Turnstone Press

Some of Manitoba's most humourous writing has come from its Mennonite authors. Come and discover what it is about the Mennonite experience that causes some them to commit written acts of hilarity. Featuring Turnstone Press authors Maurice Mierau, John Weier, and Douglas Reimer. Hosted by Rollin Penner. Musical guest, Bush Wiebe. Admission, free. Presented in conjunction with the University of Winnipeg's Mennonite/s Writing: Manitoba and Beyond conference. News and information about this conference can be found here.

Maurice Mierau was born in Indiana and grew up in Nigeria, Manitoba, Jamaica, Kansas, and Saskatchewan. Fear Not, published by Turnstone, has won the 2009 ReLit Award for poetry, and was a finalist for the McNally Robinson Book of the Year and the Aqua Books Lansdowne Prize for Poetry. His first book of poems, Ending with Music, was described by reviewers as "endlessly inventive" and "marvelously energetic". Serving as the 2009-2010 Writer-in-Residence for the Winnipeg Public Libraries, he lives with his family in Winnipeg.

John Weier has studied history of religions and works part-time as a luthier. He is the author of a number of books, including Marshwalker and the poetry collection, The Violinmaker's Lament. An avid birder and traveler, he was born in Manitoba and grew up on a peach farm in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. He lives in Winnipeg.

Douglas Reimer is a lecturer in English at the University of Manitoba. He was born and raised in southern Manitoba, and spent ten years teaching in northern Manitoba before eventually settling in Winnipeg. With Turnstone Press, he has published a collection of stories, Older Than Ravens, and Surplus at the Border: Mennonite Writing in Canada, a collection of essays.

Bush Wiebe (musical guest) plays a style of blues that slides, stomps and thumps. From playing slide on his resonator guitar and pounding on his homemade stompbox stage he creates a sound that is exciting and unique. Digging into his Mennonite roots, he references a culture that is often misunderstood and puts it on display in all its strange glory. It’s an electrifying mix of a conservative culture and sweaty blues. Bush Wiebe’s first ever live performance was at his father’s funeral. From that auspicious beginning he now plays at all kinds of festivals, coffeehouses and parties.

Rollin Penner (Host) is a performer, writer and musician. For the past twenty-five years he has performed throughout Western Canada in the areas of musical theatre, drama, children’s music, magic, live radio comedy and standup comedy. He has written over 150 short comic pieces for CBC Radio One, and writes a bi-weekly column called simply, ‘The Jacksons’, for the Farmer’s Independent Weekly. In 2002, Rollin published a collection of short stories and radio columns titled ‘The Greenfield Chronicles’, which was nominated for the Eileen Mctavish Sykes Award.