Mennonites Laughing: An Evening of Schput and Schpos
Friday Apr 29 2022 7:00 pm, Winnipeg, Grant Park in the Atrium, Streaming on YouTube
Join host Corny Rempel as he chats all things Mennonite and mirthful with authors Andrew Unger and Armin Wiebe in the Atrium at McNally Robinson Booksellers. Co-presented by Turnstone Press and the Winnipeg International Writers Festival.
The event will be hosted live in the Atrium of McNally Robinson Booksellers, Grant Park and also available as a simultaneous YouTube stream. The video will be available for viewing thereafter. Before arriving, please review details of how to attend physical events here at the store.
Andrew Unger is the author of the satirical website The Daily Bonnet and the award-winning novel Once Removed. An educator based in southern Manitoba, his work has appeared in Geez, Rhubarb, Ballast, CBC.ca, the Winnipeg Free Press, and many others. If you go back far enough, he’s probably related to you.
Armin Wiebe is the author of four novels and three plays in the mythical world of Gutenthal, in addition to a collection of short stories. A well-loved writer, teacher and mentor, Armin’s work has won the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award and the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction and been nominated for the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour.
Corny Rempel has been the voice of the MIX Morning Show on MIX 96.7fm in Steinbach for over 15 years. He is also the world’s only Mennonite Elvis! As a multiple award-winning Elvis Tribute Artist, Corny has performed all across North America. In 2017 he was in the top 20 Elvis Performers in the world, battling it out for the top spot in the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Competition at Graceland in Memphis TN. Corny Also performs as The Man In Black, Johnny Cash. He voices cartoons and video games on the side. And yes, Corny is his real name.
See:
The Best of the Bonnet
- Andrew Unger 
Trade paperback
$21.95
Reader Reward Price: $19.76
Since its debut, the internet's most trusted source for Mennonite satire has drawn the attention of everyone from the Canadian Prairies to the high-rises of New York, keeping readers laughing with hundreds of hysterical headlines and tongue-in-cheek editorials where (almost) no topic is off-limits. The Best of the Bonnet brings together some of the funniest, most loved posts from The Daily Bonnet, a website that Miriam Toews calls "fantastic" and "hilarious." This collection also includes new and updated articles, scholarly commentary, a glossary of Low German words, and an afterword by author Andrew Unger commenting on the nature of satire and the importance of community.
Once Removed
- Andrew Unger
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$21.95
Reader Reward Price: $19.76
Timothy Heppner is a frustrated ghostwriter struggling to make ends meet in Edenfeld, a small Mennonite community bulldozing its way towards modernity-if it's old, it has to go!A member of the Preservation Society but desperate to keep his job with the mayor's Parks and "Wreck" department, Timothy finds himself in an awkward position when he is hired to write an updated version of the town's history book. Fuelled by warring loyalties, the threat of personal bankruptcy, and a good deal of fried bologna, Timothy must find his own voice to tell the one story that could make-or break-him.Honest and laugh-out-loud funny, Once Removed explores the real costs of "progress" in this new Canadian classic.
Armin's Shorts
- Armin Wiebe
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$19.00
Reader Reward Price: $17.10
Showcasing a selection of stories from Armin Wiebe's 30 year writing career, Armin's Shorts features tales from the familiarly fictitious Mennonite community of Gutenthal, re-imagined origin stories from the Tl?ch? of the subarctic, and flights of pure fantasy set in modern day Winnipeg.
Funny enough to make your "grandmother sit up in her black trough coffin and laugh," and so gut wrenching you'll feel "that clunk in the heart, and that wrunsch in the stomach," master story teller, Armin Wiebe, presents a veritable smorgasbord of short stories that cover the gamut of human experience with a wry sense of humour, a stern sense of justice, and a warm and tender heart.
The Salvation of Yasch Siemens
- Armin Wiebe , Nathan Dueck
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$19.00
Reader Reward Price: $17.10
Born "on the wrong side of the double dike" in the mythical Mennonite village of Gutenthal, Yasch Siemens seems destined for a life as a hired hand in love with the wrong girl. But all of that changes when he meets Oata Needarp. Oata is determined to make Yasch hers, and it only takes some chokecherry wine and the fragrance of Oata's "Evening in Schanzenfeld" perfume to seal Yasch's fate. Shortlisted for both the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour and the Books in Canada Best First Book Award, The Salvation of Yasch Siemens is an outrageous, comic ride through Canadian literature's most unforgettable community.Now this enduring Canadian classic includes a loving preface from the author, Armin Wiebe, and an insightful new essay from Nathan Dueck. Together they rediscover the warmth and wit in the world of Gutenthal, a profound part of Canada's literary landscape.
Murder in Gutenthal
- Armin Wiebe
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$18.95
Reader Reward Price: $17.06
Wiebe's second Gutenthal novel takes the form of a comic "anti-murder mystery.""I am Schneppa Knjals. I am the eyes at the back of your head. I see the world in a stepped-in cowpie. I?am a good neighbour for a fee." Return to this hilarious fictional southern Manitoba town as Schneppa Kjnals, the gumshoe of Gutenthal, is bedutzed by stolen bras, exploding trailers, contraband bibles, and mysterious Ford LTDs."Wiebe is able to bring a community and its people vividly, wildly to life."-Canadian Literature
Grandmother, Laughing
- Armin Wiebe
Trade paperback
$19.00
Reader Reward Price: $17.10
Until she met Obrum Kehler, serious Sarah Sudermann had never laughed. Her mother said she always reached for the black things first. As a young girl, she was haunted by a vision of her grandmother bolt upright in her black trough coffin, laughing so hard her bonnet slipped off to the side and hung from one ear. But then Obrum looked at her with his Robin's egg eyes and red paint on his nose. And then there was the lawnswing . . . and the piano. Not practical. Not necessary. Especially for a young couple struggling through the Great Depression. When Beethoven Blatz enters to tune their piano everything is in place for the Kehler family to make great music together.Full of love, longing, and tenderness, Grandmother Laughing is a story about unconventional families and the lengths we will go to find fulfillment for ourselves and the ones we cherish.
