Armin Wiebe

Armin Wiebe (born 17 June 1948) is a Canadian writer from Winnipeg, Manitoba, best known for his humorous novels about Mennonites.[1] Wiebe is regarded as one of the pioneers of humorous Mennonite writing in English and is known for his incorporation of Plautdietsch words within his English texts.[2][3]

Armin Wiebe
Born (1948-06-17) June 17, 1948
Altona, Manitoba
Occupationnovelist
NationalityCanadian
Alma materUniversity of Manitoba
University of Winnipeg
Period1980s–present
Notable worksThe Salvation of Yasch Siemens, Tatsea
Website
arminwiebe.ca

Career

Beginning with The Salvation of Yasch Siemens, which was shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour in 1984, Wiebe has published several humorous novels about Mennonites. He followed up this book with Murder in Gutenthal and The Second Coming of Yeeat Shpanst, all published by Turnstone Press.

His novel Tatsea is a work of historic fiction, which diverges significantly from his Mennonite writing, and depicts the Dogrib people of the Canadian Subarctic in the 1700s.[4] The book won both the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award and the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction in 2003.

Wiebe has also written plays and short stories about Mennonites and has published a collection of short stories entitled "Armin's Shorts'. His stage play The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz premiered to sold-out houses at Theatre Projects Manitoba in April 2011.[5] 'Wine and Little Breads' received an Honourable Mention in the 2019 Herman Voaden National Playwriting Competition sponsored by Queen's University's Dan School of Drama and Music.

Personal

Wiebe is of Russian Mennonite descent and was born Altona, Manitoba in 1948. He lives in Winnipeg and holds degrees from the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg and taught creative writing at Red River College in Winnipeg for twelve years.

Bibliography
  • The Salvation of Yasch Siemens (1984)
    • The Salvation of Yasch Siemens 35th Anniversary Turnstone Selects Edition (2019)
  • Murder in Gutenthal (1991)
  • Second Coming of Yeeat Shpanst (1995)
  • Tatsea (2003)
  • The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz (2011)
  • Armin's Shorts (2015)
  • Grandmother, Laughing (2017)

References
  1. "Mennonites not funny?". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
  2. Loewen, Harry (1990). "Literature, North American Mennonite (1950–1985)". The Mennonite Encyclopedia. Vol. 5.
  3. Al Reimer (1990). "Dialect Literature and Speech, Low German". The Mennonite Encyclopedia.
  4. "Tatsea". Journal of Mennonite Studies. 2005.
  5. "Home is where the art is". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved May 22, 2021.
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