Shelterbelts

Winner of the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award

Co-winner of the Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book

Winner of The Nipper: The Doug Wright Award for Emerging Talent

Now available from Conundrum Press.

“I rarely encounter a debut graphic novel that is as ambitious, as clearly told, and as deeply felt as Jonathan Dyck’s Shelterbelts.  Here is a cartoonist to watch.” 

— Seth, author of Clyde Fans

"A beautiful depiction of a rural community grappling with its roots, and a meditation on what happens when we open ourselves to the possibility that things we have long believed may not always be the whole or true story."

— Sophie Yanow, author of The Contradictions

“Shelterbelts is not just a graphic novel for Mennonites, but it belongs on a shelf next to Rudy Wiebe’s Peace Shall Destroy Many. Like Wiebe, Jonathan Dyck has cleared a new space for play — a Spielraum where others may now join him in playing with words and images in new ways.” 

— Magdalene Redekop, author of Making Believe: Questions about Mennonites and Art

“A vivid portrayal of people trapped by culture, geography, and history, and yet liberated by these forces at the same time. Jonathan Dyck shatters stereotypes about rural Mennonite life, providing complexity instead of caricature and nuance rather than simple answers.” 

— Andrew Unger, author of The Daily Bonnet

Once defined by a narrative of piety, prosperity and peace, the Mennonite town of Hespeler is changing. As local churches shrink and swell, ordinary lives hang in the balance: a pastor and his queer daughter push for a more inclusive congregation; military recruitment overshadows Remembrance Day at the town high school; a pipeline project reveals a stark generational divide; a librarian leaves suggestive notes for readers inside popular books. Through a series of interconnected stories, Shelterbelts presents a Southern Manitoba community in the midst of defining its future as it reckons with its past.