Image: My grandparents and my uncle Ken in Steinbach, MB during the 40s; Mennonites hiding in plain sight.
As I idle down the back lanes of my brain’s daydream centre, procrastinating before my session on the rowing machine, I imagine what the logline might look like for a collection of my short stories. Note that I’m idling along the back lanes—where windmills and cobwebs exist in perfect harmony—on a brand-new, electric Ural sidecar motorcycle. Hey… if you’re gonna daydream, go carbon-friendly or go home!
Mitchell Toews’ collection of insightfulshort stories, “Pinching Zwieback – Prairie Stories,”reveals the confines of small-town life in a Mennonite community. Vivid characters demand to be heard and recognized. The book’s mixture of the iconoclastic and the nostalgic delivers reality through the little-seen lens of an outsider—but one with a deep insider pedigree. Toews’ heartfelt expression of lives lived captures the conflict and the contradictions that are unavoidable in these insular Jemeend*.
Pulling apart the clockwork of the axiomatic Mennonite profile, Toews probes for what is common to all and what is beautiful and what is problematic within faith, culture, domestic life, commerce, and interaction with the wide world beyond.
“Out of patience, I stood up and began angrily shouting down the ridiculous, muddled stereotypes coming from the lecturer in my ‘Introduction to Geography’ course. I was at the University of Victoria in 1974 and we were discussingCanadian Mennonites. At almost the same time a tall, blonde woman from the Interior rose to protest, and also another; a young Albertan from La Crete who was on the men’s J-V basketball team. All of us disavowed the reckless, almost comical blending of Amish, Mennonite, and Hutterite tropes. At that moment, I saw myself and my ‘brethren’ in the way others must and furthermore, I saw the confusion within our own ranks.”
Mitchell Toews
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*Or Gemeinde: Communities or congregations
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I’m working a lot lately on creating stories that follow my understanding of an “impressionistic writing style.”
Impressionism as manifest in Scene; Character; Action; Sensation; and Style.
This is, you see, part of the Jessica Lake MFA I’m enrolled in. The internet and my writing group, the reading I do, my readers and editors are the instructors. I am definitely the coolest guy in my MFA. In fact, I’m the only guy in my MFA, but then, I always avoid giving statistics too much credence.
The overriding rules go a little like a Lightnin’ Hopkins song — there’s some improvisation involved as you go along:
Writen in the present, without reflection or authorial comment
No narrative intrusions of any kind — the story simply unfolds in the reader’s mind
Choice of words is left to “Mot juste” or a sense of using just the “right” word that contributes to the totality of the piece without undue attention to the beauty of the prose.
Scene — a reportorial flow, objective, use of understatement and simple words, clear imagery, repetition and reiteration of key words and phrases, strong description of action, use of landscape to echo emotion… the last bit suggested by author and writing instructor Lauren Carter of Winnipeg.
Character — describe traits or activities, but not physical attributes
Action — up close and participatory with reader as onlooker, cinematic: rapid (fluttering) or slow motion and may utilize a bird’s-eye view from above that is clipped and declarative
Sensation — actions are felt by the reader, be concrete and crude, be simple and realistic, work the senses
Style — author should express their individuality as a writer (untarnished), focus always on the subject and what the subject experiences, use the iceberg technique to hide the worst and only show the surface — the tip — of what is wrong, and ala Hemingway and Manitoba memoirist Donna Besel, write slow and clear about the most terrible and the most hurtful.
Note: A good deal of this came from a doctoral thesis (from a few decades ago) I found on the web and now cannot relocate to cite. Acch. Quite a bit is of my own invention so… maybe the no citation is okay here. If you recognize it, lemme know!
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I’ve assembled a collection of short stories to present to small presses in Canada. My hope is that I can attract a skilled, smart, simpatico partner to work with and publish the collection. I have several unpublished works and just over 90 published stories from which to choose.
I curated the stories into a themed collection and they are mostly those tales I have written that I consider “MennoGrit.” I define this in a sloppy way — like when you have to saw a board with your left hand:
Stories about real life. Ordinary people who encounter difficult situations and respond in a mannerincommensurate with their simple station in life. Allegedly simple.
“So, what’s your book about?” is the question that everyone from agent to publisher to the person in the line at the pharmacy, pimple cream in hand, might ask.
Good question. To better understand this I pulled up the manuscript and made a list of the themes or messages that are at the core of each story. I was surprised by what I found. Here is that Thematic Table of Contents:
Loyalty…toxic male behaviour
Women’s rights in a patriarchy
Growing up…responsibility…saying no
Friendship and its obligations
Pacifism…courage
Bullying…courage
Regret
Womanhood…courage
Right and wrong…courage
Racism…insularism
Forgiveness…alcoholism
Nativism…equality
Class struggle
Alcoholism…class struggle
Pacifism
Toxic religion…abuse of authority
Deceit…class struggle
Mental health
Faith…life and death
Cruelty…guilt
Empathy
Abuse of authority
Life and death
Written as they are in the mind of my times, I can focus ice cold on these themes. They come from the lives that exist in all places, including those I know best. There is no “trending” in these familiars, where I am the son — both homegrown and prodigal — only observations scooped up and saved in a coffee can, resting placid and true on the high shelf where they have cured; some softening, some hardening.
The working title of the book is “Pinching Zwieback — Prairie Stories.”
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
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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.”)
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.
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I was approached by an organization tasked to investigate Basic Income in Canada, with special attention to those of us in the Arts. They created a commission and invited artists from around the country to offer opinion and comment on the concept of Basic Income and how, specifically, it might affect the lives of artists.
I was invited to provide an Artist’s Testimonial and here is what I wrote:
I believe that Canada, wealthy and progressive as we are, could become a country that invests in its marginalized people by providing a guaranteed annual income for all citizens. I envision a graduated scale designed to offer a helping hand to get started or a financial safety net to mitigate financial trouble in an individual’s life and also to be there for those with obstacles to their ability as wage earners.
Why do this? Because life is unscripted and almost everyone, even those in our large “middle class” population needs help from time to time. Furthermore, and maybe of most importance, there is widespread suffering in Canada caused by poverty. By acting proactively, we have an opportunity to reduce suffering and at the same time empower a class of Canadians who may not otherwise achieve their dreams or even, in truth, live the life that most of us take for granted.
“The Poor” do not want to be “The Poor!”
A guaranteed basic income would reduce hardship, support upward mobility and drive greater aspiration across all levels of financial reality.
Plus, guaranteed basic income is in large part simply moving the dollar investment from the end of the cycle — being reactive and giving cash or services to people in desperate circumstances — to the beginning. We should spend to prevent rather than to rescue. Prevention offers a solution earlier in life, when people are in the formative process, especially concerning education and career.
Now, as to artists, specifically: Choosing the path to your dream of a career in the Arts is daunting because of the long, difficult period of education, training, and incubation. This means, with few exceptions, that those who wish to be professional artists — whatever the discipline — must expect and endure a long initial period as low-income earners.
In my personal experience, even with my parents’ financial support available as I finished college, I chose not to pursue a career in the Arts. I decided to take the safer route, financially, and “save” my art for a later date. That later date took a lifetime to arrive and while I have no complaints, I did not devote myself to my love — fiction — until age sixty. Now I am an emerging artist at age sixty-five and while I am extremely pleased with these last five years, I can’t help but wonder… “What if?”
In my case, perhaps the security of a guaranteed basic income would have given me the courage to chase my artistic dreams and not postpone or dismiss them? It’s impossible to say, but I can say for certain that our society is made more vital by the availability of choice. It’s empowering to know that your basic needs will be met even if the career path you are on will take a while to reach fully-supportive status. Furthermore, Arts Councils, armed with the underpinning of guaranteed basic income could focus all of their efforts on the many professional aspects and not worry about the artists’ core financial needs. The guaranteed basic income would take the pressure off the artists and the Arts Councils, for the betterment of both. This is true for all stakeholders in the artistic “value chain” and would breed an environment of possibility and less of a dismal “starving artist” scenario that defeats many artists before they begin.
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As this rabid cannibal of a year winds down, I wonder about my writerly struggle and the artistic return on investment for me as a writer, 2015-2020.
ROI, baby.
Aside from all the “hard work is its own reward,” kind of sentiment, to which I subscribe and to whose driving power I owe one of the best periods of my redheaded life (apart from the baby powder tinged, little league coaching, proud dad/granddad parts), I wondered about how much of an imprint I’ve been given/achieved so far.
What is my gravitas quotient, or lack of same?
Am I #futility or do I stand a chance? There’s no punter (in the UK slang sense) who knows how to handicap me, there’s no Vegas line on my puny literary squirming, like the last water bug of the season making a tiny ripple that no one else notices.
An editor commented recently that I had a unique voice worth publishing. I fought back the urge to argue with her, and in that moment of cessation, found a glimmer. A glimmer not of hope — that sworl of Van Gogh luminant turbulence is still light years away — but a lifeline thrown out to me in the cold, deep water by a compassionate friend.
When I look at my C-V, I see a lot of online acceptances, a lot of out-of-province markets, and several repeat markets. This is telling of the state of the world of fiction, my preferences, my ability, my relative reputation in a world of water bugs, and my inclination to spend the years on the far side of three score with friends and heroes, not the miserable and the banal.
Anyway… I noticed that the attention of the curator for a certain specific geschichte writer list is focused solely on PRINT. I accept that. There’s so much online writing that it makes sense to begin your list with those in print. Not that I’m not proud (and more than a little) of many of my online publications, but, you know — I get it.
So here fellow water bugs, punters, friends, heroes, banal high-horsers out for a romp among the plebs… is my 2015-2020 Print Catalogue, based on about 100 distinct flash fictions and short stories sent out in over 400 submissions all over the English language literary world.
Ca — “A Fisherman’s Story” Rhubarb MagazineIssue 39 2016 Ca — “So Are They All” VoicesVol 16 No.2 2016 Anthology India — “I am Otter” The Machinery – A Literary Collection 2017 UK — “Nothing to Lose” The Best of Fiction on the Web 1996-2017 2017 Anthology Ca — “Sweet Caporal at Dawn” Blank SpacesMagazine 2018 Pushcart Prize Nomination Ca — “Away Game” Pulp Literature Issue 20 2018 Ca — “Sweet Caporal at Dawn” Just Words, Volume 2 2018 Anthology US — “Groota Pieter” River Poets Journal Special Themed Edition: “The Immigrants” 2018 Anthology US — “Peacemongers” The MOON magazine: “Out of This World” The Best Short Stories from the MOON Volume 1 2019 Anthology Australia/US — “Groota Pieter” Pact Press “We Refugees” 2019 Anthology Ca — “Fast and Steep” Riddle Fence Issue 34 2019 US — “The Log Boom” River Poets Journal Special Themed Edition: “A Fork in the Road”2020 Anthology Ca — “My Life as a Corkscrew” (CNF) Blank SpacesMagazine 2020 Ca — “Piece of My Heart” Pulp LiteratureIssue 27 2020 Winner of the Editors’ Choice in the 2020 Bumblebee Flash Fiction Contest US — “Away Game” Quail Bell Magazine 2020 Ca — “My Life as a Corkscrew” (CNF) Just WordsVolume 4 2020 Anthology US — “The Sunshine Girl” Cowboy Jamboree Magazine John Prine Tribute Issue 2020 Ca — “The Margin of the River” Blank SpacesMagazine 2020 Pushcart Prize Nomination
(Updated 12.4.20)
A few of these are printed on a rolling basis and so may not be out in the wild yet.
I also have 65 stories in various online publications in the US, the UK, and Canada.
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A writer whom I’ve connected with often on the internet — but not yet in person — is Gregg Norman. He’s an interesting guy and like me, comes to fiction as more of a “second act” but in Gregg’s case he absolutely hit the prose trail running hard and fast, lean and loping.
Gregg and wife Jenine reside in western Manitoba and like Janice and I, they spend a lot of time staring out at open water, or seasonally adjusted, an expanse of snow-covered ice.
I invited him to answer a couple of questions and provide writing from his recent work. Here goes:
MJT — “What has shaped and influenced your writing? Life experiences, places, reading, movies, people?”
Gregg —
I was a bookish type as a child though I grew up in a virtually bookless home. I credit my love of the written word to a wonderful librarian in my hometown and some inspirational English teachers and professors in high school and at university. I read voraciously and eclectically. Beyond all that the biggest influence on me as a writer is my wife, Jenine, who is intimately involved in many aspects of the creation of my novels and who believes in what I do (which puts her at the top of my list of morale supporters).
MJT — “In reading your work, I get a sense of Elmore Leonard’s idea that the ‘writing should disappear.’ Is this intentional or is that just a part of your natural style? Would you care to illustrate with an excerpt?”
Gregg —
Elmore Leonard was a wise man. He said, “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.” I think that is good advice. A writer needs to know when and how to stay out of his own way. The idea is for the writer to be hidden in the background, out of sight. Tell the story, paint the picture, but keep out of it. My style is fairly spartan, I think. I try to resist the urge to write run on or complex sentences or to use too many adjectives.
Excerpt from “A Gift of Scars” —
The line of pot-beaters advanced quickly to close the gate. They cast aside their sticks and tin and took up bats and clubs and ax handles. One man carried a knobbed shillelagh, another a golf club, while others wielded hoes or shovels. They entered the pen, spread themselves out among the carpet of rabbits and started killing. The killers were tentative at first, feinting this way and that at the moving mass of animals. Then they swung their weapons with deliberate aim, encouraged by the skulls crushed, backs broken, eyes popped and guts oozing out between legs still kicking. They settled to their work quickly enough, killing methodically and with grim satisfaction.
One man swung a piece of lumber studded through with nails to which the rabbits became impaled, the better to confirm his kills as he flung them away and counted them aloud. Another man was stomping and crushing rabbits with both booted feet while swinging an ax handle in each hand, his arms and legs jerking wildly like the dancing of some mad marionette.
Excerpt from “Oz Destiny” —
Keeping her eyes downcast, she slowly removed her hat and leaned to set it on the ground. Then, with movements slow and easy, she toed off her boots and slipped out of her horsehide jacket and trousers. She wore a man’s undershirt and drawers and she removed these too. She stood naked with her head down, eyes averted. The stallion arched his neck and took a step toward her. By inches she turned away from him, lowered herself to her hands and knees, and bent her head to the ground, presenting herself to him.
Jesus, Rat rasped, I can’t believe what I’m seeing.
Neither can I, Oz said in a hoarse whisper.
I’m not sure I want to see what might happen next.
Then quit watching.
I can’t, dammit!
The stallion came forward haltingly, a few paces at a time, snorting and skittering in sidelong steps. At a distance of ten yards, he lowered his head, sniffed and blew twin clouds of dust below his muzzle. He lifted one front hoof as if he might advance further, but then abruptly whirled and charged off at a gallop to harry his mares into flight away down the valley until they were just dust and the dying sound of hoofbeats.
While they watched her dress and begin to climb back toward them, Oz and Rat shared an uneasy silence until Rat finally said, She’s completely gone in the head.
I’m not so sure of that, Oz said thoughtfully.
All I can say is it’s a helluva way to try to catch a wild horse.
In the first round of a tough fight, only a FOOL shouts, “I yam fuh-reaking’ lovin’ dis crap!” usually just before being knocked out by an infinitely more dangerous opponent.
Also, although I own a black toque, I ain’t Rocky and the world of fiction ain’t sides of beef. Hell, I ain’t even Italian.
Undeterred, I move forward, absorbing jabs and body shots. Relentless, bloody, concussed—I stumble on. It feels good to hit, it feels even better to be able to TAKE a hit…
Alls I’m sayin’ HEAH, is… I’ve been writing a lot lately. And, like heavyweight champ, Winslow Homer, I’ve been experimenting boldly.
The result is a small but wiry catalogue of recent work that I am actively pitching or intend to pitch to upper-tier, paying mags. Sure, some of these are gonna get knocked out before the first paragraph is read. It’s likely to be a bit of a bloodbath and “We’ve chosen not to include your story at this time,” will be spray-painted across the subway cars of my submission train more than once.
And that’s okay. I won’t wail every time I get rejected but I will let you know when I land a punch! (I’ll grunt.)
The Mighty Hartski—A 7,400-word rommedriewe, from a snowmobile crash on a frozen field to a shared understanding, bedside in Bethesda. Still brooding over this one, ’cause I’ve been writing it for fifty years.
Tiptoe—Teenage hangovers hurt the most. Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson and a smoky donut shop on Osborne.
Grudge—Worked hard for this one, put some Beta readers through their paces too. Waiting for one more critique before I set this Victoria story free. A crime spree down by the Bay Street Bridge.
Red Lightman—You can’t spell empathy without r-e-s-p-e-c-t. 2,400-words.
“I’m burly and brawny, not squirrely or scrawny and if you don’t like me that’s tough.
I shit thunder and lightning and everything frightening and where I come from, that’s enough.”
Hazel Creek—1,500 words, set in the place where I live, sharp and hard as life can be.
The Three Sisters—The type of story that gets you mad: At me, at the sad protagonist—pure as the wind, at the sister who won’t play along. 3,400 words.
If you play enough baseball, you get to a point where you can produce certain outcomes with regularity. This is most true in fielding where extraordinary plays become almost routine. Predictable outcomes are less common in pitching and batting.
At the plate, it’s often the role of the batter to hit a flyball far enough into the outfield to score the runner from third base. The pitcher knows it and throws high riseballs and drops to keep the hitter on the ground or pop her up. But a decent player can often deliver that lazy SAC fly.
I think this is true across a broad spectrum. An average sales professional can renew a long-time account… a basketball player can hit the open J… a practiced politician can deflect uncomfortable questions and provide a safe non-answer without mussing her hair.
However, artists who reach the safety zone are drawn to go beyond. Dylan went electric… Vincent rendered his 200th (500th?) sunflower and looked to the heavens for a new challenge… “Finnegan’s Wake” came out and slapped a lot of people in the face. Art, to reach its potential, needs—at some point—to venture out into uncharted territory and put the artist at risk. “To boldly go where no one has gone before,” as a small Canadian actor with good hair, dimples and a cute little paunch used to say in the opening voice-over, weekdays at 5:00 p.m. in our house on Sunrise Bay.
One of my artistic heroes, Winslow Homer, wrote that one must “experiment boldly.” I agree and even though I still need to hone basic skills (a lot) I feel it’s also time for me to leave my own friendly confines and be bold.
Trouble is, unlike the master, I am not endowed with a limitless amount of talent and a universally loved body of work. But no matter, the feeling of being alone, friendless and at risk is, like landing head-oeuvre-heels in the deep-end… “good for ya!”
Lately, I’ve been on this bold mission. I’ve let myself be led by my Writing Circle and by the greats who went before. Becky Hagenston, Flannery O’Connor, and even Jean Luc Picard—my doppelganger with a Shakespearean accent. (My accent is more East Reserve, with a side order of Simon Biester coarse Mennonite brogue.)
Over the last few days, I’ve gone down swinging a few times as I sought the fences. Reviewers and critiquers have sent me packing, without so much as a foul tip. They did give me tips, though—“Bet heavy—sleep on the streets” or messages of that ilk.
Yesterday, a small breakthrough. An acceptance for one of my Nina, Pinta, and hail Santa Marias. From a wonderful band of editors who know the stench of a book bonfire and are not afraid to toss ugly trash into it, but also take a dim view of too easily barbequing writers whose work takes the path less travelled. (They’re not wild about the above confusing potpourri of images, but, hey—this is just a blog, so edges may be rough.)
Speaking of rough edges, “I am a series of small victories,” comes to mind. This quote from Charles Bukowski, an experimenter if ever one there was. NO, I don’t defend his misogyny or off-handed violence, alcoholism, or other missteps and ignoble romps. I like a lot of what he wrote and respect his boundary-crossing as a part of his artistic journey.
Writers must stray. We must, “dance with the Devil in the pale moonlight,” from time to time. Must we not? Not to become a part of that world, but to know how to avoid falling into it.
Anyway, I’m excited to be doing what I’m doing and hope I can come out on the other side, better for the whippings I will take along the way.
allfornow,
Mitch
News on this story in May, when it is due to hit the internet.
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Last summer a good friend visited. We drank cold Belgian lager beside a warm Manitoba lake. It was idyllic and pleasant. To add to the enjoyment, Irene told us a story from her past—her mom is my aunt’s sister and that family is famously as full of life and spontaneity as a sizzling firecracker.
I confessed to our friend Irene that the story was terrific and that, guiltily, I was tempted to steal it. She said I could steal with her permission—so, a theft, but legally pre-excused.
Over the next few months, I wrote it first as a short essay, then changed it to be used as the first segment of a more complicated three-part story.
It was, I believed, a truly Canadian story and more so a Canadian Mennonite tale, even though my friend’s mom is not, by origin, a Mennonite. (But she sure as heck lived with Mennonites, as did her sister—my aunt.) I sent it out for consideration by several literary journals, hoping for the best.
Ultimately, I decided to withdraw the story. I had grown dissatisfied with it and a few readers—other writers whose opinion I trusted—felt it was convoluted and disjointed, even if they didn’t say it exactly that way…
Schiet.
But, one of the markets spoke up. Like several of my writer friends, they said the first segment of the story was worth keeping and would I care to rewrite it as a solo piece? “Sure,” says I, happy for the lifeline.
So I rewrote and resubmitted. I felt positive, partly because of the resurrection and also sensing that the reduction from that longer piece was now more purely refined; “Un sirop nappant,” as, René, a spontaneous Jessica Lake neighbour and skilled cook, might have said.
Happily, the editors agreed and come July, “The Grittiness of Mango Chiffon” will appear in Agnes and True, an exceptional Canadian publication.
Agnes and True is a Canadian online literary journal.
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Our journal was founded on the belief that there are many writers whose work has not yet had the chance to be appreciated and many stories that have not yet found their literary home.
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As our name suggests, Agnes and True celebrates the achievement of women, though not exclusively. We are particularly interested in discovering and publishing the work of emerging older writers (both female and male).
My thanks to the editorial team at Agnes and True, home to more than a few sizzling firecrackers, I am sure.
Mitchell Toews 