• Age: 16
• Grade: 11

In recent years Mennonites have become one of the most visible ethnic literary communities in Canada. With the publication of Half in the Sun, BC writers of Mennonite heritage claim their place in this community. The authors represented in Half in the Sun are West Coast writers who share a history rooted in a dark region littered with stories of repeated migration, Soviet terror, displacement and resettlement. Some bear witness to their ancestors' struggles as marked people and as refugees assimilating into Canadian culture. Others have woven together texts that bring to light the human experiences of old and new home, community, family, love, faith, rebellion, and explorations of a very large world - often with gusto, humour and irony. Several factors contribute to the broad range of this first-of-its-kind anthology: its multi-genre nature; the intentional mix of new, recently emerging, established and prize-winning writers; and the fact that a number of the authors are Prairie transplants whose work continues to be influenced by ties to that region's geography, politics and local cultures. Readers will recognize the universality of these experiences. This anthology ends the collective invisibility of British Columbia's Mennonite writers in a very decisive way.

Elsie K. Neufeld's profile page

The daughter of Russian Mennonite immigrants, Elsie K. Neufeld has written two non-fiction books Dancing in the Dark: a Sister Grieves (1990) and The Past Inside the Present (1996). She teaches Life Stories classes with the motto that there is no "ordinary life" and has edited numerous memoirs and seniors' anthologies. Her work has appeared in many Mennonite publications as well as in Breaking the Surface (Sono Nis Press, 2000) and Inside Poetry (Harcourt Canada, 2002). Elsie lives withher family on Sumas Mountain, BC.

Half in the Sun: An Anthology of Mennonite Writing

This is a collection of short stories, poetry and non-fiction written by Mennonites living in BC. Many selections have Biblical references, but express different views on the Mennonite experience. Some reflect on traditional Mennonite beliefs such as communal living, pacifism, living one’s religion and the importance of family. Others focus on dissent. In “Katja,” during World War II, a family is sent from their Mennonite village in the Ukraine to a Siberian slave camp. In “Renovating Heaven” a family is forced to move from their farm in Agassiz to Vancouver. Included in the book are short biographies of the contributors.

Neufeld is the author of Dancing in the Dark: a Sister Grieves and The Past Inside the Present. Her work has appeared in many Mennonite publications.

Caution: includes some coarse language