About the author

Mitchell Toews

<br><em>​​​​​​​“I come to writing fiction from the storyteller’s places: the campfire, the backseat on a long drive, the bar stool.”<br><br>​​​​​​​Copy-Paste VIDEO EXCERPT link (1:16) from "I am Otter"&nbsp; https://bit.ly/IamOtterVID </em><br><br>​​​​​​​Mitchell Toews is a fiction writer and former marketing and advertising manager. After ten years in the Cascadia region on the West Coast (preceded by 50 years in Steinbach, MB!) he resides with his wife Janice on the shores of a lake in Manitoba. He is devoted to writing, activity on the water/ice/trails, and fixing whatever breaks (today) on their 1950 cottage home.<br><br>Following three years of university split between Victoria and Winnipeg and a few years with Dun &amp; Bradstreet, he co-founded Hanover Doors in 1980, a manufacturer of overhead doors. The company operated until 1996 when it was sold. He spent a year in transition—as an office manager at a law firm—then eight years in marketing with Loewen Windows in Steinbach, followed by time well-spent with an ad agency and a custom stile+rail door maker in Winnipeg. Jan and he moved west when Mitch took a marketing job with Lynden Door in 2007, reuniting the couple with their daughters and their families on the coast.<br><br>Since 2016, he has spent much of his time WRITING FICTION. Approximately 100 of his short stories have been published in literary journals and anthologies, online and in print.&nbsp;<br><br>​​​​​​​Projects<br>​​​​​​​A collection of short stories is under consideration by a publishing firm...a debut novel has just been completed following a mentorship with Manitoba author-playwright-educator Armin Wiebe (sponsored by The Writers' Union of Canada)...an ekphrastic artbook is underway with photographic collaborator Phil Hossack of Winnipeg (sponsored by the Manitoba Arts Council). Numerous stories are on the boards and a trilogy seeks a screenwriter collaborator. Mitch's work can be found in numerous anthologies and collections, including&nbsp;Guernica Editions’&nbsp;<em>"</em>This Will Only Take a Minute: 100 Canadian Flashes<em>,"</em>&nbsp;a collective anthology edited by Bruce Meyer and Michael Mirolla.&nbsp;<br><br>Awards &amp; Prizes<br>Write on the Lake (second place) 2016<br>The Writers' Union of Canada Emerging Writers Short Prose Contest (finalist) 2021<br>J.F. Powers Prize for Short Fiction (shortlist) 2022<br>Humber Literary Review/CNFC Canada-wide CNF Contest (longlist) 2022&nbsp;<br>​​​​​<br>Mitchell is:<br>~ a proud member of The Writers' Union of Canada and&nbsp;the Manitoba Writers' Guild,<br>~ a past member of the Wpg. Public Library's Writer-in-Residence Writing Circle and current member of "Write Clicks," a group of Lac Du Bonnet &amp; Winnipeg artists, and a member of the Winnipeg River Arts Council,<br>~ recognized as a New/Early Career Artist by the Canada Council for the Arts, and<br>~ named an Emerging Artist by the Manitoba Arts Council.<br><br>Mitchell's stories are frequently set in the places and among the people of the prairies with whom he grew up and has spent most of his life. Candid observations arrive clear-eyed, unflinching, and laced with humour and candor.&nbsp; The work does not shy away from gritty situations and challenging circumstances and recognizes beauty and squalor with equal diligence.&nbsp;<br><br>SEE MORE: https://wordpress.com/post/mitchellaneous.com/11483&nbsp;<br>​​​​​​​https://www.facebook.com/mitch.toews<br>​​​​​​​https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18450919.Mitchell_Toews