[6] Some Mennonite writers have been characterized as overtly comedic such as Arnold Dyck, Armin Wiebe, and Andrew Unger, while others, such as Miriam Toews, have incorporated humour into otherwise more serious subject matter.
The literature offers Mennonites a place to explore ideas and experiences that may not be accepted within sanctioned church publications.
[11] In 19th and early 20th century Europe, the most significant Mennonite literary voices were German-language poet Bernhard Harder and J.H.
[11] Early in the 20th century, Russian Mennonite writers Arnold Dyck and later Reuben Epp began to write fiction in Plautdietsch, which had been an unwritten language until then.
[12] At the time when Rudy Wiebe published the controversial Peace Shall Destroy Many in 1962, he was considered a lone voice of Mennonite writing in Canada.
[13] In the decades after the publication of Peace Shall Destroy Many, a wave of Mennonite literature emerged, particularly on the Canadian Prairies, with writers like Di Brandt, Lois Braun, Patrick Friesen, Dora Dueck, Sarah Klassen, Armin Wiebe, David Bergen, Sandra Birdsell, Audrey Poetker, Al Reimer, and Miriam Toews offering a critical eye to their Mennonite upbringing during the 1980s and 1990s.
In the United States, authors such as Julia Kasdorf, Jeff Gundy, Warren Kliewer, and Merle Good have contributed to the movement.
[17] Good's novel Happy as the Grass Was Green was published in 1971 and was made into the film Hazel's People two years later.
[19] Rhoda Janzen's 2009 memoir Mennonite in a Little Black Dress spent 13 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.
Samatar published a memoir reflecting on her Swiss Mennonite and Somali Muslim background called The White Mosque in 2022.