. The story Fall from Grace was chosen March 20, 2024 for its strength in illustrating how to: “establish a setting… create a voice… tell one great story… and include a moral to the story.” https://movingwriters.org/2024/03/20/mentor-text-wednesday-fall-from-grace/ “Even if you only give your writers the first two paragraphs of this story, you’re giving them a great mentor text for establishing a setting. Those paragraphs do more than establish the sense of place, but they give a very visceral sense of what it means for the narrator to be in that place. Using the imagery of the first paragraph, and the rules and conditions of the second, we are placed in the youth of the narrator.”

Hollay Ghadery: Rural Writer Spotlight Author Interview Jan 6, 2024 https://www.facebook.com/share/p/oSqzqKJAvXp9KvQm/?mibextid=oFDknk “My focus has been prairie stories. My forthcoming work (a novel, set in Winnipeg and for the majority of the book, in the Canadian boreal wilderness near the 50th parallel) continues in that place so clear to me but also draws into other resonant locations, including Winnipeg, the boreal shield in Manitoba and urban characters and scenes from southwestern British Columbia. I am most often described as a storyteller with grit and I wear that tag with pride.”

“Pinching Zwieback” Book Review  Dec 20, 2023 https://www.literaryheist.com/articles/stories-from-the-darp/ “Toews has the gift of making other people seen and heard…”

Author Interview Dec 7, 2023 https://winklermordenvoice.ca/services/download.ashx?doc=WinklerVoice120723.pdf “real-life feelings, characters, and places...”

“Pinching Zwieback” Book Review Dec 5, 2023 https://themeanderer.ca/pinching-zwieback-a-review/ “The stories whisper words of wisdom…”

“Pinching Zwieback” Book Review Dec 5, 2023 https://bit.ly/GNormanREVIEW_PZ “gritty realism in his characters and a profoundly human strength in his storylines…”

“Pinching Zwieback” Book Review Nov, 2023 https://maryloudriedger2.wordpress.com/2023/11/28/pinching-zwieback/ “poignant, evocative, touching, humorous and heart-wrenching…”

“Pinching Zwieback” Excerpt Nov 27, 2023 https://www.mennotoba.com/excerpt-from-pinching-zwieback-by-mitchell-toews/ 

“Pinching Zwieback” Book Launch/Reading Nov 8, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/live/49xiY1jRSYs “stories filled with life, filled with vitality—written by a storyteller…”

Author Interview Jan 6, 2023 https://www.pressenza.com/2023/06/i-used-to-be-an-animal-lover-conversation-rhys-barbara-mitchell-part-i/ “I strive to ‘ambush’ difficult or inflated personal memories by letting my characters take the story and reshape it…”

Author Interview Feb 14, 2021 https://literallystories2014.com/2021/02/14/literally-reruns-so-are-they-all-by-mitchell-toews/ “a gentle yet unsentimental touch…”

Author Interview Jan 28, 2021 https://www.blankspaces.ca/coffee-chats/coffee-chat-with-mitchell-toews “a quotidian setting, rich descriptions, relatable characters, human strengths and weaknesses on display, sorrow offset with quiet, cathartic humour…”

Author Interview Dec 19, 2019 https://mysmallpresswritingday.blogspot.com/2019/12/mitchell-toews-my-writing-day-and-offer.html “Utter cockwash…” 🙂

Author Interview Nov 14, 2018 https://www.mennotoba.com/mennonite-memes-like-our-food-make-for-a-rich-diet-5-questions-with-author-mitch-toews/ “I was born here and Steinbach and the Mennonite Borscht Belt are a hovering omnipresence in many of my stories…”

Commentary

Armin Wiebe 

• Mitchell Toews’ stories range from Tom Sawyer-like tales of boyhood squabbles to the heartbreak of family dysfunction to the cruelty of small-town hypocrisy. Hilarious and tragic in turn, Toews explores facets of Mennonite life that other Mennonite writers have not touched. 

• Mitchell Toews’ stories add more layers to the world that has given us Patrick Friesen, Lynnette (Dueck) D’anna, Miriam Toews, and Andrew Unger. Racism, class conflict, and economic and religious snobbery form the background for the sometimes comic, sometimes excruciating human dramas experienced by four generations of the Zehen family. 

• With a family bakery at the heart of what links them, these are hockey and baseball stories, love stories, drinking stories, father-son stories, mother-daughter stories, outsider stories, getting even stories, in which characters face high stakes perils, sometimes emotional, sometimes physical, sometimes life and death menacing. 

• From 1874 Russia to 21st century Manitoba and British Columbia, Mitchell Toews’ linked stories present us with a boisterous and poignant family saga unlike any other in Mennonite literature.

• Oba Jung, (“Oh, but son,”) you write good stories. 

—Armin Wiebe, author of The Salvation of Yasch Siemens and Grandmother, and playwright of several productions, including The Recipe, Winnipeg, MB Laughing. http://www.arminwiebe.ca/

Donna Besel

Mitch’s debut collection of short stories, “Pinching Zwieback,” recently received a stellar review in the Winnipeg Free Press and has appeared several times on McNally Robinson Bookstore’s bestseller list for paperback fiction. His book plays homage to the Mennonite language, food, history, and culture but he does not shy away from sharp insights into the limitations of a closed and controlled way of life. Like well-known Manitoba writer Miriam Toews, his writing often explores the clashes of their shared Mennonite background.

—Donna Besel, Lac du Bonnet, MB is a writer and educator, author of Lessons from a Nude Man, and The Unravelling.

Ralph Friesen

Mitch Toews speaks from the margins of small-town society, claiming a space for the underdog and the undervalued. His characters must go through all manner of tests and challenges, but in the end–love wins. Toews has that rare talent for touching your heart and being funny, too.  

—Ralph Friesen of Victoria, BC, author of Between Earth & Sky: Steinbach’s First 50 Years Dad, God, and Me and, most recently, Prosperity Ever Depression Never: Steinbach in the 1930s” https://www.ralphfriesen.com/

Linda Rogers Van Krugel

[…] That is the substance of Pinching Zwieback, rhymes with Steinbach, the town of Toews’ awakening. The linked stories in this premier collection from a senior writer describe the apostate Christian community he is growing into and out of now that the skin he was born in no longer fits. This was always true for the narrators born as outsiders in an outsider religion.

—Linda Rogers, Victoria, BC from her full review of the book. Canadian poet, author, thinker, feminist, and raconteur extraordinaire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda Rogers

Zilla Jones

Imbued with the turbulence of an ancestral river, the joy of a toboggan careening down an icy run, and the despair of dreams broken on a distant hockey rink, Mitchell Toews’ stories ask universal questions, about belonging, conforming and dissenting, all the while rooted in the snowdrifts and sun-drenched fields of a small prairie town. The answers emerge hot from the oven, fragrant like the zwieback buns of the title: we find ourselves in our family, and memories, and forgiveness, as familiar and soothing as the worn leather of a much-loved baseball glove.

“. . . ostensibly Mennonite, but the themes of conformity vs dissension, individual vs family, belonging vs alienation are universal.” (Facebook)

—Zilla Jones, Winnipeg, MB, Journey Prize winner and finalist in the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award https://www.transatlanticagency.com/2021/08/27/welcoming-zilla-jones-to-transatlantic/

Alanna Rusnak

Moves like a tide through visceral daily experiences—quintessentially Canadian, some heart wrenching, each powerfully evocative.

—Alanna Rusnak, Blank Spaces Magazine, Ontario https://www.chickenhousepress.ca/arp

Leslie Wakeman

His stories allow us to hold space for challenging our notions on life.

—Leslie Wakeman, writer and educator, Lac du Bonnet, Mb

Rachael Friesen

“I just finished reading the book and absolutely loved it. The snapshots from each character and how the stories flow from one generation to the next were fantastic. Diedrich and Matt were my favourite stories to follow, I cannot wait to purchase a copy for our branch!”

—Rachael Friesen, South Central Regional Library, Altona Branch Administrator

Sue Sorensen

In comments made during her hosting of the Nov 8 book launch event at McNally Robinson Booksellers, Wpg., MB: “. . . stories filled with life, filled with vitality. . . written by a storyteller.”

—Sue Sorensen, author, editor, and Associate Professor of English at Canadian Mennonite University, Winnipeg, MB.

Dianne Pearce

“If you enjoyed Mitch’s contribution, “Angel Delorme and the Craigflower Bus” in the Hawkshaw Press anthology, HARD-BOILED AND LOADED WITH SIN, then you’re going to love THIS book!”

—Dianne Pearce, MA, MFA, Publisher-Editor, Montclair, CA

Former South East Manitoba Residents

“You’ve created such a feel for that town (whether one has lived there or not), for the kinds of characters who live in these places. For me, personally, some of the events are deeply resonant. You’ve caught them well. The things young boys do, the way they think. You’ve caught it.”

—Anonymous Victoria Reader

[…] “I just had to write this instant cuz I just finished reading Willa Hund from your book. . . So funny and heartbreaking and alive!! I’m reading the whole book but that’s the one I just read now. . . ”

—Anonymous Toronto Reader

”IT’S ABSOLUTELY PRICELESS!”

—Anonymous Toronto Reader’s Mom

“Even before I started with the stories, I read the “Wuatsiel…Glossary” at the back of your book. That itself is worth the price of the book.  I was surprised how many of the words I knew by simply pronouncing them phonetically. Some things did survive my childhood. . .”

—Reader Eric Peters

“My favourite word: ‘rutsch‘ (p. 52). I know very little Low German, but that word was INSTANTLY recognizable . . . My favourite phrase (p. 140): ‘their visions so sympathetic, symphonic and kind.’ . . . such literary creativity (including some alliteration) and emotional openness and depth . . . My favourite paragraph (the final paragraph on p. 149): ‘I stood at the table, facing her. She tucked the phone under her chin and after listening for a few seconds gave me a comically enthusiastic two-thumbs-up salute and a smile as bright as a silver dollar. In that instant, looking at my mother’s often severe countenance and her small angular body, I felt safe and secure in her presence—no matter what threat might come. I saw her bravery and the utter dedication to her family, regardless of how she managed it and what people might think.'”

—Reader Gerald Loewen

Purchase from: At Bay Press McNally Robinson Booksellers Mennonite Heritage Village Museum Mennonite Heritage Museum CommonWord Misty River Books and every online seller from here to the banks of the Bazavluk and back.