Armin Wiebe referred to himself in a September 2015 Free Press article as “a footnote in the Manitoba writing community”. Those of us who remember Armin from his days at the Exchange District Campus or who have followed his writing career might disagree. His 2004 novel, Tatsea (which, by the way is available in the RRC library), won both the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction and the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award. And he has certainly not been just sitting on his hands since retiring in 2008 after twelve years as an instructor of creative writing at RRC.
Two of Armin’s plays have since been staged: The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz by Theatre Projects Manitoba in 2011, then Wine and Little Breads by Winnipeg Mennonite Theatre in November, 2014. And this past September 3rd at McNally Robinson Booksellers, he launched his first “collection of little fictions”, Armin’s Shorts.
a collection funny enough “to make your grandmother sit up in her black trough coffin and laugh”
Past writer-in-residence at libraries in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and Dauphin, Manitoba, and the Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture at the University of Manitoba, Armin has also served on the boards Prairie Fire magazine, Rhubarb Magazine, The Manitoba Writers’ Guild (an organization he helped establish), and on the National Council of the Writers’ Union of Canada.
If you missed Armin’s latest book launch, you can still catch him at:
- Thin Air festival The Nooner, Millenium Library, Sept. 22, 12:15 p.m.
- Thin Air festival Main Stage, MTYP, The Forks, Sept. 22, 7:30 p.m.
- Thin Air – Brandon University, Sept. 23, 10:30 a.m.
- H.P. Tergesen General Store, Gimli, Sept. 29, 7:30 p.m.
- Jake Epp Library, Steinbach, Oct. 6, 7:00 p.m.
- Pembina Hills Art Gallery, Morden, Oct. 22, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
You can also email Armin Wiebe at tatsea@mts.net. And, of course, you can read one of his books. I know am looking forward to jumping into Armin’s Shorts, so to speak.
