Tag: CMU Press

Public invited to launch of new book detailing the life of educator and TV producer Vera Good

Post author By CMU
Post date November 30, 2017

SIMCOE, ON — The public is invited to a celebration for a new book detailing the life of Dr. Vera Good, a pioneering educator and television producer from Waterloo County.

Good and author Nancy Silcox will be on hand to launch The Exceptional Vera Good: A Life Beyond the Polka Dot Door on Sunday, December 10, 2017 at 2:00 PM. The launch will take place in the party room at Norview Lodge Retirement Home in Simcoe, ON (44 Rob Blake Way). All are welcome to attend.

Published by CMU Press, The Exceptional Vera Good traces Good’s life from her upbringing in an Old Order Mennonite family to her successful career as an executive producer of children’s programming for TVOntario from 1965 to 1981.

Vera Good with author Nancy Silcox — Nancy Silcox (right) has written a book about Vera Good (left), an award-winning TV producer and accomplished educator.

“Vera was a groundbreaker,” says Silcox, an award-winning writer who has penned a dozen books. “She climbed the ladder both educationally and professionally when there were no other women there, and she didn’t have an easy time of it, either. She is truly a remarkable person.”

Good laid the conceptual design and was the first executive producer for Polka Dot Door, an educational TV series for children that aired every weekday from the fall of 1971 until the show’s cancellation in 1993.

In recognition of her work on the show, Good received a Gemini Award in 2010 as part of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television’s MasterWorks program, which honours culturally significant works.

Prior to her work in television, Good was highly regarded as an innovative educator.

She holds a PhD from Columbia University in New York City, and she was one of the first female principals in the Toronto school system. She was also the first female Inspector of Schools in Ontario.

Good resides at the retirement home where the book launch will take place. Aside from the fact that she is now blind, she is in excellent health. The launch will double as a celebration for her 102^nd birthday.

“Vera is excited about the launch, and so am I,” says Silcox, who became close to Good during the 18 months she spent researching and writing the book. “I consider myself most fortunate to have been given the chance to tell this story.”

Anyone planning to attend the book launch is asked to RSVP to Silcox by emailing silcox@cwisp.ca or phoning 519-662-9303.

About CMU Press
CMU Press is an academic publisher of scholarly, reference, and general interest books at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) in Winnipeg, MB. Books from CMU Press address and inform interests and issues vital to the university, its constituency, and society. Areas of specialization include Mennonite studies, and works that are church-oriented or theologically engaged.

For information about CMU Press, visit: www.cmu.ca/cmupress.

About CMU
A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, CMU’s Shaftesbury campus offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences, and social sciences, as well as graduate degrees in theology, ministry, peacebuilding and collaborative development, and an MBA. CMU has over 900 full-time equivalent students, including those enrolled in degree programs at the Shaftesbury and Menno Simons College campuses and in its Outtatown certificate program.

For information about CMU visit www.cmu.ca.

For additional information, please contact:
Kevin Kilbrei, Director of Communications & Marketing
kkilbrei@cmu.ca; 204.487.3300 Ext. 621
Canadian Mennonite University
500 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg, MB R3P 2N2

Tags Book Launch, CMU Press, Nancy Silcox, Vera Good

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“Festschrift” honours CMU President Emeritus Gerald Gerbrandt

Post author By CMU
Post date September 29, 2016

CMU Press is pleased to announce the release of a Festschrift honouring Dr. Gerald Gerbrandt, who served as Canadian Mennonite University’s first sole President.

Titled A University of the Church for the World: Essays in Honour of Gerald Gerbrandt, the Festschrift—a German word for a collection of writing that is meant to honour a scholar—is a series of essays that reflect on what it means to be a Mennonite university.

“The essays are high quality. The writers were clearly engaged in a labour of love that called forth their best efforts in honouring this leader and friend,” said CMU Press editor Dr. Paul Doerksen. “All of the essays have something to do with what it might mean to be a Christian university. On that level, it’s an important contribution.”

The book, which takes its name from a phrase Gerbrandt coined to describe CMU, was co-edited by Dr. Paul Dyck, Professor of English, and Dr. Harry Huebner, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Theology.

Dyck and Huebner presented the book to Gerbrandt during CMU’s 2016-17 opening program on Saturday, September 24.

President Emeritus Gerald Gerbrant — President Emeritus Gerald Gerbrandt comments on *A University of the Church for the World: Essays in Honour of Gerald Gerbrandt, the Festschrift*—a gift from CMU faculty presented to Gerbrandt at CMU’s 2016 Opening Program

Huebner noted that as president, Gerbrandt shaped CMU’s vision and mission, gave leadership in molding its faculty, and created a climate of open, free exchange of ideas and respect for difference.

“The essays in this book are all written out of a deep appreciation for this culture of open discussion, of open debate, guided by a commitment to the Christian faith,” Huebner said. “In a small way, it is an example of what a university of the church for the world might look like.”

Dyck added that the aim of the book was to bring together the various disciplines and activities at CMU and give readers an in-depth look at the life of the university.

It features 17 essays, including contributions from CMU faculty who teach international development, biblical and theological studies, music, English literature, biology, and math.

The book also includes essays on academic freedom, co-curricular activities at CMU, and CMU’s practicum program.

Additionally, the book features essays by University of Manitoba President David Barnard, Bluffton University President James Harder, church leaders David Wiebe and Robert J. Suderman, and more.

“We recommend the book to you as an example of the intellectual life of this university, both in the insights of its chapters and in the joyful interaction of them between these covers,” Dyck said at opening program.

Gerbrandt expressed his deep thanks for the book, particularly to the authors who took time to contribute essays.

“I really do look forward to reading each one of your reflections and seeing what I can learn from them,” Gerbrandt said, adding later: “I do trust that… the various contributions in it serve to help CMU and perhaps other universities to become more effective to serve the world and the church.”

Born in Chihuahua, Mexico and raised in Altona, MB, Gerbrandt earned his Bachelor of Christian Education from Canadian Mennonite Brethren Bible College (CMBC), one of CMU’s predecessor institutions. He went on to earn a Master of Divinity degree from Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana as well as a PhD in Old Testament from Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.

After working for many years as a professor at CMBC, he was appointed the college’s Academic Dean, a position he held from 1982 to 1997. From 1997 to 2003, he served as President of CMBC, and from 2003 until his retirement in 2012, he served as President of CMU.

Gerbrandt and his wife, Esther, are active members at Bethel Mennonite Church, Winnipeg. They have three adult children, Nathan (Ang), Brad (Natalie), and Virginia (Andrew), and four grandchildren.

About CMU

A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, CMU’s Shaftesbury campus offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences, and social sciences, as well as graduate degrees in theology, ministry, peacebuilding and collaborative development, and an MBA. CMU has over 800 full-time equivalent students, including those enrolled in degree programs at the Shaftesbury and Menno Simons College campuses and in its Outtatown certificate program.

For information about CMU visit www.cmu.ca.

Tags CMU Press, Fall Festival, Gerald Gerbrandt, Opening Program

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CMU Press to launch new book about Mennonite woman’s refugee experience

Post author By CMU
Post date November 30, 2015

Author hopes book ‘will help readers enter into the lives of people who become refugees’

CMU Press is proud to announce the publication of its latest title, To and From Nowhere, written by Winnipeg author Hedy Leonora Martens.

In this gripping and moving novel, protagonist Greta Enns and her family struggle to exist in the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1976 after being displaced by Stalin along with thousands of Russian Germans, Mennonites, and other ethnic groups.

To and From Nowhere is the second of two books by Winnipeg writer Hedy Leonora Martens that tell the life story of Greta Enns.

CMU Press and Martens will celebrate the publication of To and From Nowhere with a book launch on Monday, December 7 at 7:00 PM in the atrium at McNally Robinson (1120 Grant Ave.). Everyone is invited to attend this free event.

“I hope this book will help readers enter into the lives of people who become refugees,” Martens says, adding that it wasn’t just Mennonites that Stalin displaced.

“Many nationalities were exiled, torn from their homes, some of them never to return. They were wiped off the map as if they never existed, which is why the book is called To and From Nowhere.”

Greta was a real person who belonged to Martens’ extended family.

Based on painstaking historical research and interviews with Greta and her family, To and From Nowhere tells a harrowing and beautiful story in the unusual style that Martens has fused, combining narrative, biography, poetry, history, and personal reflection.

To and From Nowhere is the conclusion of a two-part project that began with the publication of Martens’ 2010 novel, Favoured Among Women, which the Winnipeg Free Press called a “detailed and touching portrait of a Mennonite woman during the harsh early years of Soviet Russia.”

Dr. Sue Sorensen, Associate Professor of English at CMU, served as editor for both Favoured Among Women and To and From Nowhere.

Sorensen calls the new book unique and adds that readers will gain insight into history—especially war—and at the same time be moved by the details of a real family’s day-to-day existence.

Martens, a retired family therapist, spent three decades working on Greta Enns’ story.

“In addition to that, you are drawn into the author’s process as she herself comments on her interactions with the material she is writing about,” Sorensen says. “There’s a beautiful resonance to all these different voices and writing styles living side-by-side in the book.”

Sorensen adds that Martens has a gift for bringing characters to life. “Because of Hedy’s skill I felt like I also had met Greta,” she says.

CMU Press is pleased to publish To and From Nowhere, says General Editor Dr. Paul Doerksen.

“Hedy has provided an invaluable contribution by bringing to view the experience of particular characters, allowing us to both witness and imagine some of the experiences which enable us to deepen our own understanding of historical circumstances, personal encounters, struggles of faith, and so on,” Doerksen says.

“While the book focuses on particularities, nonetheless it has the capacity to speak to a reading audience that is much broader than any single ethnic or religious group.”

Martens, a retired family therapist, recently celebrated her 80th birthday. She is looking forward to the December 7 book launch after working on Greta’s story for three decades.

“It feels really good to have completed this,” she says.

About CMU
A Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, CMU’s Shaftesbury campus offers undergraduate degrees in arts, business, humanities, music, sciences, and social sciences, as well as graduate degrees in theology, ministry, peacebuilding and collaborative development, and an MBA. CMU has over 800 full-time equivalent students, including those enrolled in degree programs at the Shaftesbury and Menno Simons College campuses and in its Outtatown certificate program.

For information about CMU visit www.cmu.ca.

Tags Book Launch, Book Signing, CMU Press, Hedy Martens

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This Hidden Thing By Dora Dueck Wins 2011 McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award

Post author By CMU
Post date May 12, 2011

CMU Press is pleased to announce that Dora Dueck’s novel This Hidden Thing has been named the McNally Robinson Book of the Year, as announced at the Manitoba Book Awards held April 17, 2011 at the Franco-Manitoban Cultural Centre in St. Boniface.

This Hidden Thing is the first novel to be published by CMU Press, which is an academic publishing initiative of Canadian Mennonite University.

“If you are surprised, so am I,” said Dueck in her acceptance speech. “I’m happy to be in the company of these wonderful writers.” Dueck, who lives in Winnipeg, also paid tribute to local booksellers McNally Robinson for their dynamic support of Winnipeg’s literary community.

This Hidden Thing is a “humane and fully satisfying depiction of times, places [and] communities,” according to jurors Joan Barfoot, Trevor Cole , and Richard Lebrun. Elsewhere, the jury for the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction, for which This Hidden Thing was shortlisted, describes Dueck’s novel as “a testament to the pleasure of pure storytelling.”

Dueck’s novel follows almost the entirety of the life of Maria Klassen, a young Mennonite woman who immigrates to Manitoba in the 1920s. Maria works for a prosperous family while navigating the intricate experience of life in a new country. The story examines the powerful themes of silence and hiddenness within the Mennonite community, as well as offering realistic portrayals of passion, poverty, war, and family – the everyday experiences of an ordinary yet remarkable woman.

The Manitoba Book Awards are organized annually by the Manitoba Writers’ Guild (MWG) and the Association of Manitoba Book Publishers (AMBP). This Hidden Thing was nominated for the Book of the Year Award alongside Curiosity by Joan Thomas, A Cycle of the Moon by Uma Parameswaran, Out of Grief Singing: A Memoir of Motherhood and Loss by Charlene Diehl, and Walking to Mojácar by Di Brandt. The award is sponsored by McNally Robinson Booksellers. It is awarded each year to the author of the English-language book by a Manitoba author that is judged the best-written by a jury comprised of writers, scholars, publishers, and journalists. The prize carries with it a cash value of $5,000.

To order, visit or contact any of the following:

CMU Bookstore
Tel. 204.487.3300; toll free 1.877.231.4570
Email: cmubookstore@cmu.ca
Visit: http://www.cmu.ca/cmupress for information, including book club questions

Mennonite Publishing Network
Visit: www.mpn.net

McNally Robinson
Tel. 204.475.0483
1120 Grant Avenue, Winnipeg, MB

For CMU PRESS information, contact:
cmupress@cmu.ca
204.487.3300
Canadian Mennonite University
500 Shaftesbury Blvd.
Winnipeg, MB R3P 2N2

For CMU information, contact:
nkampen@cmu.ca

Tags CMU Press, Dora Dueck

General News News Releases

CMU Press Author Dora Dueck Nominated for Two Manitoba Book Awards

Post author By CMU
Post date March 16, 2011

CMU Press is pleased to announce that Dora Dueck’s novel, This Hidden Thing, has been nominated for two Manitoba Book Awards: the McNally Robinson Book of the Year award and the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction. Published in 2010 as Dueck’s second novel, This Hidden Thing explores the story of Maria, a Russian Mennonite woman adjusting to life in Winnipeg from the 1920s up to the 1970s.

Sue Sorensen of CMU Press and the CMU Department of English served as the editor for Dueck’s novel, and she had this to say about the news: “I wish I could say I’m surprised by the news of Dora’s nominations. But I knew as soon as I started reading the manuscript for This Hidden Thing that this was a really fine story and that readers would love it. It’s obvious to me that she is a strong contender for these awards.”

Beginning in 1988, the Manitoba Book Awards mark the achievements of Manitoba writers and book publishers in Manitoba. Judging each award is a panel of three professionals in the writing and publishing industry. This year, there are thirteen different award categories offered.

“It’s an honour to be on a shortlist with these other writers,” Dora Dueck comments, “and also wonderful to be associated with both these awards. McNally’s Robinson’s is not just a bookstore but a place that’s so amazingly hospitable to both writers and readers. And, back when writing fiction myself was still just a dream, I was reading and being inspired by Margaret Laurence’s strong female characters, her passion, her use of Manitoba settings. What a pathfinder she was for so many of us!”
…2
The McNally Robinson Book of the Year award is sponsored by McNally Robinson Booksellers and is awarded to a Manitoba author of an adult book written in English that is judged the best written. The prize for this award is $5,000.

The Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction, sponsored by the Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage, Tourism and Sport, is presented to a Manitoba writer whose book is published in 2010, written in English, and determined the best in adult fiction. The winning author will receive a cash prize of $3,500.

On discussing her inspiration for This Hidden Thing, Dueck says: “I was interested in the idea of secrets—their power both positively and negatively. Somehow this character—Maria—came to me, and her life became an exploration of that theme.

“I think secrets in all their complexity, the quest for integrity between private and public, failure and grace, are ultimately simply aspects of the human story. So for me, being on these shortlists represents an affirmation of that, and a hope that the book continues to find its readers also beyond the Mennonite community.”

The award recipients will be announced on Sunday, April 17, 2011 at the Manitoba Book Awards gala, which is organized by the Manitoba Writers’ Guild.

CMU PRESS is an academic publisher of scholarly, reference, and general interest books at Canadian Mennonite University. Books from CMU Press address and inform interests and issues vital to the university, its constituency, and society. Areas of specialization include Mennonite studies and works that are church-oriented or theologically engaged.

Tags CMU Press, Dora Dueck

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CMU Press Publishes Favoured among Women

Post author By CMU
Post date January 6, 2011

A vibrant and unusual re-creation of one woman’s life.
For release January 6, 2011

CMU PRESS is pleased to announce the launch of its second novel, Favoured among Women, by Hedy Leonora Martens. The book will be launched at 8:00 pm, January 11th at McNally Robinson.

Favoured among Women is a biographical novel that tells the story of Greta Enns, who survived the traumatic events in Leninist and Stalinist Russia in the early 20th century while experiencing all the more ordinary joys and struggles of a child, young woman, wife and mother in close-knit Mennonite community.

The novel is the product of years of painstaking historical research and exhaustive interviews conducted with the protagonist, Greta Enns, and other members of the family. The result is a rich tapestry, bringing together historical commentary, original poetry, quotes from journals and letters, and Martens’ own personal reflections to tell a moving family history in a completely original way.
Hedy Martens is a marriage and family counsellor living in Winnipeg. The idea for her first novel began to take shape in 1983 when, upon hearing the dramatic stories told by her husband’s relatives about their experiences as Mennonites in Russia, it was suggested to her that these were stories that needed to be recorded and preserved for future generations.

This is CMU Press’s second novel, following the publication of Dora Dueck’s This Hidden Thing in May 2010.

FAVOURED AMONG WOMEN can be purchased at the CMU Bookstore 600 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg. Contact cmubookstore@cmu.ca; telephone 204.487.3300. The cost is $25.00. It can also be purchased through the Mennonite Publishing Network; visit http://www.mpn.net for details.

CMU PRESS is an academic publisher of scholarly, reference, and general interest books at Canadian Mennonite University. Books from CMU Press address and inform interests and issues vital to the university, its constituency, and society. Areas of specialization include Mennonite studies, and works that are church-oriented or theologically engaged.

Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) is a Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, offering undergraduate degrees in arts and science, business and organizational administration, communications and media, peace and conflict resolution studies, music and music therapy, theology, and church ministries, as well as graduate degrees in Theological Studies and Christian ministry. Located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, CMU is a member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC).

For CMU PRESS information, contact:
Annalee Giesbrecht, CMU PRESS Project Manager
cmupress@cmu.ca
204.487.3300

For CMU information, contact:
Nadine Kampen, CMU Communications & Marketing Director
nkampen@cmu.ca
Tel. 204.487.3300 Ext. 621

Tags CMU Press

Alumni interviews Audio Sunday@CMU Radio

Dora Dueck – CMU Press Published Writer

Post author By
Post date September 29, 2010

Dora Dueck
CMU Alumnus
CMU Press-published writer
Interview Date: September 19, 2010

In this tw0-part interview, Dora Dueck speaks David Balzer – host of Sunday@CMU Radio, about her writing and the books and stories that have shaped her.

Part 1
[audio:http://www.cmu.ca/media_archive/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/100919DoraDueck1.mp3|titles=100919DoraDueck1]
Play/Download Here

Part 2
[audio:http://www.cmu.ca/media_archive/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/100926DoraDueck2.mp3|titles=100926DoraDueck2]
Play/Download Here

For more information, visit the CMU Press Homepage

Tags Audio interview, CMU Press, Dora Dueck

General News News Releases

CMU Press Author Dora Dueck To Give Reading In Steinbach

Post author By CMU
Post date July 23, 2010

For release July 23, 2010

Winnipeg author Dora Dueck will be reading and signing her second novel, This Hidden Thing, in Lichtenau Church at the Mennonite Heritage Village on Monday, August 2, at 1:30 pm.

This Hidden Thing tells the story of Maria Klassen, a young Mennonite woman who has recently emigrated from Russia. She soon finds work as domestic for a wealthy English family in Winnipeg, while her family settles in the nearby town of Winkler. Later in the novel, we meet Maria in adulthood – devout, industrious, and dedicated to her family. Yet she is reserved and intensely private. This is the story of a life that contained passion and suffering that no one knew.

Dora Dueck is the co-editor of Northern Lights: An Anthology of Contemporary Christian Writing in Canada. Her stories have been featured on CBC Radio, and in journals such as Room, Prairie Fire, Rhubarb, and Journal of Mennonite Studies.

For more information about This Hidden Thing, visit www.cmu.ca/cmupress.

CMU PRESS is an academic publisher of scholarly, reference, and general interest books at Canadian Mennonite University. Books from CMU Press address and inform interests and issues vital to the university, its constituency, and society. Areas of specialization include Mennonite studies, and works that are church-oriented or theologically engaged.

For CMU PRESS information, contact:
Jonathan Dyck , CMU PRESS Project Manager
cmupress@cmu.ca
204.487.3300.

For CMU information, contact:
Nadine Kampen, CMU Communications & Marketing Director
nkampen@cmu.ca
Tel. 204.487.3300 Ext. 621

Tags CMU Press, Dora Dueck

General News News Releases

New Book From CMU Press Brings Radical Orthodoxy Into Dialogue With Radical Reformation Theology

Post author By CMU
Post date July 5, 2010

Essay collection includes works by theologians Craig Hovey, Harry Huebner and Stephen Long
For release July 5, 2010

CMU PRESS is pleased to announce the publication of The Gift of Difference: Radical Orthodoxy, Radical Reformation edited by Chris K. Huebner and Tripp York. The Gift of Difference is a collection of essays in which theologians such as Craig Hovey, Harry J. Huebner, and D. Stephen Long consider the strengths and weaknesses of Radical Orthodoxy in dialogue with the Radical Reformation tradition. Writers in this volume engage topics such as ecclesiology, martyrdom, worship, oath-taking, peace and violence.

In recent years, Radical Orthodoxy has become an important and influential movement in contemporary theology and philosophy. Spearheaded by John Milbank, Catherine Pickstock and Graham Ward, Radical Orthodoxy enlists the resources of classical theology to engage the current strongholds of secular and religious thought.

Proponents of Radical Orthodoxy argue that the Enlightenment project to remove reason, ethics, politics and economics from a theological framework culminates in the nihilism of postmodern discourse. They suggest that much contemporary theology is idolatrous in nature because it takes the isolation of such disciplines for granted.

In the Foreword, John Milbank writes that “[modern Mennonites] see the Church itself as the true polity and (unlike most of the magisterial Reformation) they see the possibility of ‘living beyond the law’ in terms of a new sort of social and political practice.” What might this concrete expression of Christian discipleship have to suggest to a movement like Radical Orthodoxy? What gifts does Radical Orthodoxy offer academics, ministers and laypeople from Radical Reformation tradition?

“This book explores both common and divergent themes between Anabaptist/Mennonite theologians and their counterparts in the Radical Orthodoxy movement,” says co-editor Chris K. Huebner. “For example, while they jointly reject as false the dualisms characteristic of modernity, the manner in which questions of peace and justice get framed remains an ongoing debate.”

Chris K. Huebner is Associate Professor of Theology and Philosophy at Canadian Mennonite University. He is the author of A Precarious Peace: Yoderian Explorations on Theology, Knowledge, and Identity (Herald Press, 2006) and co-editor, with Peter Dula, of The New Yoder (Wipf & Stock, 2010).

Tripp York is an Instructor of Religious Studies at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He is the author of The Purple Crown: The Politics of Martyrdom (Herald Press, 2007) and Living on Hope While Living in Babylon: The Christian Anarchists of the 20th Century (Wipf & Stock, 2009).

The Gift of Difference: Radical Orthodoxy, Radical Reformation (CMU PRESS) is available from the CMU Bookstore, located at 600 Shaftesbury Blvd., Winnipeg. Contact cmubookstore@cmu.ca; telephone 204.487.3300. The cost is $29.50.

Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) is a Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, offering undergraduate degrees in arts and science, business, communications, peace and conflict resolution studies, music, theology, and church ministries, as well as graduate degrees in Theological Studies and Christian ministry. Located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, CMU is a member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC).

For CMU PRESS information, contact:
Jonathan Dyck CMU PRESS Project Manager
cmupress@cmu.ca
204.487.3300.

For CMU information, contact:
Nadine Kampen CMU Communications & Marketing Director
nkampen@cmu.ca
Tel. 204.487.3300 Ext. 621

Tags CMU Press

General News News Releases

CMU Press Author Dora Dueck To Give Reading In Winkler

Post author By CMU
Post date June 24, 2010

Novel This Hidden Thing offers one woman’s compelling, ordinary, and surprising life
For release June 24, 2010

Following the release of her second novel, This Hidden Thing, Winnipeg author Dora Dueck will be reading at the South Central Regional Library in Winkler on Tuesday, June 29, at 7:30 pm.

“This book is of special interest to our area because part of the story is set in Winkler and provides insight into the experience of Mennonite families who emigrated from Russia,” says branch librarian Elaine Dyck. “Many may be reminded of a grandfather or grandmother, aunt or uncle in the characters of the book.”

Dora Dueck is the editor of Northern Lights: An Anthology of Contemporary Christian Writing in Canada. Her stories have been featured on CBC Radio, and in journals such as Room, Prairie Fire, Rhubarb, and Journal of Mennonite Studies.

For more information about This Hidden Thing visit: www.cmu.ca/news/may6doradueck.html

Order directly from:
CMU Bookstore
600 Shaftesbury Blvd. Winnipeg MB R3P 2N2
Toll-free: 1-877-231-4570 Tel: 204-487-3300
Fax: (204) 487-3858
E-mail: cmubookstore@cmu.ca

Ordering Information:
This Hidden Thing
Dora Dueck
CMU Press 2010 | 350 pages, paper | $19.50
ISBN 978-0-920718-86-5

Praise for This Hidden Thing:

“Dora Dueck tells a compelling woman’s story too often obscured by history. She inhabits her characters in such a way that the reader is drawn into a living, breathing world that lingers even after the covers of the book are closed. This Hidden Thing offers a worthy female, urban counterpart to Rudy Wiebe’s Peace Shall Destroy Many.”

Ann Hostetler, author of Empty Room with Light and editor of A Cappella: Mennonite Voices in Poetry

“Dora Dueck’s powerful and deeply engaging novel follows the fortunes of Maria Klassen, a young immigrant whose heart’s purest desires are in tension with domestic service, sexual passion, and the demands of family and church. Beautifully and intelligently written, the story transcends its Mennonite particulars to shed light on the universal and timeless struggles of the human spirit.”

Sarah Klassen, author of A Feast of Longing and A Curious Beatitude

“I never knew what the next page of This Hidden Thing would bring, never could guess what way the story would go, never imagined what the end would be for Maria, whom I had come to love so deeply.”

Katherine Arnoldi, author of The Amazing True Story of a Teenage Single Mom and All Things Are Labor

For more information about CMU Press visit: www.cmu.ca/cmupress

For CMU PRESS information, contact:
Jonathan Dyck CMU PRESS Project Manager
cmupress@cmu.ca
204.487.3300.

For CMU information, contact:
Nadine Kampen CMU Communications & Marketing Director
nkampen@cmu.ca

Tags CMU Press, Dora Dueck