Miriam Toews

Miriam Toews was born into highly conservative Mennonite community in rural Canada, much like the one her protagonist Nomi inhabits in A Complicated Kindness. At the age of eighteen, Toews left Steinbach to travel the world, working in London and Montreal for several years before moving to Winnipeg and pursuing a Film Studies degree at the University of Manitoba (she later earned a degree in journalism as well). Working on a radio documentary on low-income mothers inspired Toews to write her first novel, Summer of My Amazing Luck, a story of friendship between two young mothers in a Winnipeg housing project. Since then she has written several novels, many based on her family’s departure from the Mennonite community and struggles with mental illness. She lives in Toronto with her partner and mother, and enjoys babysitting her two grandchildren.