WHODUNIT? Terry Kirk, that's who. Join us to celebrate her new book, Pitfall (At Bay Press), Sunday, Sept 28 at 3 PM, at the Whodunit Books. Hosted by Mitch Toews.

@bsky.app For the ride home tonight from Lac du Bonnet, I'll be skygazing: Jupiter – Rising after 9:30 p.m., brilliant and unmistakable. Four Galilean moons visible with binoculars. mitchtoewsauthor.com/events/uiwlb...

Mitchellaneous Redux For years, I’ve kept a blog at Mitchellaneous.com. Now, with a new site — mitchtoewsauthor.com — it’s time to bring everything under one roof.

REVIEW—Linda Rogers Van Krugel As these stories rise in Toews’ proverbial oven they grow away from the fire of creation, the same fire that has tempted and driven notable female voices from the Mennonite community...

@bsky.app Here's a new author's website that I just set up on Tertulia for Authors. mitchtoewsauthor.com

A summary of opinion and comment for Mitchell Toews' debut book, Pinching Zwieback (At Bay Press, 2023) ISBN: 9781998779055

Look north, just past 50, and between the pick-up-sticks black spruce, and from there east to Toronto and then west to the Arbutus menziesii country and (keep going) you will find, among the bric-à-brac of my memories, a made-up story about book learning. commuterlit.com/2025/09/mond...

3 of 3—urban social dysfunction/alcohol, cultural overlap and loyalty, the blurred line between poverty and crime, and discovering feminism beneath a conservative cloak. My coll of short stories Pinching Zwieback (At Bay Press) contains these issues & more, within an insular prairie Mennonite town.

2 of 3—In my most recent slate of 27 submissions (US, Can, some intl), topics included: working poor (Victoria, BC), the anxiety of leaving childhood, loss/family, decline of rural communities in Ca, homophobia & stereotypes, immigration into a small town (a story about cricket and baseball). . .

1 of 3—I write from/about rural Canada. My stuff is generally lit grit, "K-mart" or Mennonite fiction. Lots of stories about ordinary folks in difficult situations, alcohol abuse, social justice... quiet writing in our noisy era.

At Least a Three Coffee Read "And the saying of it is a lonely thing."

Grit Quarterly launches today—congrats to Ed. Dan Russell. Happy to contribute an icy little chunk of S.E. Manitoba. @gritquarterly.bsky.social @nberlat.bsky.social @dashlarkin.bsky.social @melissacuisine.bsky.social @russellthayer10.bsky.social @byjeffsykes.bsky.social @maudlavin.bsky.social

Market Copy—Metaphor in the Making Building "market copy" for an author and a book.

Presidential Dicktionary* Trigger warning: strong anti-rapist, anti-child molester, anti-national annexation, anti-school shooter, anti-alligator opinions expressed in this humourous/not-so-humourous PSA. If you have extreme beliefs in this area, please be advised. *This Presidential Dicktionary…

Am/Want to Be/Will Be I've been working a lot lately on what kind of writer I am . . . what kind I want to be . . . and what I will eventually be. There are countless English language journals, anthologies, bookshops and libraries in the world, and that translates into I-have-no-idea-how-many…

My friend Ariel gave me a copy of a story she wrote. It's called "Swimming Towards the Door" and it appears in The Fiddlehead magazine. Ariel is Canadian "author, poet, and enthusiast" (and much more), Ariel Gordon of Winnipeg. In my opinion, you should all read the story. Photo credit: Mike Deal

In my newspaper column this week I ran my annual summer reading recommendations. Read all about them in my post below. maryloudriedger2.wordpress.com/2025/06/29/s...

COLUMN: Viewpoint – Pick up a book this summer www.thecarillon.com/local/2025/0... Cheers, ML! Being on a list with Patrick deWitt and Ralph Friesen (among other greats) is a doubleshot of espresso this morning!

For those who want to curl up with a—comparatively—happy little poem and escape the awfulness. (Some rough language and slippery scenes.) lothlorienpoetryjournal.blogspot.com/2025/03/one-...

June: 6/6 Tagore Poetry Contest Awards & Reading, Wpg; 6/11 The Listening Room, Lac du Bonnet; 6/18 Wild & Wonderful Words @ Sookrams Brewing, Wpg; 6/18 Interview Arts, Loggers, & Leftovers, KYac Community Radio, Mill City, Oregon; June 19 Gordie's Coffee House Season Finale Wpg. Pic: Sheldon Birnie

I'll be reading my Shortlisted entry in the 2025 Rabindranath Tagore Poetry Competition (a Manitoba Writers' Guild literary contest). The awards event is in Winnipeg, Friday, June 6, at 7 pm at 100 Arthur Street, Video Pool, 2nd floor. See you there

It’s time to resist. It’s time to fight the billionaire takeover. The time is now—will you rise to meet it? #TimeToResist #StopTheBillionaireTakeover Add your name and we’ll share real ways to fight the billionaire takeover >> act.gp/4cS4rXA

"Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life, and thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more, never, never, never, never, never." --King Lear, and also an abridged version from "Mark" in the Oval Office.

"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.” — Zilla Jones* on "Pinching Zwieback" by Mitchell Toews More: atbaypress.com/supplements/... *See: bit.ly/TheWorldSoWide

A story in London-based, FICTION ON THE WEB:

www.7thcirclepyrite.com/post/our-ger... My story, "Our German Relative" is reprised online by 7th-Circle Pyrite: A literary journal celebrating worlds beyond.

literallystories2014.com/2025/04/10/t... A story on UK lit mag Literally Stories.

A story on Cdn Lit Mag Literary Heist.

I've been busy with sidegiggery (working at the Advance Poll for the Federal Election), but I do have a story up at a great Canadian lit site: commuterlit.com?s=Mitchell+T... Drop in, give "Pass It to Freddie" a read and leave a comment or two. Cows, BC, basketball, Mennonites... all the yoosh.

@bsky.app Oh! youtu.be/9dNI6H1SExs?...

YES! I will be doing the "author sitting at a table in a bookstore" thing at !ndigo St. Vital Mall in YWG on 2.22.25 (Saturday) from 1 PM until Happy Hour. How will you recognize me? I'll be at a table with lots of PINCHING ZWIEBACK books. www.indigo.ca/en-ca/pinchi...

“I don’t think that style is consciously arrived at, any more than one arrives at the color of one’s eyes. After all, your style is you. At the end the personality of a writer has so much to do with the work.” —Truman Capote

OMG! The negotiations were tough, but it happened. I've been able to reach an agreement with GST and as of Dec 14, my collection of themed short stories, Pinching Zwieback (At Bay Press, 2023) is available TAX-FREE for all Canadians. We got them to throw in a bunch of other things too.

Bang for the book www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif... Fascinating look by Ben Sigurdson (WFP) at current book trends and where the "bustle in the hedgerow" is originating these days.

Chekhov of the darp www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif... (RE: AIEEEE!)

AIEEEEE! www.facebook.com/share/p/15CF... A book sale before Christmas, buying right from the publisher who will give each book a last, loving, page-riffle and the admonishment, "Clear font, full heart, can't lose." Shipping to Canada and around the world.

If enough knowledgeable people say enough similar things but use a lot of different words to do it, eventually you sift through all the yodelling and take their harmonious meaning. mitchellaneous.com/2023/10/11/e...

From David Bergen, c/o Ben Sigurdson WFP: Why I won’t be attending the Giller Prize gala this year www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...

Speaking of AI... mitchellaneous.com/2024/11/20/h...

Mennonite Manitoba stories on tap for Free Press book club www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-lif...