A special event took place in Steinbach, unveiling a plaque that honours award-winning and best-selling author Miriam Toews.
The plaque sits along the sidewalk on Brandt Street at the home where Toews grew up as a teenager. It’s also the house Toews mentions in several of her novels, says Andrew Unger.
He spearheaded the project.
“Miriam Toews has received accolades all around the world, awards and so on. But here in Steinbach, there isn’t really anything that really acknowledges her in any public way.”
Unger says he has been trying for a long time to find a way to honour Toews within Steinbach. When he found out that the new owners of the house were fans of the author, Unger saw this as an opportunity to show Steinbach is proud of the writer and her work.
The bronze plaque can be seen from the sidewalk at 58 Brandt Street.
“It shows that this is someone we respect and honour and appreciate what she’s done, not only for Steinbach, but she’s really an iconic writer and well-known, one of the most famous writers in Canada. And we should be proud that she’s from our town.”
A group of people gathered around the plaque Friday evening for a special unveiling.
“We had a quilt, I thought that would be the appropriate thing to cover the plaque with and then unveil it with. And then afterwards, we went to the Public Brewhouse and Gallery where we had an All-Star lineup of Manitoba authors who read their favourite sections from Miriam’s work.”
-With files from Kenton Dyck.