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Miriam Toews

ミリアム・トゥーズ

Miriam Tūzu

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1964-05-21 (Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada)
Nationality
Canadian
Languages
English, Plautdietsch
Religion
Mennonite
Residence History
Steinbach, Manitoba → Montreal → London, Ontario → Winnipeg → Toronto

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Journalist, Actor, Adjunct Professor
Active Years
1996-2024
Affiliations
University of Toronto Faculty of Arts & Science
Nominations
Scotiabank Giller Prize finalist (3 times)

Education

University of Manitoba
Film Studies
Degree: B.A.
Country: Canada
University of King's College
Journalism
Degree: Bachelor of Journalism
Country: Canada

Awards

Governor General's Award for Fiction
2004
Work: A Complicated Kindness
Organization: Governor General of Canada
Result: winner
Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize
2008
Work: The Flying Troutmans
Organization: Writers' Trust of Canada
Result: winner
Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize
2014
Work: All My Puny Sorrows
Organization: Writers' Trust of Canada
Result: winner
Writers' Trust Engel/Findley Award
2010
Work: body of work
Organization: Writers' Trust of Canada
Result: winner
Order of Canada
2025
Category: Officer
Organization: Governor General of Canada
Result: recipient
Order of Manitoba
2013
Organization: Government of Manitoba
Result: recipient

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

A Complicated Kindness

2004 Novel

A coming-of-age story of Nomi Nickel, a rebellious Mennonite teenager.

Mennonite communityrebellionfamily loss

All My Puny Sorrows

2014 Novel

Story of sisters grappling with one sister's desire to die, inspired by author's sibling.

mental illnesssuicidesisterhood
Adaptations
  • [Film] All My Puny Sorrows / Michael McGowan (2021)

Women Talking

2018 Novel

Women in a Mennonite colony debate their response to rapes.

women's rightsfaithviolence
Adaptations
  • [Film] Women Talking / Sarah Polley (2022)

Bibliography

  • Summer of My Amazing Luck
  • A Boy of Good Breeding
  • Swing Low: A Life
  • A Complicated Kindness
  • The Flying Troutmans
  • Irma Voth
  • All My Puny Sorrows
  • Women Talking
  • Fight Night
  • A Truce That Is Not Peace

Adaptations

  • Acted in Silent Light

Style & Themes

Literary Style
blend of humour and tragedydialogue-driven narrativesatirical
Recurring Motifs
Mennonite culturemental health issueswomen's experiences

Health

  • depression (family history)
    1990s-現在
    influences themes in her works

Legacy

Influential Canadian writer exploring Mennonite life, mental illness, and women's voices, multiple award winner.

In Popular Culture

  • Novels adapted into films

Trivia

  • Grew up in a Mennonite family, starred in film Silent Light.
  • Father and sister died by suicide.
  • Children are also writers.