By Ed Hird

Rudy Wiebe (right) receives the Leslie K. Tarr Award from Earl Davey of Tyndale University College & Seminary.

RUDY WIEBE is a man of peace and a man of memory. This was evident from his presentation as keynote speaker at the Word Guild’s ‘Write! Canada’ conference. It was also evident from personal encounters with the man.  

Speaking at the event, held June 14 – 16 at the Guelph Bible Conference Centre in Guelph, Ontario, Wiebe commented that his writing career was radically altered when his professor, F.M. Salter, challenged him to write from his own experience. Many, Wiebe had perceived, could “write about Shakespeare – but maybe I was the only one who could write a good novel about Mennonites.”

This course correction resulted in the first English-language novel about Canadian Mennonites: Peace Shall Destroy Many. Eight more novels followed in sequence. Wiebe observed: “I have been terminally ill with writing ever since.” He emphasized that he is not aiming to be a ‘Christian writer,’ but rather a writer informed by a Christian worldview.

The 225 Canadian writers, editors and publishers attending the conference were deeply encouraged by Wiebe’s insistence that their stories matter – and need to be told. Writing, said Wiebe, is a way of connecting and building authentic community.

“Write your place and your story,” he exhorted. Quoting C.S. Lewis, he said: “We read to know that we are not alone.” With deep feeling, he expressed the heart of writing in a simple phrase: “Listen, I am here too.”

Critics have noted these qualities in his work. The Calgary Herald accurately comments: “The genius of Wiebe’s writing [is his] ability to take what is a single event in a community’s life, relate it to the world at large, and make it as personal as is possible.”

Born in 1934 near Fairholme, Saskatchewan, Wiebe was raised in an isolated, 250-strong Mennonite colony. Mennonites have often been refugees because of their pacifist convictions. Wiebe’s parents, along with their five children, had escaped in 1930 from Russian Communism in the second Mennonite exodus from that country.

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Wiebe was a voracious reader as a young child, devouring every book in sight. His earliest ‘books’ were the Bible, the Free Press Weekly Prairie Farmer, and the Eaton’s catalogue. In 1947, the Wiebe family gave up the bush life, moving to the Alberta town of Lethbridge.  

Wiebe spoke extensively at Write! Canada about his time in Lethbridge, noting that it raised his awareness of the plight of First Nations people. He also movingly recounted the story of a Cree leader named Young Chief, who encountered the gospel and ended up giving his life while reading his Bible to Blackfoot warriors.  

Wiebe’s compassionate curiosity about Canada’s aboriginals resulted in several bestselling books, including The Temptations of Big Bear and A Discovery of Strangers  – both of which won the Governor General’s Literary Awards.

Wiebe is first and foremost a storyteller. This was clear from each passage he chose to read from his books at Write! Canada. All the  stories he told were shared with passion and meaning. His narrative gifting allowed non-Mennonites to enter into the heart of his experience.

Reading from his bestselling 2002 novel Sweeter Than All the World, Wiebe told an engaging story of his ancestor, Adam Wiebe, who in 1638 invented the cable car – during the Thirty Year War.

The Word Guild, organizers of the event, presented Wiebe with the Leslie K. Tarr Award – sponsored by Tyndale University College and Seminary – for outstanding career contribution to Christian writing and editing in Canada.  

The author admitted he was surprised to be chosen for the award. “I write realistic stories about people in tough situations who have problems and conflicts that are not easily resolved – not romances where everything ends nicely,” he said, adding: “The Tarr award was an unexpected recognition . . . It was wonderful to be recognized by Christian readers for having done some good writing in my lifetime.”

In one-to-one encounters, Wiebe turned out to be exactly the same as he was onstage. Whether eating dinner with other writers, or drinking coffee in the lounge, he was personable, humble and very present to others. His success has not robbed him of his humanity.  

Time and again, Wiebe spoke of his desire to be a radical Jesus-follower. The disturbing depth of his Mennonite convictions flows through everything he has written, read or taught.

Ed Hird’s book, Battle for the Soul of Canada, won the Word Guild award for independently published non-fiction. Hird is rector of St. Simon’s Church in North Vancouver.

July 2007