Not a diaspora, not a forced march — just a subtle shift.
The new site provides me with a single platform to share my work and, in 2026, to host my debut novel and any subsequent projects. Everything is here: links to buy books or read published stories, a calendar of events, reviews, and more.
Thanks for reading. I’ll keep posting, and I hope you’ll keep stopping by. As before, my big mouth snookery pairs well with caffeine and is best taken with a grain of salt.
Quiet writing in a noisy era
Please feel free to share this post! I welcome all comments.
Minus the scuttling of rats and absent Blues Traveler, Joni Mitchell, George Carlin, Hettie Jones, and the Reverend Bob Dylan, Steinbach’s The Public Brewhouse and Gallery did a strong impression of one of the halcyon NYC music-drinks-spoken word shrines of the Sixties, Mennist style. https://thepublicbrewhouseandgallery.ca/
I felt during this evening the “crackle of the universe,” to quote William Burroughs, who—if he was a Mennonite, wasn’t very good at it. Or was maybe extremely good at it. Opinions vary. (He prooooooobably was not a Mennonite. Possibly a Lutheran.)
Mennonites were on tap because it was a FUNDRAISER for the Mennonite Heritage Village Museum, arranged by departing executive Nathan Dyck. A fine vocalist, as it turns out—no great surprise as so many Mennonites are good singers. It’s true, scientific, even. Ask any CSNY (Cornie Stoesz or Neufeld, Yasch). https://mennoniteheritagevillage.com/
Literati Erin Koop Unger and Andrew Unger led off with a travelogue deep dive into the Mennonite enclave that was the Vistula Delta in northern Poland. Their visit to the region generated a fascinating study in Mennonite history from the time when many Anabaptists were “encouraged” to leave the Lowlands of western Europe and found a home in G’dansk, a place of flood and relative religious tolerance. https://www.mennotoba.com/https://andrewunger.com/
Paul Bergman entertained with music in two rhythmic, jazzy, silky sets that offset the historical mood and gave us some stardust for our beer. https://paulbergmanmusic.com/
I chimed in with some historical factoids from Ralph Friesen’s “Prosperity Ever Depression Never” and other other pub-style fare. I told two extemporaneous stories about personal experiences at the Tourist Hotel, but I think those went unrecorded. Here’s my written text:
I’ll begin by giving you some historical context for the Tourist Hotel, and its alehouse, the likes of which first began in Roman Britain, and according to Wikipedia, one of the most longstanding of which is “Sean’s Bar, in the medieval town of Athlone in the Republic of Ireland… the oldest pub in Europe, dating back to 900 AD.”
More recently, here’s a reading from “Prosperity Ever Depression Never” by Ralph Friesen, Pages 49-50:
[…] (“On Main Street, next to Abraham A. Toews Five Cents to One Dollar store) was the Steinbach Hotel. The hotel, beer parlour included, was owned and operated by Henry Coote, who grew up on a Mennonite farm as one of thousands of British “home children” sent to Canada because their families were too poor to care for them. Immediately next door was another hotel, the Tourist Hotel, built in 1927 by the Peter B. Peters family… descendants of Jacob Peters who had led the Bergthal Colony Mennonites in the 1874 immigration. In 1931… the Peters family bought (Coote’s Steinbach) hotel… running both the Tourist and the Steinbach hotels… In 1934… the Peters family collaborated with Hugh McDiarmid, a retired RCMP officer to apply for their (contentious beer parlour) licence, and this strategy worked…Steinbach remained “wet” for… decades.”
And from Barry Dyck, a Retired Executive Director of the Mennonite Heritage Village, in a mySteinbach article titled, “A Look Back at Steinbach’s former Tourist Hotel:
[…] “The Tourist Hotel… (did business) on Steinbach’s Main Street from 1928 to 1976… In 1930 it expanded to include a dining room and a “men-only” Beer Parlour. The parlour was not without controversy, however, and efforts were made to close it. In 1950 Steinbach voted for the prohibition of liquor sales. However, a separate vote of 398 to 214 allowed the Tourist Hotel beer parlour to stay open under a grandfather clause.”
And now, my own story about spending a night at the Tourist Hotel. “So, in January of 1969, when I was fourteen… ”
~ ~ ~
Next, to bring you to the wide world of bars and beer and drinking establishments—maybe some a bit different than The Public and the Tourist Hotel—here’s a fictional story about another public house. Imagine a saloon in the Irish village of Nobber (where one of my sons-in-law was born), a dimly-lit place dedicated to the sale and consumption of liquor, where they might have a pool table or a jukebox (perhaps playing “Mama Told Me Not to Come” by Randy Newman) and maybe some pickled eggs in a large jar made unappetizing by the presence of indistinct organic flotsam suspended in the yellowed vinegar… as if someone shook out a dusty rag into it. We enter the establishment near closing time when the barkeep and three male customers are the only occupants... (pensive music in background)
Photo: Erin Koop Unger
One Night at Keogan’s
“If you drinks in this bar, you buys me a pint. Or else.”
I’ve removed the text with the hope that I can sell the story and have it appear somewhere else.
~ ~ ~
Keogan’s Bar is a place you may have visited or might want to, just for the experience. In the case of the Tourist Hotel Beverage Room, you could have visited, as long as you were not a woman. Neither could women tend bar there—of the hundreds of thousands of watery draft beer pulled in Steinbach, none of them were drawn by a female hand. Steinbach was not the only one to have that gender bias; it was relatively common in places as far-removed as Warman, Sask., Winnipeg Beach, and The Terminal Club in Vancouver. In the Sixties, a small glass of beer was—by Manitoba Provincial law—15-cents in a men’s only beer parlour and 25-cents in a beverage room that served women. In 1978, I had a beer with a female co-worker at a soccer-mad tavern in Toronto where women were admitted but not served. This was explained to us and I bought two draft and gave her one of them, as our waiter suggested. (Apparently, gifts were allowed.) So in keeping with these thoughts, and to put you in a fighting mood before I tell my next story, here is a poem by Danielle Coffyn:
If Adam Picked The Apple
There would be a parade, a celebration, a holiday to commemorate the day he sought enlightenment. We would not speak of temptation by the devil, rather, we would laud Adam’s curiosity, his desire for adventure and knowing. We would feast on apple-inspired fare: tortes, chutneys, pancakes, pies. There would be plays and songs reenacting his courage.
But it was Eve who grew bored, weary of her captivity in Eden. And a woman’s desire for freedom is rarely a cause for celebration.
~ ~ ~
Finally, here’s a story I also experienced first-hand, which might be called Können Frauen hier kein Bier kaufen???
On Thursday, February 29 poet and essayist Ariel Gordon of Winnipeg and I motored to Brandon, Manitoba to present workshops and readings at the Western Manitoba Regional Library downtown branch. We represented our mutual publisher, At Bay Press.
It was an outstanding event, well-attended by an enthusiastic group. Both Ariel and I have posted about it on Facebook, Instagram (prosebytoews), X, and elsewhere. Ariel did a poetry workshop on urban ecosystems and I introduced my break-out session on “Writing Your Culture.” Both of these programs had full classrooms and the reading was also—collectively speaking—pleasingly plump.
We had a Q & A at the “end of regulation time.” (In my imagination, Brian Propp scored the winner, assisted by Ralph Krentz. . . For all you Wheat Kings hockey fans out there.) I really enjoyed the conversation.
One of the questions was concerning “advice for young writers.” Ariel made some valuable suggestions in response. When it was my turn, I held back on expressing my immediate reaction to the embedded inference that all emerging writers are “young.” Of course, many are, but just as we no longer use ONLY male pronouns when discussing a group. . . “If a writer wants to succeed, he must blah-blah-blah,” I find it inappropriate and incorrect to add the fuzzy modifier, “young.” Presumptive gender-fixing (he-him-his) now sounds foreign and antiquated to our ears, and I long for the time when “young” and “emerging” are not used as synonyms for early career artists.
Hot air rises. Heat travels in any direction. When we say “heat rises” in an assured, generalizing, scientific-sounding manner, we become General Wrong of the Wrongsville Army.
Okay, mini-rant over.
I gave several points of advice and I was pleased with the repartee, as John Prine might sing. This morning, over a cup of familiar, at-home coffee, I thought of another way to answer, and it goes a little sumpin’ like this <guitar lead-in>:
“On a business trip to the Green Building Conference in Chicago about 15 Marches ago, my colleague and I stopped in at a pizza restaurant. The place was packed and full of loud hubbub and stratified layers of cigar smoke. We opted for outdoor seating, under the radiant red glare of heaters.
As we waited, we watched a local resident at work. A fat, filthy Norway Rat was trying to free a pizza carton that was wedged beneath a car tire. Grunting, sniffing, scurrying, its pink tail waved and curled and flexed with intense determination.
Pausing for breath, it sat on thick hanches and pondered. Whiskers twitched in a nature-copies-Pixar way. Abruptly, it went to the loose end of the box and, clamping down with white canines, tugged repeatedly like a tow truck trying to jerk a car out of the ditch. Snarling with effort, the noisy activity attracted one of its swarmmates to the scene of the pie.
Without hesitation, Rat Due, as we named the newcomer, immediately joined Rat Uno and in seconds they were pulling in perfect unison, a rodent duet. Outmatched at last, the box lid gave way in ripping surrender. Rats Uno and Due plundered the contents and made good their tail-waving getaway.
My advice to emerging artists: Sometimes you are Rat Uno, and sometimes you are Rat Due, but don’t just sit in the comfort of the mischief and watch.“
CHEERS to playwright and English & Creative Writing Asst. Prof. Dale Lakevold. He brought along a swarm of talented students from Brandon University, and like the Marino’s Pizza he supplied before the event, his contribution made our day. Thanks too to WMRL Mgr. of Programming & Community Svcs., Alex Rogowsky who prepped and managed our twinkly evening.
Please feel free to share this post! I welcome all comments.
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…”
Please feel free to share this post! I welcome all comments.
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, Steinbach 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.
Please feel free to share this post! I welcome all comments.
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)
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.
Please feel free to share this post! I welcome all comments.
After eight years in creative writing, 120 prose pieces placed in periodicals and anthologies (and over 650 rejections 😊) Mitch is launching his first book, a collection of short fiction published by At Bay Press of Winnipeg.
So who is this guy, Mitchell Toews?
Mitchell James Toews is the great-great-grandson of Mennonite Delegate C.P. Toews from Molotschna, Russia; the grandson of C.F. (“Roy,” “Schusta”) and Rosa Toews of Steinbach; grandson also to former “Jantsieda” (residents from the “other side” of the Red River) Diedrich and Marie Harder of Steinbach; and son of the Steinbach Bakery family: Norman “Chuck” and Jessie Toews. He is married to Janice Kasper of Steinbach and they have two married daughters.
Among his stop-overs and occupations: a year (1973/74) at UVIC in Victoria, two years at U of W in Winnipeg and (much later) a Master’s Certificate in Marketing Communication from York U. Mitch founded—with his father and uncle Earl Taves—and operated a small overhead door manufacturing company. In 1996, the now solely-owned business, Hanover Doors, was sold by Janice and Mitch and Mitch’s advertising and marketing career began. In 2016 after time well-spent with companies like Smith, Neufeld, Jodoin Law (Steinbach), Loewen Windows (Steinbach), Yarrow Sash & Door (Winnipeg), and Lynden Door (Abbotsford), Mitch devoted himself entirely to creative writing—a lifelong and much-delayed passion.
Janice and Mitch live in their 1950 lakeside cabin at Jessica Lake in the Manitoba territory that is part of Treaty 1 & 3 land and home to the Métis Nation, just north of the Fiftieth Parallel in the Winnipeg River basin. Their daughters Megan and Tere live in British Columbia and trips to see the families, particularly grandkids Ty, Hazel, James, and Floyd are as frequent as circumstances permit.
Mitch is an avid windsurfer, rower, and cross-country skier and the lifelong rigours of climbing ladders and swinging hammers, along with baseball, volleyball, basketball, and golf all contributed in past days to the current sorry state of his joints.
Book Synopsis
Pinching Zwieback comprises stories that recount events and conflicts from the “Mennosphere”—inwardly oriented communities that can generate wonderful characters and practical, often beautiful, solutions to life’s confusion. Other times, a solution may be elusive.
Hartplatz is the imaginary home for many of the recurrent characters. (Also Winkler, Aldergrove or fictive places like them—a small town pastiche.) These are rural Canadian junctures where vectors intersect: faith and doubt; pacifism in a world at war; honour and temptation; fervour and absurdity; the temptations of the wide welt, and of course, humour. Often gritty, it’s K-mart fiction or maybe better yet: schmaundtfat fiction. (A Low German glossary is provided!)
“God causes it to rain on Chevs and Fords alike,” as Diedrich, the main character in three* of the 20 stories puts it. It’s in this context that the characters resist, pitting their will against that of their foe—the foe they seek to love.
*Other main characters include Matt Zehen, his mother and father, Hart and Justy Zehen, Matt’s grandmother Rosa, and Matt’s close friend, Lenny Gerbrandt. A family tree provides a guide to the cast for readers.
Where to PurchasePinching Zwieback
“Pinching Zwieback: Made-up Stories from the Darp” 2023 ISBN 9781998779055 by Mitchell Toews (At Bay Press, Wpg). Publication Date October 24, Release Date November 7, Launch Date Nov 8. Contact us for assistance: check with Mitch or Matt on where to buy and also about how to receive signed copies or for information concerning special situations, author appearances, writing workshops, and more.
Requesting “Pinching Zwieback” by Mitchell Toews (At Bay Press, Wpg) at your favourite bookstore or library will get you a copy. Coming soon to libraries in Kenora, ON and Manitoba locations in Brandon, Lac du Bonnet, Pinawa, Altona, Winkler, and Morden. More to follow.
“Pinching Zwieback” 5″X8″257-page quality paperbacks may be purchased:
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.”
A first REVIEW of “Pinching Zwieback” by the eminent Canadian author, Poet Laureate, and literary leader, Linda Rogers van Krugel of Victoria will be placed shortly. Several other reviews, from Canada and the U.S., are underway.
Early Praise
“Pinching Zwieback Observations” from Canadian literary notables Zilla Jones, Ralph Friesen, Alanna Rusnack, Armin Wiebe and more.
FollowMitch & Pinching Zwieback
Follow Mitch’s FaceBook page and this blog (Mitchellaneous.com) for unboring updates, news, and other crumbs and chicken feed as “Pinching Zwieback” struts in wider and wider circles around the coop.
Please feel free to share this post! I welcome all comments.
“The great thing about a short story is that it doesn’t have to trawl through someone’s whole life; it can come in glancingly from the side.” —Emma Donoghue
Hear some stories, some songs, some poems, and smore, around the campfire at Jessica Lake, on July 22. Contact me for info whether you wish to perform, listen, or both! Or just show up: via microbus with flowers in your hair, in a flatbed Ford, on a horse with no name…it’s your call.
A summer night, where the thunderheads fist-bumped and parted ways, leaving our skies more Prussian blue than ash grey. Mosquitoes too were deported, sent elsewhere to do their whining — we think they all rented tiny jet-skis and rode off across the river.
Friends arrived just as the make-shift stage (soon to be returned to its rightful duty as a dock — rather than doc. — segment) was commissioned into service and we chatted and snacked and popped open bottles and cans and congratulated ourselves on being capable of being in such a place… in space and time, on Earth, today.
The loaner mic in friend & neighbour Jack Schellenberg’s hand-crafted and skookum-engineered mic stand crackled and away we went, led with panache by author Roger Groening. Knuckleball is Roger’s novel. (The author’s legs appear above, royalty-free; they’re the stems to the right.) He read a recent WIP excerpt that had us reaching for our decades-ago-discarded DuMauriers and l-o-l-ing and giggling through his vivid description of a wry woman tasking a man in a room without solutions.
Next came Leslie Wakeman who brought so much: snacks, wine, a beautiful quilt, handmade cards and her story, “The Goddess Cup.” We were gradually drawn in as her character’s embarrassment grew and our appreciation for Leslie’s deft, humourous-and-so-human touch led us along.
And then it was my sister Marnie Fardoe’s turn with a reading of a diary entry she had repurposed for us, for this perfect evening. She called herself a novice but we knew better. In addition, we got the family discount as Marnie gave us a quiet and moving performance of our sister Char Toews’ powerful poem, “Schedules are subject to change without notice”
[...] If the weather's that shitty it's kind of iffy
You're better off in the air or on the land
Or living or dead, which is what my Dad did
And me with a number of things planned
Then home in May, cutting the grass that first day
Mowing and crying and thinking about worms and their dirt [...]
Vid by Bonnie Friesen: https://www.facebook.com/580948274/videos/800154487823298/
.
The perfect lead-in to Wes Friesen and his soulful playing and singing. Two beautiful Leonard Cohen songs following by a fascist-killing presentation of Deportee/Plane Wreck at Los Gatos, by Woody Guthrie.
More poetry, from Winnipeg poetess Phyllis Cherrett who wowed and dazzled, showing us her calm control over word and emotion, ending with the perfectly-suited dent de lion
Phyllis Cherrett also gave a truthfully written acknowledgement of PLACE.
I offered a pair of flash fictions, “New War — Old Technology” and “Luck!”, bookending our great friend Christiane Neufeld’s spelky delivery of poet Ceinwen Haydon’sGooseberry, a repeat-performance from Prosetry 2019.
It should be noted that Chris’ hub Hans Neufeld (aka John E. Neufeld) was present but chose not to present this year. Hans was, without doubt, the most prolific writer on the property at Prosetry 22, him being the daily author of THE MEANDERER http://themeanderer.ca/: a most profound and enjoyable gathering place, enjoyed by many online.
Two best-selling and truly masterful authors closed out the evening. MaryLou Driedger (Lost on the Prairie) offered us the first chapter of her WIP SEQUEL novel, set in 1936.
.
Writer, memoirist, author, instructor and warrior-woman Donna Besel did not disappoint, giving us a thematic reading about a boathouse construction job set at nearby Brereton Lake. The story was a piece from her hit collection of short stories, “Lessons from a Nude Man.”
Through all of this, photographer Phil Hossack was doing his quiet and unobtrusive professional best, circulating among us, taking pictures that caught mood and feeling as much as light and dark.
Cheers to local artists Janice Toews, Gale Bonin, and Allison Rink whose brushwork filled the SheShed with brightness and colour.
NEXT YEAR: Book the day, slot it in and make it sacrosanct… we want you here to read and listen, to watch the clouds part, to smell the woodsmoke and taste the wine, to read, to hear and experience. We’ll make it more of an afternoon event — we’ll start at 1 PM and make it possible to leave without rushing before the sun goes down.
For those who stay, maybe we can set the boreal ringing with this unforgettable folksong refrain:
Wes Friesen
…Goodbye to my juan, goodbye, rosalita,
Adios mis amigos, jesus y maria;
You won’t have your names when you ride the big airplane,
All they will call you will be “deportees”
🎶
Janice ToewsShowtime minus 90 minutes2017 U.S. Inauguration crowdRuth & Roger Groening2019 Prosetry (July 20)MaryLou Driedger reading at Prosetry 2019Yet more ToewsLeslie, Marnie, BonnieSEE YOU NEXT YEAR! “Daj Boże!”
Janice and I reside in the boreal forest just north of the Fiftieth latitude in eastern Manitoba on Treaty 1 and 3 lands. Our property is situated on Métis land: Anishinabe Waki ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ http://www.anishinabek.ca/
Please feel free to share this post! I welcome all comments.
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
Elbows up, eh?
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
Note: 2017 short stories Include: Best of Fiction on the Web: 1996-2017ISBN: 9780992693916 (ISBN10: 9780992693, ISBN13:9780992693) and The Machinery: Fauna ISBN: 9781544723266.
2018:16short 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 2Anthology (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, printISBN: 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)
“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-ToewsISBN: 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 🍁
“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.
“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
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) 🍁
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 2023Dave 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🇨🇦🍁
“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 LiteratureBumblebee 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 🇨🇦🍁
“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
space
space
as
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.”)
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 …
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.
Please feel free to share this post! I welcome all comments.
Quiet writing in a noisy era
Mitchell Toews 