Biography

Mitchell Toews is a Canadian author of literary fiction focusing on themes of fairness, rural life, intergenerational bonds, and Mennonite heritage. Nominated by Pulp Literature for a 2025 Writers’ Trust McClelland Stewart Journey Prize, he is a 4X Pushcart Prize-nominated writer known for gritty, character-driven storytelling. Mitch is the author of “Pinching Zwieback” (At Bay Press, 2023) and a novel, “Mulholland and Hardbar,” forthcoming in 2026.

Bibliography — Primary Sources (Periodicals, Anthologies, Podcasts)

2016

16 publications in total, partial list below:

• The Fisherman’s Story — Rhubarb (CA)
• Heavy Artillery  — Fiction on the Web (UK)
• Nothing to Lose  — Fiction on the Web (UK)
• Encountered on the Shore  — CommuterLit (CA)
• A Vile Insinuation  — CommuterLit (CA)
• Without Reason  — CommuterLit (CA)
• Zero to Sixty  — CommuterLit (CA)
• The Margin of the River  — CommuterLit (CA)
• Fifty Dollar Sewing Machine  — Literally Stories (UK)
• Frozen Tag   — Literally Stories (UK)
• South of Oromocto Depths  — Literally Stories (UK)
• Our German Relative  — Red Fez (CA)
• So They All Are  — Voices (CA)

2017

20 publications in total, partial details below:

• Fall from Grace  — Fiction on the Web (UK)
• The Beefeater  — Fiction on the Web (UK)
• The Preacher’s Wife  — Fiction on the Web (UK)
• Nothing to Lose  — Fiction on the Web (UK)
• South of Oromocto  — CommuterLit (CA)
• Winter Eve at Walker Creek Park   — CommuterLit (CA)
• The Rothman Job  — CommuterLit (CA)
• The Business of Saving Souls  — Literally Stories (UK)
• So They All Are  — Literally Stories (UK)
• City Lights  — Lingo Bites (UK)
• Schutzengel  — Occullum  (US)
• The Margin of the River  — Pandemonium Press (US)
• The Log Boom  — Storgy (INTL)
• The Peacemongers  — The MOON Magazine (US)
• The Old Guardsmen  — Lingo Bites (UK)
• Graperoo  — Occullum (US) 
• The Seven Songs  — Fictive Dream (UK)
• Best of Fiction on the Web (UK): 1996–2017 — anthology
• The Machinery (India): Fauna — anthology

2018

13 publications in total

• Fall From Grace — Literally Stories (UK)
• Of a Forest Silent — Alsina Publishing LingoBites (UK/ES)
• City Lights — Literally Stories (UK)
• The Bottom of the Sky — Fiction on the Web (UK)
• In the Dim Light Beyond the Fence — riverbabble (US)
• Nothing to Lose — riverbabble (US)
• Shade Tree Haven — Doorknobs & Bodypaint (US)
• Sweet Caporal at Dawn — Blank Spaces (CA)
• Sweet Caporal at Dawn — Just Words Vol. 2 Anthology (CA)
• Away Game — Pulp Literature (CA)
• Groota Pieter — River Poets Journal “The Immigrants” Anthology (US)
• The Narrowing — Scarlet Leaf Review (CA)
• Wide Winter River — Not Ready for Prime Time podcast (US)

2019

14 publications in total

• The Fifty Dollar Sewing Machine — Literally Stories (UK)
• The Toboggan Run — The MOON Magazine (US)
• Peacemongers — The MOON Anthology (US)
• Cave on a Cul-de-sac — Doorknobs & Bodypaint Issue 93 (US)
• Din and the Wash Bear — Doorknobs & Bodypaint Issue 95 (US)
• Died Rich — Fabula Argentea (US)
• I Am Otter — Short Tales (Iran)
• Away Game — Short Tales (Iran)
• Concealment — Me First Magazine (US)
• Groota Pieter — Pact Press “We Refugees” Anthology (AU)
• Fast and Steep — Riddle Fence (CA)
• Holthacka’s Quandary — Lunate Fiction (UK)
• Shade Tree Haven — (mac)ro(mic) (US)
• Our German Relative — Xmas Stories (Iran)

2020

14 publications in total

• The Business of Saving Souls — Literally Stories (UK)
• The Log Boom — River Poets Journal Anthology (US)
• Encampment — Tiny Seed Journal (US)
• Regrets de Foie Gras — Literally Stories (UK)
• The Grittiness of Mango Chiffon — Agnes and True (CA)
• My Life as a Corkscrew — Blank Spaces (CA)
• Piece of My Heart — Pulp Literature (CA)
• Away Game — Quail Bell Magazine (US)
• Interview — Maysam Kandej Talks (Iran)
• My Life as a Corkscrew — Just Voices Anthology (CA)
• The Sunshine Girl — Cowboy Jamboree (US)
• Died Rich — Fiction on the Web (UK)
• Baloney, Hot Mustard and Metal Filings — WordCity Monthly (Intl)
• Our German Relative — WordCity Monthly (Intl)

2021

10 publications in total

• Interview — Blank Spaces (CA)
• So Are They All — Literally Stories (UK)
• Fast and Steep — CommuterLit (CA)
• The Grittiness of Mango Chiffon — Literally Stories (UK)
• Fast and Steep — Fiction on the Web (UK)
• Featured Artist — Winnipeg River Arts Council (CA)
• The Log Boom — WordCity Monthly (Intl)
• In the Dim Light Beyond the Fence — The Twin Bill (US)
• Sweet Caporal — Rivanna Review (US)
• Fast and Steep — Fenechty Anthology (UK)

2022

• Hundred Miles an Hour — Rivanna Review (US)
• Piece of My Heart — Miramichi Flash (CA)
• Downtown Diner — Cowboy Jamboree (US)
• Winter Eve at Walker Creek Park & Shade Tree Haven — Guernica Editions Anthology (Intl)
• I Am Otter — Lintusen Press Anthology (CA)
• Sanctuary Quandary — WordCity Monthly (Intl)
• New War — Old Technology — The Fieldstone Review (CA)
• No Strings — Bell Press Anthology (CA)
• The Spring Kid — Macrina Magazine (US/Intl)
• A Cultivated Halloween — CommuterLit (CA)
• Sweet Caporal — WordCity Literary Journal (Intl)
• The Sewing Machine — Rivanna Review (US)

2023

7 publications in total, plus the 20 stories contained in the “Pinching Zwieback” collection (At Bay Press) and reprints in Sam Kandej’s online blog in Iran

• The Margin of the River & I Am Otter — D.A. Cairns Anthology (AU)
• Piece of My Heart — Literally Stories (UK)
• All Our Swains Commend Her — Pulp Literature (CA)
• Pass It to Freddie — The Other Journal (US)
• Angel and the Craigflower Bus — Hawkshaw Press Noir Anthology (US)
• Piece of My Heart — Mennotoba (CA)
• Multiple reprints — toews.ir (Iran)
• The Seven Songs — Rivanna Review (US)

2024

2 publications in total, plus reprints in Sam Kandej’s online blog in Iran

• The Sunshine Girl — Prine Primed Anthology, Cowboy Jamboree (US)
• Multiple reprints — toews.ir (Iran)
• Essay — “Why I Wrote This Book” Miramichi Reader (CA)

2025

16 publications in total, plus one scheduled for 2026

• The Seven Songs — Fiction on the Web (UK)
• Our German Relative — 7th-Circle Pyrite (US)
• Bouncing Baby Boy — Lothlorien Poetry Journal (FR)
• The Preacher’s Wife — Rivanna Review (US)
• Shade Tree Diplomacy — Literary Heist (CA)
• The Margin of the River — Literally Stories (UK)
• All Our Swains Commend Her — Chiron Review (US)
• Pass It to Freddie — CommuterLit (CA)
• Schutzengel — 7th-Circle Pyrite (US)
• Blank Spaces Interview (CA)
• This Older Dude… — Manitoba Writers’ Guild Tagore Competition (CA)
• Night Bandits — SBLAAM (US)
• Shade Tree Haven — Grit Quarterly (US)
• Ahead, Go — CommuterLit (CA)
• The Light Pool — Pulp Literature (CA)
• Review of Pitfall by Terry Kirk — Literary Heist (CA) December 2025
• Second Helping at Conchita’s Diner — Pulp Literature (CA) March 2026

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Bibliography — Secondary Sources (Reviews, Profiles, Criticism)

• Featured Artist Profile — Winnipeg River Arts Council (CA, 2021)
• Interviews in Mennotoba, Blank Spaces, South Branch Scribbler, Maysam Kandej Talks, My (small press) Writing Day, and others.

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Bibliography — Awards

Major Awards & Wins

• “So Are They All” — Second Place, Write on the Lake Adult Fiction, 2016
• “Cave on a Cul-de-sac” — Winner, Hayward Fault Line / Doorknobs & Bodypaint Flash Contest, 2018
• “The Lunker Jack” — Third Place, NOWW Bill MacDonald Prize (Short Fiction), 2025
• “Second Helping at Conchita’s Diner” — First Runner-up, Pulp Literature Raven Contest, 2025

Shortlists

• “The Spring Kid” — Shortlist, J.F. Powers Prize for Short Fiction, 2022
• “Luck!” — Shortlist, Pulp Literature Hummingbird Flash Contest, 2022
• “Winter in the Sandilands” — Shortlist, Pulp Literature Bumblebee Flash Contest, 2023
• “Saskatchewan” — Shortlist, Nona Macdonald Heaslip Award, 2023
• “This Older Dude Over at Conchita’s Up North Main This Morning” — Shortlist, Rabindranath Tagore Poetry Competition, 2025

Longlists

• “Winter in the Sandilands” — Longlist, Pulp Literature Hummingbird Flash Contest, 2022
• “Saskatchewan” — Longlist, Dave Williamson National Short Story Competition, 2023
• “Mr. R” — Longlist, NOWW Bill MacDonald Prize, 2023
• “Parade Day” — Longlist, Pulp Literature Raven Contest, 2024
• “The Light Pool” — Longlist, Pulp Literature Bumblebee Flash Contest, 2025
• “This Older Dude Over at Conchita’s” — Longlist, Pulp Literature Hummingbird Flash Contest, 2025

Finalists

• “The Phage Match” — Finalist, Broken Pencil Deathmatch, 2016
• “Fetch” — Finalist — TWUC Short Prose Competition, 2020
• “The Rabid” — Finalist, Pulp Literature Bumblebee Flash Contest, 2022
• “The Spring Kid” — Finalist, J.F. Powers Prize, 2022
  
• “The Mighty Hartski” — Finalist, Humber Literary Review / CNFC CNF Contest, 2022

Honourable Mentions

• “Fall from Grace” — Honourable Mention, Writers’ Workshop of Asheville Memoirs Contest, 2016

Editors’ Choice & Other Distinctions

• “I am Otter” — Runner-up, CommuterLit Flash Feature, 2018
• “Piece of My Heart” — Editors’ Choice, Pulp Literature Bumblebee Flash Contest, 2020
• “Fall from Grace” (Pinching Zwieback) — Mentor Text selection, moving writers, 2024

Nominations

• “Sweet Caporal at Dawn” — Pushcart Prize nomination (Blank Spaces), 2019
• “The Margin of the River” — Pushcart Prize nomination (Blank Spaces), 2020
• “Sweet Caporal” — Pushcart Prize nomination (Rivanna Review), 2021
• “All Our Swains Commend Her” — Pushcart Prize nomination (Pulp Literature), 2023
• “All Our Swains Commend Her” — Journey Prize nomination (Pulp Literature), 2025