NEW REVIEW! See what Robert Boucheron, Saturday Evening Post contributor & editor/publisher of Charlottesville, VA’s Rivanna Review, has to say about “Pinching Zwieback.”
Find it here: in Ottawa’s Literary Heist
Pinching Zwieback, stories by Mitchell Toews, At Bay Press, paperback, 257 pages, $24.95
“Pinching Zwieback” ISBN 9781998779055 by Mitchell Toews (At Bay Press, Wpg) 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.”
McNally Robinson Booksellers all locations.
The gift shops at both Mennonite Heritage Village (Steinbach) and Mennonite Heritage Museum (Abbotsford).
CommonWord Bookstore and Resource Centre in Winnipeg, MB
At small, independent book stores near you. That may be Misty River Books in Terrace, BC or Mulberry Bush Books in Qualicum Beach, BC, or Prairie Lights Books and Cafe in Iowa City, IA or Fables Books in Goshen, IN, or many, many other bookish places in Canada, the US, the UK or wherever you happen to live. Request a copy and we’ll get it there.
Shop in person: Canadian Bookstore Map or visit the At Bay Press website SHOP LOCAL page to find the Independent bookstore near you.
This SHOP LOCAL link shows all the retail locations in Winnipeg where you can buy PZ! https://shoplocal.bookmanager.com/isbn/9781998779055 or PUT YOUR OWN POSTAL CODE IN to find a bookseller near you!
Virtually all ONLINE book sources WORLDWIDE including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Thriftbooks, etc.
Libraries and booksellers in Canada and the U.S. may purchase books from At Bay Press’s distribution partners:
Canada: http://www.litdistco.ca/
U.S.: https://www.casemateipm.com/9781998779055/pinching-zwieback/
Aus/NZ: https://peribo.com.au/
Other countries: Please see https://atbaypress.com/ordering or contact Matt Joudrey atbaypress@gmail.com
Requesting “Pinching Zwieback” by Mitchell Toews (At Bay Press, Wpg, 2023) at your favourite bookstore or library is also a simple way to get a copy!
DIRECT FROM THE AUTHOR: Contact me to receive a personally signed copy. Mail costs to Manitoba addresses are reasonable! (If you don’t mind a sturdy-but-previously-used envelope.) Payment via beep-beep-boop online magic systems like e-payment and PayPal, etc.
Lake Dauphin is part of a unique prairie watershed. It is the wind-worked home to pickerel and pike surrounded by wetlands and peaty sedge meadows. The lake represents a mature ecology bounded by strong parkland features and clearly influenced by the seemingly unending prairie to the south and west. The northern-influenced climate and relatively sparse human population present a persona still wild in its soulful inner self but outwardly, a place of calm and quiet strength.
This account of place could just as easily describe one of the region’s residents: five-book author Gregg Norman. I’ve had the good fortune to stumble onto Gregg’s writing and just as enjoyably, his cordial, affable, and knowledgeable personality. After a few years of comments and emails, reading each others’ work and becoming online friends it’s time to write a proper review.
Drawing from two of Gregg’s novels—A Gift of Scars and Bingo at the Legion—here’s a summary that offers an overview of author Norman’s overall skills and attributes as a writer, as well as commentary on these two excellent reads.
In Gregg Norman’s books, we find a stabilizing foundation beneath the storytelling. Part of his underlying prose meter is to allow readers to view life and its intricacies, complexity, and sudden reversals almost exclusively through the experiences of the characters. As a result, fiction readers looking for an escape from their own day-to-day entanglements will find in these books a place where transportation into a virtual world is pleasingly easy and without the slippery footing so common in current literary fiction. Norman’s gripping realism feels exacting and personal even if it is drawn from places and characters that could be right next door. The scenes arrive, ruddy-cheeked and vital, from any one of a number of common memories and experiences that the author provides. Common only in their familiarity; uncommon in their singular personality and well-delivered descriptions. Norman steeps his stories in slowly revealed character studies, influenced as they should be, as they must be, by landscapes and neighbourhoods and relationships that this strong, characterful author knows well. Knows in his bones and his scars and his mature sensibility. He communicates fluidly, with the firm hand and big heart we desire from a storyteller.
Even treacherous ground like a failed high school romance renewed does not succumb to treacle or overwrought plotting and stilted dialogue. Instead, the relationship is renewed with subtle vibrancy, coming off the page and drawing us in with the feelings and emotions we know to be true to the situation. Norman has that deep well to draw from:
“The supreme question about a work of art is out of how deep a life does it spring. Paintings of Moreau are paintings of ideas. The deepest poetry of Shelley, the words of Hamlet bring our mind into contact with the eternal wisdom; Plato’s world of ideas. All the rest is the speculation of schoolboys for schoolboys.” —James Joyce, Ulysses
Norman adheres to this Joycean ethic without seeming as though he is trying to. His books about average, flawed people are indeed, “paintings of ideas;” word paintings, cut carefully with dialogue, imagery, word craft and the caring of a fully-invested artist.
Sometimes the characters may at first appear bleak or we find they are placed on stoney emotional ground. But unfailingly, they evolve at a pace well controlled—never contrived. Feelings furrow the ground, turning aside our first inclinations towards the character and revealing the core individual Norman has created. By allowing the characters to emerge more fully, the reader is brought along without effort or disbelief.
Families behave like families do: there is a hint of dysfunction and imperfection, even if the core is based on love and respect. Friendships have rough spots. Cars don’t always start when you need them to. If there was a rocket ship or a superhero or a cataclysmic event in a Norman book, it would sputter or flutter or remind you of butter—this author is simply not tempted by overkill and literary hyperbole. Rather than depend on mighty but unlikely events or personalities, Norman’s stories move along in less imposing circumstances and arrive where they should, after a satisfying and trying struggle. The author leaves the reader—and often the main character—worse for wear, but better for the experience.
People fall in love. They become ill. Some recover and others die. Dreams die too, though somehow we know that among those dreams, even those belonging to characters we first believed to be weak or ignoble, might be given a second chance.
A Gift of Scars: Gritty, untarnished realism with the deftly applied fictional touch of an observant and world-wise writer. At times darkly shaded, in the end, Scars leaves us with the feeling that perseverance, emotional honesty and the ability to keep striving despite our despair will serve us well.
In Bingo at the Legion, we think we have happened upon a quotidian gathering of “ordinary folks.” While this is not untrue, the underpinning fact is that there are no ordinary lives and that life is both fickle and generous. We know from watching Brenna, Grady, and Jasper that past missteps can be retaken and it is within our scope to alter what fate has given us no matter how unlikely it seems.
The lessons available through these enjoyable contes de vie are provided with a delicate touch—no authorial overburden. The characters become known to us and real in our minds. When we reach the tightly written conclusions, we may be surprised but never shocked or taken outside of the story. The characters reveal what we have been skillfully led to see in them.
The perfect Christmastime getaway? Travel to Lake Dauphin and back via Bingo at the Legion, Oz Destiny, Not My Dog, A Gift of Scars, and Lovely Way to Burn. https://greggnormanauthor.com/books/
“
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…”
“Mitchell smiled with his bruised mouth,” to paraphrase Mr. Steinbeck.
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
“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.
THIS PAGE HAS BEEN CONSOLIDATED HERE: https://mitchellaneous.com/2023/09/30/pinching-zwieback-book-author-publication-event-details/
October 24, 2023: The official launch day for Pinching Zwieback, Mitchell Toews debut collection of short stories from At Bay Press. Release Date is November 7, 2023. Mitchell and wife Janice live on Jessica Lake, in the boreal forest on Treaty 1 & 3 territory, the home of the Métis Nation.
Events: https://mitchellaneous.com/2023/10/20/pinching-zwieback-events/
Where to Purchase: “Pinching Zwieback” ISBN 9781998779055 by Mitchell Toews (At Bay Press, Wpg) may be purchased at:
From At Bay Press: “Individual orders are placed through our website by adding books to your cart and then checking out with our secure online payment. Orders may also be placed over the phone by calling 204-489-6658 and payment will be taken over the phone. You may send an email with any questions or concerns to atbaypress@gmail.com.”
McNally Robinson Booksellers all locations.
The gift shops at both Mennonite Heritage Village (Steinbach) and Mennonite Heritage Museum (Abbotsford).
CommonWord Bookstore and Resource Centre in Winnipeg, MB
Manitoba Made Events & Shop in Lac du Bonnet, MB
Shop in person: Canadian Bookstore Map or visit the At Bay Press website SHOP LOCAL page to find the Independent book store near you.
Virtually all ONLINE book sources WORLDWIDE including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Thriftbooks, etc.
Libraries and booksellers in Canada and the U.S. may purchase books from At Bay Press’s distribution partners:
Canada: http://www.litdistco.ca/
U.S.: https://www.casemateipm.com/9781998779055/pinching-zwieback/
Aus/NZ: https://peribo.com.au/
Other countries: Please see https://atbaypress.com/ordering or contact Matt Joudrey atbaypress@gmail.com
Requesting “Pinching Zwieback” by Mitchell Toews (At Bay Press, Wpg, 2023) at your favourite bookstore or library is also a simple way to get a copy!
Be sure to look out for author and publisher events and check with Mitch or Matt on how to receive signed copies or for information concerning special situations like review or interview requests.
“Imbued with the turbulence of an ancestral river, the joy of a toboggan careening down an icy run, and the despair of dreams broken on a distant hockey rink, Mitchell Toews’ stories ask universal questions, about belonging, conforming and dissenting, all the while rooted in the snowdrifts and sun-drenched fields of a small prairie town. The answers emerge hot from the oven, fragrant like the zwieback buns of the title: we find ourselves in our family, and memories, and forgiveness, as familiar and soothing as the worn leather of a much-loved baseball glove.”—Zilla Jones, Journey Prize winner and finalist for the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award
“Pinching Zwieback: Made-up Stories from the Darp”
Overview; Artistic Creed
I come to writing fiction from the storyteller’s places: the campfire, the backseat on a long drive, the bar stool.
Everyday people’s stories inspire me because they demonstrate how extraordinary every life is and allow us to recognize what unites and divides us. As editor, poet, and writer Judith Lawrence of Lambertville, NJ has suggested and what I strive for is, “A unique writer’s voice… the pure untarnished colloquial rawness in the reading. Having something to say… to be startled, drawn into the story, even if it’s in the stillness, or the lines between the lines of the work.*”
*https://sixquestionsfor.blogspot.com/2013/07/six-questions-for-judith-lawrence.html
Literary Indices
“Pinching Zwieback” is indexed here: Mennonite/s Writing in Canada Bibliography: https://mennonitebibs.wordpress.com/mennonite-s-writing-in-canada-bibliography/
Overall Summary
Nov 16, 2025: Mitchell Toews, since 2016, has been placed on 27 shortlist-longlist-finalist groupings in contests in the US, the UK, and Canada. In addition, Toews was nominated by Pulp Literature for the 2025 Writers’ Trust McClelland Stewart JOURNEY PRIZE for his story “All Our Swains Commend Her” and has received four PUSHCART PRIZE nominations, from three separate periodicals (two in Canada, one in the US).
Pinching Zwieback: A McNally Robinson Bookseller “BEST BOOKS OF THE SEASON” selection, a staff pick, and a multi-week Manitoba bestselling paperback fiction book. #6 across CANADA in January 2024 on the Hamilton Review of Books Indie Bestseller list!
Pinching Zwieback: the Winnipeg Free Press Book Club selection for November 2024. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/book-club?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwyo60BhBiEiwAHmVLJejsiQ1BSxLcUz1km7UP6BI0ggBeBSJNMegjokTfgxfsgxNBemh5ghoCA4cQAvD_BwE
Mitchell Toews: Miramichi Reader’s “Why I Wrote This Book” feature. https://miramichireader.ca/2024/08/why-i-wrote-this-book-issue-33/
Reviews, Launches, Interviews, and Excerpts
Prairie Books NOW Synopsis: Fall/Winter 2023 “These stories portray small-town Mennonite life with humour and poignancy. Linked by a common community and recurrent characters, the stories show families reconfiguring as necessary, young boys growing to be men, and women learning to be bold in the
midst of tight societal expectations.” (At Bay Press, $24.95 pb, 400 pages, isbn: 978-1-998779-05-5)
Free Press Book Club Synopsis: November 19, 2024 “In the 20 linked stories Toews has created, characters pop in and out, are introduced and then briefly forgotten, re-emerging later in the book in a different stage of life, bringing new voices in the form of kids and grandkids along with them... Though these stories are ‘made up from the darp,’ as Toews says, Pinching Zwieback reads like a memoir; the characters Toews has developed feel full, real and relatable.”—Ben Sigurdson, Winnipeg Free Press Literary Editor https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/2024/11/09/mennonite-manitoba-stories-on-tap-for-free-press-book-club
“Pinching Zwieback” Book Review Dec 30, 2023 https://www.WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/books/2023/12/30/chekhov-of-the-darp “a stunner…”
“Why I Wrote This Book” feature in The Miramichi Review, August 4, 2024 https://miramichireader.ca/2024/08/why-i-wrote-this-book-issue-33/ “Like most authors, I had numerous reasons to write my book. Legacy, heritage, tell my story my way, and so on. Valid reasons. I had these plus some ulterior motivation…”
“Pinching Zwieback” Book Review/Author Interview June 13, 2024 (Jake Epp Public Library, Steinbach, MB) https://steinbachonline.com/articles/local-authors-debut-book-strikes-global-chord-with-relatable-tales- “Local author’s debut book strikes global chord…”
“Pinching Zwieback” Book Review Nov 22, 2023 https://anabaptistworld.org/new-books-for-2023-fiction-books/ “a collection of stories of practical folk discerning across generations what should remain and what should be let go…”
“Pinching Zwieback” story selected as a Mentor Text for the Moving Writers website, a US/Ca site for English teachers, by English teachers. The story Fall from Grace was chosen March 20, 2024 for its strength in illustrating how to: “establish a setting… create a voice… tell one great story… and include a moral to the story.” https://movingwriters.org/2024/03/20/mentor-text-wednesday-fall-from-grace/ “Even if you only give your writers the first two paragraphs of this story, you’re giving them a great mentor text for establishing a setting. Those paragraphs do more than establish the sense of place, but they give a very visceral sense of what it means for the narrator to be in that place. Using the imagery of the first paragraph, and the rules and conditions of the second, we are placed in the youth of the narrator.”
Hollay Ghadery: Rural Writer Spotlight Author Interview Jan 6, 2024 https://www.facebook.com/share/p/oSqzqKJAvXp9KvQm/?mibextid=oFDknk “My focus has been prairie stories. My forthcoming work (a novel, set in Winnipeg and for the majority of the book, in the Canadian boreal wilderness near the 50th parallel) continues in that place so clear to me but also draws into other resonant locations, including Winnipeg, the boreal shield in Manitoba and urban characters and scenes from southwestern British Columbia. I am most often described as a storyteller with grit and I wear that tag with pride.”
“Pinching Zwieback” Book Review Dec 20, 2023 https://www.literaryheist.com/articles/stories-from-the-darp/ “Toews has the gift of making other people seen and heard…”
Author Interview Dec 7, 2023 https://winklermordenvoice.ca/services/download.ashx?doc=WinklerVoice120723.pdf “real-life feelings, characters, and places...”
“Pinching Zwieback” Book Review Dec 5, 2023 https://themeanderer.ca/pinching-zwieback-a-review/ “The stories whisper words of wisdom…”
“Pinching Zwieback” Book Review Dec 5, 2023 https://bit.ly/GNormanREVIEW_PZ “gritty realism in his characters and a profoundly human strength in his storylines…”
“Pinching Zwieback” Book Review Nov, 2023 https://maryloudriedger2.wordpress.com/2023/11/28/pinching-zwieback/ “poignant, evocative, touching, humorous and heart-wrenching…”
“Pinching Zwieback” Excerpt Nov 27, 2023 https://www.mennotoba.com/excerpt-from-pinching-zwieback-by-mitchell-toews/
“Pinching Zwieback” Book Launch/Reading Nov 8, 2023 https://www.youtube.com/live/49xiY1jRSYs “stories filled with life, filled with vitality—written by a storyteller…”
Author Interview Jan 6, 2023 https://www.pressenza.com/2023/06/i-used-to-be-an-animal-lover-conversation-rhys-barbara-mitchell-part-i/ “I strive to ‘ambush’ difficult or inflated personal memories by letting my characters take the story and reshape it…”
Author Interview Feb 14, 2021 https://literallystories2014.com/2021/02/14/literally-reruns-so-are-they-all-by-mitchell-toews/ “a gentle yet unsentimental touch…”
Author Interview Jan 28, 2021 https://www.blankspaces.ca/coffee-chats/coffee-chat-with-mitchell-toews “a quotidian setting, rich descriptions, relatable characters, human strengths and weaknesses on display, sorrow offset with quiet, cathartic humour…”
Author Interview Dec 19, 2019 https://mysmallpresswritingday.blogspot.com/2019/12/mitchell-toews-my-writing-day-and-offer.html “Utter cockwash…” 🙂
Author Interview Nov 14, 2018 https://www.mennotoba.com/mennonite-memes-like-our-food-make-for-a-rich-diet-5-questions-with-author-mitch-toews/ “I was born here and Steinbach and the Mennonite Borscht Belt are a hovering omnipresence in many of my stories…”
Commentary
Armin Wiebe
• Mitchell Toews’ stories range from Tom Sawyer-like tales of boyhood squabbles to the heartbreak of family dysfunction to the cruelty of small-town hypocrisy. Hilarious and tragic in turn, Toews explores facets of Mennonite life that other Mennonite writers have not touched.
• Mitchell Toews’ stories add more layers to the world that has given us Patrick Friesen, Lynnette (Dueck) D’anna, Miriam Toews, and Andrew Unger. Racism, class conflict, and economic and religious snobbery form the background for the sometimes comic, sometimes excruciating human dramas experienced by four generations of the Zehen family.
• With a family bakery at the heart of what links them, these are hockey and baseball stories, love stories, drinking stories, father-son stories, mother-daughter stories, outsider stories, getting even stories, in which characters face high stakes perils, sometimes emotional, sometimes physical, sometimes life and death menacing.
• From 1874 Russia to 21st century Manitoba and British Columbia, Mitchell Toews’ linked stories present us with a boisterous and poignant family saga unlike any other in Mennonite literature.
• Oba Jung, (“Oh, but son,”) you write good stories.
—Armin Wiebe, author of The Salvation of Yasch Siemens and Grandmother, and playwright of several productions, including The Recipe, Winnipeg, MB Laughing. http://www.arminwiebe.ca/
Donna Besel
Mitch’s debut collection of short stories, “Pinching Zwieback,” recently received a stellar review in the Winnipeg Free Press and has appeared several times on McNally Robinson Bookstore’s bestseller list for paperback fiction. His book plays homage to the Mennonite language, food, history, and culture but he does not shy away from sharp insights into the limitations of a closed and controlled way of life. Like well-known Manitoba writer Miriam Toews, his writing often explores the clashes of their shared Mennonite background.
—Donna Besel, Lac du Bonnet, MB is a writer and educator, author of Lessons from a Nude Man, and The Unravelling.
Ralph Friesen
Mitch Toews speaks from the margins of small-town society, claiming a space for the underdog and the undervalued. His characters must go through all manner of tests and challenges, but in the end–love wins. Toews has that rare talent for touching your heart and being funny, too.
—Ralph Friesen of Victoria, BC, author of Between Earth & Sky: Steinbach’s First 50 Years Dad, God, and Me and, most recently, Prosperity Ever Depression Never: Steinbach in the 1930s” https://www.ralphfriesen.com/
Linda Rogers Van Krugel
[…] That is the substance of Pinching Zwieback, rhymes with Steinbach, the town of Toews’ awakening. The linked stories in this premier collection from a senior writer describe the apostate Christian community he is growing into and out of now that the skin he was born in no longer fits. This was always true for the narrators born as outsiders in an outsider religion.
—Linda Rogers, Victoria, BC from her full review of the book. Canadian poet, author, thinker, feminist, and raconteur extraordinaire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda Rogers
Zilla Jones
Imbued with the turbulence of an ancestral river, the joy of a toboggan careening down an icy run, and the despair of dreams broken on a distant hockey rink, Mitchell Toews’ stories ask universal questions, about belonging, conforming and dissenting, all the while rooted in the snowdrifts and sun-drenched fields of a small prairie town. The answers emerge hot from the oven, fragrant like the zwieback buns of the title: we find ourselves in our family, and memories, and forgiveness, as familiar and soothing as the worn leather of a much-loved baseball glove.
“. . . ostensibly Mennonite, but the themes of conformity vs dissension, individual vs family, belonging vs alienation are universal.” (Facebook)
—Zilla Jones, Winnipeg, MB, Journey Prize winner and finalist in the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award https://www.transatlanticagency.com/2021/08/27/welcoming-zilla-jones-to-transatlantic/
Alanna Rusnak
Moves like a tide through visceral daily experiences—quintessentially Canadian, some heart wrenching, each powerfully evocative.
—Alanna Rusnak, Blank Spaces Magazine, Ontario https://www.chickenhousepress.ca/arp
Leslie Wakeman
His stories allow us to hold space for challenging our notions on life.
—Leslie Wakeman, writer and educator, Lac du Bonnet, Mb
Rachael Friesen
“I just finished reading the book and absolutely loved it. The snapshots from each character and how the stories flow from one generation to the next were fantastic. Diedrich and Matt were my favourite stories to follow, I cannot wait to purchase a copy for our branch!”
—Rachael Friesen, South Central Regional Library, Altona Branch Administrator
Sue Sorensen
In comments made during her hosting of the Nov 8 book launch event at McNally Robinson Booksellers, Wpg., MB: “. . . stories filled with life, filled with vitality. . . written by a storyteller.”
—Sue Sorensen, author, editor, and Associate Professor of English at Canadian Mennonite University, Winnipeg, MB.
Dianne Pearce
“If you enjoyed Mitch’s contribution, “Angel Delorme and the Craigflower Bus” in the Hawkshaw Press anthology, HARD-BOILED AND LOADED WITH SIN, then you’re going to love THIS book!”
—Dianne Pearce, MA, MFA, Publisher-Editor, Montclair, CA
Former South East Manitoba Residents
“You’ve created such a feel for that town (whether one has lived there or not), for the kinds of characters who live in these places. For me, personally, some of the events are deeply resonant. You’ve caught them well. The things young boys do, the way they think. You’ve caught it.”
—Anonymous Victoria Reader
[…] “I just had to write this instant cuz I just finished reading Willa Hund from your book. . . So funny and heartbreaking and alive!! I’m reading the whole book but that’s the one I just read now. . . ”
—Anonymous Toronto Reader
”IT’S ABSOLUTELY PRICELESS!”
—Anonymous Toronto Reader’s Mom
“Even before I started with the stories, I read the “Wuatsiel…Glossary” at the back of your book. That itself is worth the price of the book. I was surprised how many of the words I knew by simply pronouncing them phonetically. Some things did survive my childhood. . .”
—Reader Eric Peters
“My favourite word: ‘rutsch‘ (p. 52). I know very little Low German, but that word was INSTANTLY recognizable . . . My favourite phrase (p. 140): ‘their visions so sympathetic, symphonic and kind.’ . . . such literary creativity (including some alliteration) and emotional openness and depth . . . My favourite paragraph (the final paragraph on p. 149): ‘I stood at the table, facing her. She tucked the phone under her chin and after listening for a few seconds gave me a comically enthusiastic two-thumbs-up salute and a smile as bright as a silver dollar. In that instant, looking at my mother’s often severe countenance and her small angular body, I felt safe and secure in her presence—no matter what threat might come. I saw her bravery and the utter dedication to her family, regardless of how she managed it and what people might think.'”
—Reader Gerald Loewen
Purchase from: At Bay Press McNally Robinson Booksellers Mennonite Heritage Village Museum Mennonite Heritage Museum CommonWord Misty River Books and every online seller from here to the banks of the Bazavluk and back.
Last UPDATE: Nov 4, 2023
Author Mitchell Toews
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 Purchase Pinching 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.”
McNally Robinson Booksellers (Pre-order available) all locations.
The gift shops at both Mennonite Heritage Village (Steinbach) and Mennonite Heritage Museum (Abbotsford).
CommonWord Bookstore and Resource Centre in Winnipeg, MB
Misty River Books in Terrace, BC
Manitoba Made Events & Shop in Lac du Bonnet, MB
Shop in person: Canadian Bookstore Map
Virtually all ONLINE book sources WORLDWIDE including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Thriftbooks, etc.
Libraries and booksellers in Canada and the U.S. may purchase books from At Bay Press’s distribution partners:
Canada: http://www.litdistco.ca/
U.S.: https://www.casemateipm.com/9781998779055/pinching-zwieback/
Aus/NZ: https://peribo.com.au/
For other countries: Please see https://atbaypress.com/ordering or contact Matt Joudrey atbaypress@gmail.com
Events
https://mitchellaneous.com/2023/10/20/pinching-zwieback-events/
Coming Soon
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.
Follow Mitch & 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.
From the sleepy stubble fields of Manitoba Mennonite country to the shores of the Rivanna River in Charlottesville, Virginia, here are four not-so-sleepy short stories. Besides my stories, the contents of The Rivanna Review are alive with unique literature, pictures, and book reviews. See the contents, here: https://rivannareview.com/
Single copies and subscriptions are extremely reasonable in price!
These four pieces are original works of mine, examples of “the organic story,” according to Print Editor Robert Boucheron. These stories are not in the forthcoming collection, “Pinching Zwieback” from At Bay Press (October 24), so no overlap!
Sweet Caporal: Life presents many unexpected dramas, especially for teenagers.
Hundred Miles an Hour: Set in the same lakeside location as Sweet Caporal; home to a darker drama.
The Sewing Machine: 1931 Winnipeg is the backdrop for unlikely combatants.
The Seven Songs: Pride, desperation, and deception know no one locale, no religious or national boundaries, and no exceptions.
Mitchell Toews 