MITCHELL TOEWS: A big list…
ONLINE ADDRESSES
Mitchellaneous.com
@prosebytoews (Instagram & Threads)
@crustywareniki (Bluesky)
Social media author pages @Mitchell_Toews on Twitter | X, Goodreads, and LinkedIn
CURRICULUM-VITAE
HEADINGS: BIO, EDUCATION, ASSOCIATIONS/MEMBERSHIPS, PUBLISHED WORKS, CONTESTS-PRIZES-AWARDS, FUNDING, READINGS, WORK IN PROGRESS, FRIENDS & FOLLOWERS, PANELS, ARTIST’S STATEMENT
BIO
Mitchell Toews is a Canadian author whose work has been nominated for the McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize (Pulp Literature, 2025) and four Pushcart Prizes. His debut collection Pinching Zwieback (At Bay Press, 2023) explores fairness, faith, and voice in rural and immigrant communities. His fiction has appeared in more than fifty journals across North America and Europe. Find him in the wild air or, less strenuously, at https://mitchtoewsauthor.com/
EDUCATION
University of Victoria (1974-75)
University of Winnipeg (1975-77, dangerously close to a B.A. in Sociology)
Masters Certificate in Marketing Communication Management, York University (2001)
“So You Want To Write Indigenous Characters…” Manitoba Writers’ Guild (2019)
“Inside the Writer’s World: Writing Climate Change” Winnipeg Public Library Joan Thomas/Ariel Gordon (2023)
“Approaching Multilingual Fiction” with Matthew Tétreault (2023)
ASSOCIATIONS/MEMBERSHIPS
Member — The Writers’ Union of Canada
Mid-Career Artist — as designated by Manitoba Arts Council
Past Member — Winnipeg Public Library’s Prose Writing Circle, led by Winnipeg Public Library Writer in Residence Carolyn Gray (2019-2020)
Past Member — The Sunday Writers Group, led by Donna Besel (Lac du Bonnet, MB)
Past Member — Write Clicks, a Winnipeg River/Winnipeg city alliance: a critique circle formed in 2021
Member — Winnipeg River Arts Council
Member — Manitoba Writers’ Guild
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
I have workshopped one-on-one with Armin Wiebe, MaryLou Driedger, Carolyn Gray, Lauren Carter, Lindsay Wong, Katherena Vermette, Frances Koncan, Ariel Gordon, Nora Decter and Anna Leventhal. My short stories have been edited by dozens of periodical and anthology editors including Bruce Meyer, Donna Besel, Michael Mirolla, James Fisher, Rob McLennan and other well-regarded individuals from the UK, the US, and Australia. Influential courses include, “So You Want To Write Indigenous Characters…” Manitoba Writers’ Guild (2019), “Climate Change in Fiction” MAC (2021), “Crafting POV in Fiction” (2021), “Character Workshop with Lauren Carter” (2021), “Mastering Dialogue with Sharon Bala” (2022), “Inside the Writer’s World: Writing Climate Change” Winnipeg Public Library Joan Thomas/Ariel Gordon (2023), “Approaching Multilingual Fiction,” with Matthew Tétreault (2023).
PUBLISHED WORKS
Summary:
- 144 short stories, flash fiction, essays, excerpts, poems, and interviews published in periodicals, anthologies, and contests. More than 850 submissions overall.
- Pieces accepted in Canada, the US, the UK, Australia, and several other countries.
- Four stories translated into Spanish.
- A collection of short stories, “Pinching Zwieback” launched in the fall of 2023. (At Bay Press, Winnipeg). The collection was accepted by the first publisher to which it was submitted.
- An interview and several short stories are being translated into Farsi for publication in Iran.
- A debut novel is underway with a spring 2026 launch date.
Details:
2016: 16 short stories/flash fiction/interviews/essays/poems/podcasts | 9 🍁, 6 UK, 1 US
2017: 20 short stories/flash fiction/interviews/essays/poems/podcasts | 4 🍁, 1 India, 7 UK, 8 US.
Note: 2017 short stories Include: Best of Fiction on the Web: 1996-2017 ISBN: 9780992693916 (ISBN10: 9780992693, ISBN13:9780992693) and The Machinery: Fauna ISBN: 9781544723266.
2018: 16 short stories/flash fiction/interviews/essays/poems/podcasts | 6 🍁, 4 UK, 5 US
“I am Otter” — short story, CommuterLit (Ca) 🍁
“Fall From Grace”, short story, Literally Stories (UK) (“Pinching Zwieback” 2023)
“Of a Forest Silent” — short story, Alsina Publishing LingoBites (UK – English and Spanish)
“City Lights” — short story, Literally Stories (UK)
“The Bottom of the Sky” — short story, Fiction on the Web (UK)
“In the Dim Light Beyond the Fence” — short story, riverbabble (US) (“Pinching Zwieback” 2023)
“Nothing to Lose” — short story, riverbabble (US) (“Pinching Zwieback” 2023)
“Shade Tree Haven” — short story, Doorknobs & Bodypaint (US)
“Sweet Caporal at Dawn” — short story, Blank Spaces (Ca), paid print 🍁
“Sweet Caporal at Dawn” — short story, Just Words, Volume 2 Anthology (Ca), print ISBN: 9781775279273 (ISBN10:1775279278) 🍁
“Away Game” — short story, Pulp Literature (Ca), paid print 🍁
“Groota Pieter” — short story, River Poets Journal, Special Themed Edition, “The Immigrants” Anthology (US), print (“Pinching Zwieback” 2023)
“Five Questions for Mitchell Toews” — interview, Mennotoba (Ca) 🍁
“The Narrowing” — short story, Scarlet Leaf Review (Ca) (“Pinching Zwieback” 2023) 🍁
“Wide Winter River” — podcast, Not Ready for Prime Time (US)
2019: 16 short stories/flash fiction/interviews/essays/poems/podcasts | 3 🍁, 2 UK, 1 Australia, 3 Iran, 7 US
“The Fifty Dollar Sewing Machine” — short story, Literally Stories (UK)
“The Toboggan Run” — short story, The MOON magazine (US) (“Pinching Zwieback” 2023)
“Peacemongers” — short story, The MOON magazine: “Out of This World” Anthology The Best Short Stories from the MOON (US), Volume 1, print ISBN: 9781078315326 (ISBN10: 1078315329, ISBN13: 978-1078315326) (“Pinching Zwieback” 2023)
“Cave on a Cul-de-sac” — short story, The Hayward Fault Line, Doorknobs & Bodypaint (US) Issue 93
“Din and the Wash Bear” — short story, The Hayward Fault Line, Doorknobs & Bodypaint (US) Issue 95
“Died Rich” — short story, Fabula Argentea (US), Issue #27, paid (“Pinching Zwieback” 2023)
“I am Otter” — short story, Short Tales – Flash Fiction Stories (Iran)
“Away Game” — short story, Short Tales – Flash Fiction Stories (Iran)
“4Q Interview with Author Mitchell Toews” — interview and excerpt from WIP novel, “Mulholland and Hardbar”, South Branch Scribbler (Ca) 🍁
“Concealment” — short story, Me First Magazine (US)
“Groota Pieter” — short story, Pact Press (Australia), “We Refugees” Anthology, print
“Fast and Steep” — short story, Riddle Fence (Ca), Issue 34, paid print 🍁
“Holthacka’s Quandary” — short story, Lunate Fiction (UK)
“Shade Tree Haven” — short story, (mac)ro(mic) (US)
“My Writing Day” — CNF essay, my (small press) writing day (Ca) 🍁
“Our German Relative” — short story, Xmas Stories (Iran)
2020: 14 short stories/flash fiction/interviews/essays/poems/podcasts | 4 🍁, 3 UK, 4 US, 1 Iran, 2 Intl
“The Business of Saving Souls” — short story, Literally Stories (UK)
“The Log Boom” — short story, in “A Fork in the Road,” 2019 Special Theme Edition Anthology of River Poets Journal (US), print
“Encampment” — short story, Tiny Seed Journal (US)
“Regrets de Foie Gras”— short story, Literally Stories (UK), May 2020
“The Grittiness of Mango Chiffon” — short story, Agnes and True (Ca), paid online, Summer 2020 (“Pinching Zwieback” 2023) 🍁
“My Life as a Corkscrew” — a CNF essay “On Writing” in Blank Spaces (Ca), June 2020, print 🍁
“Piece of My Heart” — short story, Pulp Literature, (Ca), paid print 🍁
“Away Game” — short story, Quail Bell Magazine, (US), paid print
Interview — Maysam Kandej Talks (Iran), https://maysam.id.ir/talks online, August 2020
“My Life as a Corkscrew” — a CNF essay “On Writing” in the Just Voices anthology (Ca), September 2020, print ISBN: 9781999290375 (ISBN10: 1999290372) 🍁
“The Sunshine Girl” — short story, Cowboy Jamboree Magazine (US), Fall 2020 (John Prine Tribute issue), print and online (“Pinching Zwieback” 2023)
“Died Rich” — short story, Fiction on the Web (UK), September 2020
“Baloney, Hot Mustard and Metal Filings” — short story, WordCity Monthly (Intl), September 2020 (“Pinching Zwieback” 2023)
“Our German Relative” — short story, WordCity Monthly (Intl), December 2020
2021: 10 short stories/flash fiction/interviews/essays/poems/podcasts | 3 🍁, 4 UK, 2 US, 1 Intl
“Interview with Contributor Mitchell Toews” — Blank Spaces (Ca), January 8, 2020 🍁
“So Are They All” — short story and interview, Literally Stories (UK), February 14, 2021(“Pinching Zwieback” 2023)
“Fast and Steep” — short story, CommuterLit “Love Stories,” (Ca), February 14, 2021 🍁
“The Grittiness of Mango Chiffon” — short story, Literally Stories (UK), March 9, 2021
“Fast and Steep” — short story, Fiction on the Web (UK), March 29, 2021
“Featured Artist — Mitch Toews” Winnipeg River Arts Council, the interview was written by Donna Besel (Ca), June 2021 🍁
“The Log Boom” — short story, WordCity Monthly (Intl), July 2021
“In the Dim Light Beyond the Fence” — short story, The Twin Bill (US), July 13, 2021
“Sweet Caporal” — short story, Rivanna Review (US), September, paid print
“Fast and Steep” — short story, Fenechty Anthology (UK), print
2022: 13 short stories/flash fiction/interviews/essays/poems/podcasts | 6 🍁, 4 US, 3 Intl
“Hundred Miles an Hour” — short story, Rivanna Review, (US), paid print, March 2022
“Piece of My Heart” — short story, Miramichi Flash, (Ca), Spring/Summer 2022 🍁
“Downtown Diner” — short story, Cowboy Jamboree, (US), Bruce D’J Pancake Issue
“Winter Eve at Walker Creek Park” and “Shade Tree Haven” — Guernica Editions’ “This Will Only Take a Minute: 100 Canadian Flashes,” (Intl), a collective anthology edited by Bruce Meyer and Michael Mirolla, August 2022 ISBN: 9781771837514 (softcover) Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20220195986 🍁
“I am Otter” — short story, Lintusen Press “Small Shifts: Short Stories of Fantastical Transformation” edited by Shawn L. Bird, (Ca), anthology, royalties print, July 2022 https://books2read.com/Prose-by-Toews ISBN: 9781989642351 (ISBN10: 1989642357 ISBN13 9781989642351) 🍁
“Sanctuary Quandary” — short story, WordCity Monthly (Intl), July 2022
“New War — Old Technology” — flash fiction, The Fieldstone Review (Ca), Fall 2022 🍁
“No Strings” — short story, Bell Press “Framework of the Human Body” edited by Catherine Mwitta, (Ca) anthology, paid advance/royalties print, 2022. ISBN: 978-1-7387167-1-5 🍁
“The Spring Kid” — short story, Macrina Magazine, (US, Intl), Summer 2022
“A Cultivated Halloween” — short story, CommuterLit (Ca), October 2022 🍁
“Sweet Caporal” — poem, WordCity Literary Journal (Ca-Intl) November 2022
“The Sewing Machine” — short story, Rivanna Review (US), paid print, December 2022
2023: 16 short stories/flash fiction/interviews/essays/poems/podcasts | 2 🍁,1 UK, 2 Aus, 3 US, 8 Iran
“The Margin of the River” and “I Am Otter” — short stories (2), D.A. Cairns “I Used to be an Animal Lover: An extraordinary and eclectic collection of short stories.” (Au), anthology, royalties print, 2023. ISBN AU: -13. 979-8391845034
“Piece of My Heart” — short story, Literally Stories (UK), January 26, 2023
“All Our Swains Commend Her” — short story, PULP Literature (Ca). Spring, 2023 🍁
“Pass It to Freddie” — short story, The Other Journal (US), Spring, 2023
“Angel and the Craigflower Bus” — short story, Hawkshaw Press, “Hardboiled and Loaded with Sin: A Noir Anthology” edited by Dianne Pearce (US), anthology, print. Fall 2023. ISBN: 9781957224046
“Piece of My Heart” — flash fiction, Mennotoba (Ca), May 8, 2023 🍁
Short stories Sweet Caporal (23-May-08); Our German Relative (23-May-15); Away Game (23-May-23); A Plum of a Night (23-Jun-08); A Cultivated Halloween (23-Jul-17); Piece of My Heart (23-Jul-28); New War – Old Technology (23-Oct-31); The Seven Songs (23-Dec-04) appear on https://toews.ir/all
“The Seven Songs” short story, published in Issue 9 of Rivanna Review (US), 2023
2024: 7 short stories/flash fiction/interviews/essays/poems/podcasts | 1 🍁, 1 US, 5 Iran
“The Sunshine Girl” is included in a paperback anthology by Cowboy Jamboree Press called “Prine Primed.” It’s a collection of “John Prine-themed essays and Prine-inspired/flavoured short fiction.” Anthology edited by Adam Van Winkle (US) ISBN: 9798883341105 2024 (This story appears with the permission of At Bay Press, publisher of the 2023 short story collection, “Pinching Zwieback,” in which “The Sunshine Girl” is included.
Short stories Hundred Miles an Hour 24-Feb-15; Schutzengel 24-May-31; I Am Otter 24-Jul-04; The Sewing Machine 24-Oct-25; Our Better Angels 24-Dec-28 appear in https://toews.ir/all (Iran)
Esaay in “Why I Wrote This Book” Miramichi Reader (Ca) 2024 🍁
2025: 16 short stories/flash fiction/interviews/essays/poems/reviews | 7 🍁, 2 UK, 6 US, 1 FR
“The Seven Songs,” short story, first published by Fictive Dream in 2017, appears in Fiction on the Web (UK), February 10, 2025. Reader comment: […] “a huge payoff…I’m glad I read it” […]
“Our German Relative,” short story, first published by Red Fez (now defunct) in 2016, is featured in the February 15, 2025, online issue of the literary site 7th-Circle Pyrite (US). Editor Keiraj M. Gillis: […] “achieves uncommonly seen balance, the simultaneous navigation of two distinct lanes as they relate to tone and theme… a gentleness and authenticity, while also tapping into the heaviness of religious oppression” […]
“Bouncing Baby Boy” poem, published in Lothlorien Poetry Journal (Paris, FR) March 6, 2025 Publisher Strider Mark Jones: […] “originality of voice, concept and language, the internal atmospheres and imagery in place and time” […]
“The Preacher’s Wife,” short story, first published by Fiction on the Web in 2016 as “The Preacher and His Wife” was reprised in Rivanna Review (US) on March 15, 2025
“Shade Tree Diplomacy” short story, in Literary Heist (Ca), March 20, 2025. 🍁
“The Margin of the River,” short story, first published by CommuterLit in 2016, will be presented in Literally Stories (UK), April 10, 2025
“All Our Swains Commend Her,” short story, first published in PULP Literature in 2022, published in Chiron Review (US) in Summer Edition, June 2025
“Pass it to Freddie” boarded Toronto’s CommuterLit (Ca) the week of April 14-18, 2025 🍁 […] “a powerful story…” […]
“Schutzengel” in 7th-Circle Pyrite (US), June 21, 2025
(Another) Coffee Chat with Mitchell Toews — Blank Spaces Magazine, June 6, 2025 (Ca) 🍁
The poem, “This Older Dude Over at Conchita’s Up North Main This Morning,” received an Honourable Mention in the annual Manitoba Writers’ Guild Rabindranath Tagore Poetry Competition and appeared on the contest’s website. June 06, 2025 (Ca) 🍁
“Night Bandits,” short story, published in Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine (SBLAAM) (US) in its fall/winter 2025 edition, September 1, 2025
The poem, “Shade Tree Haven,” in Grit Quarterly (US), September 1, 2025
“Ahead, Go,” in CommuterLit (Ca) the week of September 15, 2025
“The Light Pool” in PULP Literature (Ca) 🍁 Issue 48, Autumn
2025
“Review of Pitfall (At Bay Press), 325 pages, by Terry Kirk,” in Literary Heist (Ca) 🍁 December 21, 2025
=========================================
Publication Count Graphic September 10, 2025:
TOTAL: 144 short stories/flash fiction/interviews/essays/poems/podcasts in total out of approximately 850 submissions.
CONTESTS-PRIZES-AWARDS
2015-Oct 28/2025. . .
27 of Mitchell Toews’ stories have been chosen as longlist, shortlist, finalist or winner in literary contests around the world. Last UPDATED: 2025-11-07
The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses is an annual award that has chosen stories for a prestigious anthology for the past 45 consecutive years. Mitchell has four PUSHCART PRIZE nominations (See below for details.)
“So Are They All” — short story, Second Place in the Adult Fiction category of the Write on the Lake (Ca) contest, 2016, paid print ISSN: 1710-1239 🇨🇦🍁
“Fall from Grace” — short story, Honourable Mention in The Writers’ Workshop of Asheville (US) Memoirs Contest, 2016
“The Phage Match” — short story, Finalist in Broken Pencil’s (Ca) annual “Deathmatch contest, 2016, print 🇨🇦🍁
“Cave on a Cul-de-sac” — short story, Winner in The Hayward Fault Line—Doorknobs & Bodypaint Issue 93 Triannual Themed Flash contest, 2018
“I am Otter” — short story, CommuterLit (Ca), Runner-up in for Flash Fiction Feature, 2018 🇨🇦🍁
“Sweet Caporal at Dawn” — short story, nominated by Blank Spaces for a PUSHCART PRIZE, 2019, print 🇨🇦🍁
“Piece of My Heart” — a 750-word or less flash fiction was named “Editors’ Choice” in the 2020 Bumblebee Flash Fiction Contest from Pulp Literature Press, paid print 🇨🇦🍁
“The Margin of the River” — short story, nominated by Blank Spaces for a PUSHCART PRIZE, 2020, print 🇨🇦🍁
“Fetch” — short story, one of 11 finalists in a national field of over 800 entries: The Writers’ Union of Canada’s Short Prose Competition for Emerging Writers (“Pinching Zwieback” 2023) 🇨🇦🍁
“Sweet Caporal” has been nominated by Rivanna Review, Charlottesville, Va. for a PUSHCART PRIZE, 2021, print
“The Rabid,” finalist in the 2022 PULP Literature Bumblebee Flash Fiction Contest. (750-word max.) 🇨🇦🍁
The 2022 J. F. Powers Prize for Short Fiction. This Open competition drew over 400 submissions from around the world from writers in all stages of career development. “The Spring Kid,” was one of 28 longlist finalists and later advanced to the shortlist.
“The Mighty Hartski”: 2022 longlist for the Humber Literary Review/Creative Nonfiction Collective Society (CNFC) Canada-wide CNF contest (“Pinching Zwieback” 2023) 🇨🇦🍁
“Winter in the Sandilands” was named to the longlist for the 2022 PULP Literature Hummingbird Flash Fiction Contest. Mitch’s story, “Luck!” was on the shortlist in this same contest. 🇨🇦🍁
“All Our Swains Commend Her” Second Runner-up in the 2022 PULP Literature Raven Short Story Contest. 🇨🇦🍁
“Winter in the Sandilands” was named to the Shortlist for the 2023 PULP Literature Bumblebee Flash Fiction Contest. (750-word max.) 🇨🇦🍁
“Saskatchewan” placed on the Longlist for the 2023 Dave Williamson National Short Story Competition 🇨🇦🍁
“Mr. R” made it to the Longlist for the 2023 Bill MacDonald Prize for Prose sponsored by the Northwestern Ontario Writers Workshop Annual International Writing Contest 🇨🇦🍁
“Saskatchewan” made the Shortlist for the nationwide 2023 Nona Macdonald Heaslip $15,000 “Best Canadian Short Story” Competition and Award sponsored by Exile Quarterly. (Getting close…) 🇨🇦🍁
“All Our Swains Commend Her” is one of PULP Literature’s (Vancouver, B.C.) 2023 PUSHCART PRIZE nominees 🇨🇦🍁 “A highly skilled piece of writing with a lot to say about the way we live and how we treat one another.” —Leo X Robertson
“Parade Day” made the Longlist for 2024 PULP Literature Raven Short Story Contest 🇨🇦🍁
“The Light Pool” made the Longlist for the 2025 PULP Literature Bumblebee Flash Fiction Contest Longlist. March 2025. 🇨🇦🍁
“The Lunker Jack” placed third in the 27th Annual NOWW Writing Contest, Bill MacDonald Prize for Prose – Short Fiction May 2025 🇨🇦🍁 Judge Rebekah Skochinski: “This story captures what it’s like to leave the protective cocoon of family and ritual—in this instance, by learning how to ride a snow machine, going ice fishing, and discovering how to make friends. Both an adventure and a return to the poignant moments of childhood, where one takes their first steps toward independence.”
“This Older Dude Over at Conchita’s Up North Main This Morning” was named to the Shortlist for the 2025 Rabindranath Tagore Poetry Competition, May 2025, 🇨🇦🍁
“This Older Dude Over at Conchita’s” was named to the longlist for the 2025 PULP Literature Hummingbird Flash Fiction Contest 🇨🇦🍁
“All Our Swains Commend Her,” published in Pulp Literature, has been nominated by the magazine for the 2025 McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize, Oct 2025, 🇨🇦🍁
https://pulpliterature.com/announcing-our-nominees-for-the-2025-journey-prize/
Details about the award can be found here: https://journeyprize.moksha.io/…/journey…/guidelines
“Second Helping at Conchita’s Diner,” First Runner-up for the 2024 PULP Literature Raven Short Story Contest 🇨🇦🍁This is Mitch’s 27th short/longlist, finalist, runner-up, etc. placement in a contest or prize.
FUNDING
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Manitoba Arts Council, June 30, 2020. Financial support for the creation of a unique Manitoba artbook, ekphrastic in nature and featuring artistic photography and short fictional stories. The theme is “People, Places, and Light”. Photography by collaborator, Phil Hossack. Project extended due to Covid 19 to July 1, 2022. Complete.
February 2022. Mitchell has been partnered with veteran, award-winning author Armin Wiebe, a mentor in The Writers’ Union of Canada Mentorship Microgrant program. Armin and Mitch will be reviewing Mitchell’s debut novel: “Mulholland and Hardbar” (“Fargo with Mennonite accents.”)
READINGS
- Voices Launch, McNally Robinson, Winnipeg, MB, 2016
- PULP Literature Issue Launch, Vancouver, BC, 2017
- Manitoba Writers’ Guild, Artspace, Winnipeg, MB, 2019
- Prosetry, Jessica Lake, MB, 2019
- Driedger Readings, Winnipeg, MB, 2019
- Victoria Writers’ Society, AGM—Open mic, 2020
- PULP Literature Reading Series, live internet April 24, 2020
- PULP Literature Issue 27 launch, live internet July 19, 2020
- Mechanics’ Institute, San Francisco, Cal, COVID-19 open mic, Zoom August 19, 2020
- Just Voices Volume 4 virtual launch, recorded for September 26, 2020
- PULP Literature Issue28 launch, live internet November 7, 2020
- Rivanna Review editor Robert Boucheron reads an excerpt from the short story “Hundred Miles an Hour” on Charlottesville (VA) Cable Access TV, May 2022 https://bit.ly/100MPHat12min18
- “Sweet Caporal” and “Winter Eve at Walker Creek Park” for an international Zoom audience organized by poet Fizza A. Rabbani (Fizza Abbas) https://www.facebook.com/fizzah.abas.9, May 2022
- Prosetry, Jessica Lake, MB, 2022
- Excerpts from “No Strings” at the Zoom launch for the “Framework of the Human Body” anthology from Bell Press Books. February 11, 2023
- Excerpts from “All Our Swains Commend Her” at the live launch of PULP Literature’s Winter 2023 at the Fabrique St. George Winery in Vancouver, February 20, 2023. (My story is forthcoming in PL Issue 38, Spring 2023.)
- Appearances on Manitoba Writers’ Guild monthly Zoom critique circle
- “An Evening with the Authors” with excerpts from “All Our Swains Commend Her” and the “Pinching Zwieback” story, “Fast and Steep” at the Mennonite Heritage Village Museum, a pre-launch event for “Pinching Zwieback” and sharing the stage with authors Faith Eidse and Charity Schellenberg who are both launching memoirs, May 9, 2023. The video is posted here: https://youtu.be/oxypMlbIOJA (My contribution starts at 12:55.) More info on “Pinching Zwieback: https://atbaypress.com/creators/detail/mitchell-toews
- “The Listening Room” Open Mic Sessions in Lac du Bonnet, MB sponsored by the Fire and Water Festival in the historic St. John’s Anglican Church: Mar 22/23, Apr 12/23, May 10/23, May 24/23, June 14/23, June 28/23, Dec 3/23, Jan 7/24, Jan 24/24, Feb 14/24, Mar 13/24, Mar 27/24, Apr 10/24, Jun 26/24, Sept 7/24 (Porch Party), Sept 25/24, Oct 10/24, Feb 26/25, June 11/25, Sept 10/25, Sept 24/25, Oct 8/25, Nov 12/25…
- Readings, Discussions, and Question & Answer for the debut collection of short stories, Pinching Zwieback (a McNally Robinson bestselling “Paperback Pick” fiction) and other work: Nov 2/23 – MHM Books & Borscht Mennonite Heritage Museum, Abbotsford, BC; Nov 8/23 – Hybrid Book Launch with host Sue Sorensen and authors Ariel Gordon (“Siteseeing”) and Mitchell Toews (“Pinching Zwieback”) at McNally Robinson Booksellers, Grant Park, Winnipeg, MB; Nov 9/23 Lac du Bonnet Arts Centre Ariel Gordon and Mitchell Toews with local musical guests; Nov 15/23 – Mennonite Heritage Village, Steinbach, MB with local authors; Nov 18/23 - The Public Brewhouse, Steinbach, MB with MC award-winning author Andrew Unger; Nov 21/23 - Altona Library; Nov 22/23 - Pinawa Library; Nov 23/23 - Winkler Library; Nov 28/23 – Morden Library – Dec 3/23 – Fireside Book Market, Park Theatre, Winnipeg, MB; Jan 25/24 – Gordie’s Coffee House Open Mic, Winnipeg, MB; Brandon Western Regional Library – Feb 29/24 (Book reading and workshop); Mar 23/24 Book Club, Steinbach; Apr 17/24 Millenium Library Wpg “Embracing Your Identity” student workshop; May 16/24 Book Club, Gimli; Jun 12/24 Jake Epp Library Steinbach; July 25/24 Lac du Bonnet Regional Library; Sept 13/24 Miriam Toews Residence Event, Steinbach; Sept 28/24 Gaynor Family Regional Library, Selkirk; Oct 22 “Plotting our Roots” Theatre Projects Manitoba Wpg; Feb 22/25 Author Signing, Indigo, St. Vital Centre, Winnipeg, ; June 6/25 2nd annual Manitoba Writers’ Guild Rabindranath Tagore Poetry Competition Awards Ceremony and Poetry Reading, Wpg; Jun 18/25 Spring Into Summer with a Wednesday of Wild & Wonderful Words at Sookrams Brewing, Wpg; June 18/25 Interview Arts, Loggers, and Leftovers with Artist paul Toews, KYac Community Radio, Mill City, Oregon; June 19/25 Gordie’s Coffee House Open Mic—”Wang Dang Doodle Season Finale & Fundraiser, Wpg; Sept 25/25 Open Mic, Jake Epp Library, Steinbach; Sept 28/25 Introduce At Bay Press author Terry Kirk and her new book Pitfall (At Bay Press) Wpg; Oct 30/25 Reading, Jake Epp Library, Steinbach …
- Several readings are recorded here: https://bit.ly/proseBYtoewsYouTube
WORK IN PROGRESS
A short story collection, “Pinching Zwieback” (At Bay Press) launched Nov 8, 2023. Google: Mitch Toews ISBN13 9781998779055 Pinching Zwieback or go to BookFinder.com.
Pinching Zwieback: Made-up Stories from the Darp focuses on recurrent, related characters with a common reality: small town Mennonite life. It’s socially engaged autofiction based heavily on the author’s own background and experiences. The loosely linked stories read, “almost like a novel,” with characters whose lives are given form by the past but undergo change as the world reshapes beliefs and circumstances.
Author Mitchell Toews’, who grew up in his parents’ Mennonite bakery in Steinbach Manitoba, employs a gritty style containing psychological depth. Toews’ stories reveal the truth behind the fiction. This collection is a blend of memory, fable, and trauma that examines profound moments in which the conflict might be subtle or camouflaged but the consequences are real. A Keatsian, “mansion of many apartments,” the stories combine to offer a broad narrative on how the people once known as the quiet in the land have evolved, and are evolving.
(NOTE: In the story listings above, those pieces selected for inclusion in “Pinching Zwieback” are, in their first appearance on the list, shown in blue.)
“Mulholland and Hardbar” — a WIP novel (“Fargo, with a Mennonite accent”).
“Myths and Troubadours” — a WIP collection of short stories. An eclectic range of topics, places, people, and circumstances.
“People, Places, Light” — an ekphrastic Manitoba artbook including original photography and short stories (Funded in part by The Manitoba Arts Council | Le conseil des arts du Manitoba.) Collaborator Phil Hossack @philhossackphoto.
Many new short stories are always on the go, being submitted to literary journals, contests, and anthologies.
“The Mismaloya”— a proposed novelette screenplay adaptation. Seeking a collaborator.
FRIENDS & FOLLOWERS
- Facebook 5,300+
- Instagram/Threads (@ProsebyToews) 495/157
- Goodreads 274 friends, 22 followers
- LinkedIn (MitchToews) 954
- WordPress 235
- Bluesky (@crustrywareniki) 148
- Twitter | X 5,316 (I am no longer regularly active on X)
PANELS
1.15.21 Mitchell Toews participated as an Artist Testifier for the Commission on Basic Income. This Ontario/Canadian (Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts) jointly-sponsored commission requested Mitch to “share your experience and thoughts with our commissioners and to inform their future report on the issue of Basic Income for Artists.”
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
As a storyteller, I’m often driven to tell my own “Mennonite story.” Partly fact, partly fable. Within that fictional framework, my writing comes from three places: Family, history, and love of storytelling. My most popular and critically acclaimed stories come out of this tradition.
Family is the inspiration for most of my writing. These stories are meant as a lasting message to my family.
History is elusive, cloudy, and is sometimes the subverted domain of those who seek to control the broadly written record. I concern myself with providing a coherent feel for the underlying sentiment of the times and the people. This is the living history I want the reader to experience—one that is visceral and personally felt.
Storytelling is served by the creation of a place and its people both remembered and imagined. I tend towards scenes that hang on action sequences which place the characters in a moral dilemma. The vibrancy of the natural world is always well-represented. Physical harm is often a threat or a consequence. Characters make both good and bad decisions and their relationships contextualize each outcome. If there is trauma, there must also be hope.
A fourth core element might be to “observe my culture” as a Mennonite author. Others have done this extremely well, but I have my own perspective and address issues not yet widely developed by others, or not available in the same time frame/location in which I might write. Important themes include:
(i.) alcoholism
(ii.) violence within the pacifist doctrine of Mennonites
(iii.) patriarchy and misogyny
At all times, I am guided by the tenets of CULTURAL INTEGRITY IN THE CREATIVE PROCESS.
In general, I strive to provide open and accurate artistic observation—even when it is critical—and also to articulate the joy I have seen and felt, and to “stuff my eyes full of wonder” as author Ray Bradbury put it.
Mitchell Toews 