Trigger Warning
Vancouver, BC — Pulp Literature magazine has nominated Manitoba author Mitchell Toews for the 2025 McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize, one of Canada’s most prestigious awards for short fiction originally published in literary magazines.
Toews’ nominated story, “All Our Swains Commend Her,” takes its title from Shakespeare and portrays an unhoused woman navigating the harsh streets of Winnipeg in January. Two daily commuters form a tenuous connection with her—until one morning, that fragile link is tested.
Since beginning his fiction career in 2016, Toews has published over 140 works of short fiction and poetry, including 44 pieces in Canadian journals. His debut story collection, Pinching Zwieback, was published by At Bay Press in 2023, and his debut novel, Mulholland and Hardbar, will follow from At Bay in 2026. A second short story collection is under consideration.
Toews has received four Pushcart Prize nominations and, as he wryly notes, “over 700 rejections.”
The Journey Prize celebrates outstanding short fiction published in Canadian literary magazines. Each year, a selection of nominees is chosen for inclusion in The Journey Prize Stories anthology, published by McClelland & Stewart.
You can also see Mitchell’s short story Shade Tree Diplomacy, right here on Literary Heist.