Beloved Canadian novelist Miriam Toews named 2025 Symons Medallist

May 22, 2025 – Esteemed Canadian writer Miriam Toews will be awarded the 2025 Symons Medal by Confederation Centre of the Arts on Friday, October 3.  

The Symons Medal is one of Canada’s prestigious honours and recognizes individuals who have made an exceptional contribution to Canadian life. Held annually, the medal presentation and its associated lecture offer a national platform for eminent Canadians to discuss the nation’s current state and prospects using themes related to their professional pursuits.

Miriam Toews is the author of eight bestselling novels: Fight Night, Women Talking, All My Puny Sorrows, Irma Voth, The Flying Troutmans, A Complicated Kindness, A Boy of Good Breeding, and Summer of My Amazing Luck, and one work of non-fiction, Swing Low: A Life. Her writing has received numerous honours – including the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, the Canadian Booksellers Association Libris Award for Fiction Book of the Year, the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the Writers’ Trust Engel Findley Award, and Italy’s Sinbad Prize for Foreign Fiction. She has also been shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Folio Prize for Literature, and the Wellcome Book Prize in the UK.

Born and raised in Steinbach, Manitoba to Mennonite parents, Toews’ work explores the struggle of the individual to find freedom within closed systems of thought. She left Steinbach at the age of 18, spending time in Montreal and London, England, before settling in Winnipeg. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in film studies from the University of Manitoba, and a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of King’s College, Halifax. Since then, she has received five honorary doctorates and has been inducted into the Order of Manitoba. 

Her novels have been adapted into award-winning films, with fellow Canadian Sarah Polley winning an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Women Talking. The film was also nominated for Best Picture.

“Miriam Toews’ novels resonate with profound emotional depth and wit, exploring complex themes of family, loss, and resilience,” says Confederation Centre CEO Steve Bellamy. “She consistently provides readers with the opportunity to transform personal struggles into hope and perseverance.”  

Robert Sear, Centre board chair and co-chair of the Symons Medal Committee, adds, “As one of Canada’s most beloved novelists, the selection committee enthusiastically chose to award Miriam Toews with the Symons Medal this year. We are thrilled to be adding this outstanding artist to the impressive list of medallists.”  

The Symons Medal is named after the late Professor Thomas H.B. Symons, the founding president of Trent University and a long-time board member and supporter of Confederation Centre of the Arts. Symons was widely recognized for his work in the field of Canadian Studies, particularly in the areas of public policy, heritage, and education.

Since 2004, the Centre has honoured 27 distinguished individuals with the Symons Medal, including former senator Murray Sinclair, broadcast journalist Shelagh Rogers, former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed, diplomat Bob Rae, actor Paul Gross, and Governor General Mary Simon.

The 2025 Symons Medal Presentation and Lecture will take place at Confederation Centre of the Arts on Friday, October 3. Tickets for the event will be available at a later date. For more information about the Symons Medal, visit confederationcentre.com/symons.

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Media Contact: Emily McMahon, Communications Manager, Confederation Centre of the Arts
[email protected] | 902-628-6135