It’s too easy to compare Georgia Toews’ writing to that of her mother, Miriam Toews (Women Talking, A Complicated Kindness, Summer of My Amazing Luck). However, it is also probably remiss not to draw any parallels when it comes to her writing style, which is full of (inherited?) wry wit and dark humour – a buoyant characteristic which Georgia also extends to Bobbi, the twenty-two-year-old narrator of the Toronto-via-Winnipeg author’s breakout first novel, Hey, Good Luck Out There, as well as Virginia (aka “V”), the protagonist of her upcoming sophomore novel, Nobody Asked For This (Doubleday Canada), which drops today (March 25th, 2025)!

Whereas Hey, Good Luck Out There details Bobbi’s 30-day-long stint in a rehab facility, where she is being treated for alcoholism, and the weeks afterwards, as she attempts to fashion a new, sober life for herself basically from the bottom-up, with Nobody Asked For This, Georgia tackles a whole new slew of life complications: outgrown friendships, unsupportive family, professional rivalries and misogyny, rape – which V must power through while also attempting to forge a career pursuing her passion as a stand-up comedian. Dark stuff. But also…hilarious. Should we have expected anything else? Clearly, Georgia is her mother’s daughter – lucky for us readers!

Ahead of the release of her second book, we pinned down Georgia for a chat about writing, Winnipeg (also my hometown), and comedy, among other things…Read the full interview below:

“I think both eating and bodily functions are so great to write about because they both serve as these intimate and necessary things we have to do throughout the day. I really wanted the book to include bathroom scenes because that’s how it kind of started for me in writing it, in a basement bathroom of a coffee shop, experiencing this wave of depression that I thought was so weird and funny and luckily fleeting.”

One of my biggest peeves about books (same-same film and television) is when the story omits eating and bodily functions – not that it needs to be explicit, but hey, everybody eats and poops! It seems remiss to not at least mention both… With that in mind, Nobody Asked For This opens with your protagonist, Virginia, talking about taking a shit – which immediately won me over. And the food scenes – Haley eating Cheerio mush; the spaghetti dinner between V and her step-father, Dale are also golden. I think that the idiosyncrasies of how these mundane acts are performed reveals SO much about the characters and their relationships. With that in mind: How conscientious are you about including these sorts of things (eating, bodily functions) and what weight do you put on them?

I think both eating and bodily functions are so great to write about because they both serve as these intimate and necessary things we have to do throughout the day. I really wanted the book to include bathroom scenes because that’s how it kind of started for me in writing it, in a basement bathroom of a coffee shop, experiencing this wave of depression that I thought was so weird and funny and luckily fleeting. I just love the vulnerability of both eating and defecating scenes, especially with a character like Virginia who is trying to so hard to keep it together, and kind of does in her way, but these types of scenes were the most honest way I could show her fully as herself, so it was very important to find a rhythm of inserting these scenes against those where she has her guard up and she’s trying to tell herself it’s all fine and manageable.

As a reader (and writer), what writing ‘pet peeves’ do you have?

Haha, I have to be careful answering this so I don’t accidentally implicate any of the wonderful writers I know. I’ll say that because of who I am as a person I’m so bad with names. So in books I get frustrated when there’s not enough about a character that can help me attach the name to them, because I just struggle with remembering names if I can’t attach some sort of narrative to it. I’m the annoying person who wants an ice breaker or interesting fact about you if I meet you because it’s just a personal fault that my memory is terrible for names.

How did the process of writing and publishing your first novel, Hey, Good Luck Out There, compare to this one? What did you learn from the first experience that you were able to apply in order to streamline the process the second time around and/or avoid any first time ‘mistakes’ or ‘headaches’? What new and unexpected set of challenges presented themselves?

Oh I’m really proud of this actually because I trusted myself! Or I just realized I’m a terrible mimic, because writing my first novel I think I was trying to write and sound like my favourite authors, I was trying to be too clever, and my first draft was this sci-fi non-linear pulpy mess. So for this one I just reminded myself that I cannot write like [Haruki] Murakami or [Roberto] Bolaño and that that’s okay. I think that saved me from a lot of rewriting and general embarrassment.

As a Vancouver-based publication, I can hardly ignore the mention of the Canadian city rivalry between Vancouver and Toronto. (I’m thinking about the scene where, after a performance in Vancouver, V begins egging on a drunk Albertan comedian who insists that Vancouver is better than Toronto, contrary to V’s assertion in her stand-up routine.) As someone who moved to Toronto over a decade ago, I’m curious where you stand on this supposed rivalry – is it real? And where does your hometown, Winnipeg – located smack-dab in the middle of these quarreling cities – fit into it?

I don’t hate Vancouver at all! Just want to make that clear, ha. I do believe there is a rivalry but I also don’t participate in that rivalry? I know I won’t ever live in Vancouver because of the close proximity to mountains and oceans, both of which I have a healthy respect for and very rational fear of, but I love Vancouver for those who are less anxious about nature in general. Speaking of nature…Winnipeg. You know it’s one great city…great arts scene, home to some of my favourite and most beloved people, I have a lot of feelings about Winnipeg, I do love it. I don’t think it necessarily fits in the conversation between Toronto and Vancouver, it’s just smaller. Give it a few more years of urban sprawl and maybe it’ll be duking it out with T and V.

Scout is also a food-and-beverage-focussed publication, so obviously I can’t skim over the subject of food, either! Do you cook much, at home? What was the last memorable meal that you made for yourself and/or shared with your family?

I cook everyday! Almost…I have two small children so there are times when my “cooking” is a box of KD and some frozen nuggets. I think I’ll enjoy cooking more when everyone is eating the same meal, but right now the whole crew is loving my homemade meatballs. I’m excited to make my late grandmother’s lasagna this week as well, it’s been my favourite since I was little and I’m hoping once the kids get past the tomato sauce of it all they’ll grow to love it too.

How about the last meal you ate out at restaurant (and which restaurant was it)?

I just went out to Le Sélect Bistro the other week, it was lovely! The food was great, it’s one of those restaurants where you know you can get a solid steak for a fair price. It was one of the first places I went when I moved to Toronto with my mom and grandma, and when we asked what was special about their “Mennonite chickens” the lovely woman serving us started to stroke my hair and say that this is how Mennonites treat their chickens, “they love them and pet them”, before killing and serving them presumably. I appreciated her commitment to the bit, and like going back there.

“I think my characters are impatient and I think as a society we’re a little bit more impatient these days so, using humour as a device seems like a good way to move a story along, because it’s also an act of resistance against the daily tragedies we seem to be experiencing. I think humour’s a good way to fight, and I think there’s a lot of power in humour, so using it in life and narrative is imperative to surviving and moving forward.”

Assuming that you, like V, have spent a bit of time in Vancouver yourself, what is your favourite/most memorable Vancouver dining out experience?

See this is where being a mom takes over because I look back at my last time in Vancouver when I was with the kids, and we took them to Denny’s because they’d never been, and they just had the best time ever, and now it’s become this thing that they want to go back to the Denny’s in Vancouver. My husband lived there for eight years and he’s telling me to say Four Brother’s Pizza on Commercial drive.

And, finally: in your opinion, what is the most awkward or comedic meal or food (in general or as personal experience)?

I think oysters are awkward to eat, I’m not sure why they’re considered an aphrodisiac. I accidentally ordered extra large oysters one time and it was like trying to swallow a tongue. Which may work for some people in terms of being a sexy thing, but I think as soon as you put any sort of pressure on seafood to be flirtatious it just sullies the experience.

Although the story of Nobody Asked For This, at it’s most basic, is about the career arc of an aspiring young comedian, there are so many layers and serious themes that you touch on over its course: the complexities of familial, sexual/romantic relationships and friendships; the insidious ways that sexual assault can affect a person’s life; self-preservation and coping methods. The use of humour as a coping tool and defense mechanism is a recurring theme in your books, so far – obviously, to a bigger extent in Nobody Asked For This…Your ability to naturally weave humour with dark, serious subject matter is impressive. To what do you owe this ability and your own sense of humour? Why do you think that humour/comedy works (or doesn’t work) so well as a device – both in life and narrative?

I think I owe my sense of humour to my parents, my childhood insecurities and my traumas I’ve picked up along the way of my late teens and early twenties. And I think it comes back to that saying, “Comedy equals tragedy plus time”, which to me is true, and I’m also very impatient. I think my characters are impatient and I think as a society we’re a little bit more impatient these days so, using humour as a device seems like a good way to move a story along, because it’s also an act of resistance against the daily tragedies we seem to be experiencing. I think humour’s a good way to fight, and I think there’s a lot of power in humour, so using it in life and narrative is imperative to surviving and moving forward.

It’s my understanding that you took a stab at stand-up comedy yourself, and studied it at school. Obviously, your focus has shifted since then…but I’m curious, how does that education inform or influence your writing style and/or your approach to writing? And how does comedy fit into your personal life these days?

I did! I hope it’s scrubbed from the internet, don’t look for it! I don’t know if it had a direct effect on the novel writing, but it was quite helpful for script writing. If I’m being completely honest, comedy school was fine but like…personally I was going through it. I think an abusive relationship and substance abuse issues probably shaped more of my writing than my clowning classes. But! Who can say for sure? Sorry if that’s too dark. I think that’s very telling of how comedy fits into my personal life now though! Stand-up comedy isn’t really a part of my life anymore apart from watching the odd Netflix special, but I still hope I’m funny and make my family laugh from time to time.

In Nobody Asked For This, you don’t just skim over the comedy routines – you actually write them out word-for-word (V’s as well as some of her comedien peers). That’s quite a bold choice! Besides your own experience studying comedy, what sort of research did you put in, in preparation to write from the perspective of an up-and-coming, hard-hustling comedian?

I’m terrified of that choice I made but I’m committed at this point. Luckily in my time in the stand-up world, touring with comedians, pouring pints for comedians, I’ve learned a lot. I also moved to New York City at twenty-one to try my hand at stand up and yikes…we’ll just call that another learning experience. So while recently I haven’t been in the game, I feel like those years served as a foundation for the novel and the characters and their comedy styles/sets. I did one interview with a working comedian while working on the first draft. He said he was really proud of women comics for getting funnier and talking about their periods less. I think that made it into the book.

What was the last thing that made you laugh out loud?

It’s so juvenile but really was hilarious: we like to have dance parties every morning before school, so we were dancing and my three-year-old was just going for it punching the air, thrilled to be dancing in the company of his older brother, when their dad had popped his head in because it’s a cute scene. Unfortunately, my three-year-old with no impulse control, swung him arms around and punched his father right in the privates, rendering him immobile while my kids continued to violently dance to Imagine Dragons. I shouldn’t have laughed so hard at my husband’s misfortune, but it was really funny.

When you need a good laugh/ reliable pick-me-up, what (or who) is your go to?

I would say my husband Mark. We have a very similar sense of humour and really egg each other on, so that’s always a good go to. Both my sister and my sister-in-law send me lots of funny memes or posts on Instagram. I just downloaded TikTok but don’t follow anyone but I’m happy when the main page or whatever it is shows me something funny. Not reliable, but every now and then I get a funny little video.

I read a MacLean’s article from 2022 that touched on your writing relationship with your mother, and framed it in a surprisingly refreshing, healthy, mentorly way. (I think my surprise was mostly owing to the fact that I’d be consuming so much content about the strain of mother-daughter relationships that it seemed inherent; and also, because of the general cultural atmosphere of competitive/comparative/feisty woman-to-woman relationships, this idea we are constantly being fed.) I wonder whether you can elaborate a bit more on the role that your mother plays in your current writing practice, and/or specifically how she might have helped with the writing of your second novel? Were there any words of wisdom, or advice, that she offered that you found especially useful or inspiring when tackling this (often daunting) task of penning your sophomore novel?

My mom consistently tells me, “write what you know and change the names,” which maybe I’ve taken too literally, but it’s been very helpful! She did read the first draft and while she didn’t give me notes I could tell the mother side of her vs the mentor was struggling to tell me one scene was basically just not good and should be cut. She is always there if I have questions about the business side of course, but I think so many people think of Miriam Toews the author and to me she’s in full grandma mode. Like her and I chat, but we talk about my kids, or she comes by and wants to see/play/read with the kids. Miriam Toews the writer and mother/grandmother is always inspiring to me and supportive, but when it comes to the writing, we just kinda do our thing and meet up at the park after school to play soccer with the kiddos.

On a related note: in Nobody Asked For This there is definitely some of that “typical” emotionally overwrought tension between V and her roommate, Haley (also a friend since teenagehood), and their mutual friends…but then there’s also the “antidote”: her group of adult comedian female friends, who are only ever sympathetic and supportive. Even though they are in a highly competitive, male-dominated industry (comedy and acting) – instead of fighting against each other (obviously or covertly) to gain a coveted token spot left for women, and the attention/preference of the men in control, they band together. How aware are you of depicting the tension between women in your writing and avoiding this (misogynistic) stereotype that women always exist in competition with one another?

I was aware when creating this friend group, of these female comedians that I wanted that to be a really supportive safe entity for V, but I also don’t think I wrote anything inauthentic about these women being able to be happy for one another and lift each other up, because that’s what I’ve seen and felt within the comedy community with other women. The idea of competing in stand-up is funny really because it’s such a personal and subjective art form, so it’s almost impossible to compare yourself to another comedian.

“It’s a bit like an itch, I needed to write this book, about Virginia and her world, I wrote it furiously and quickly and now that I’m done, I don’t have any want or need to revisit her. I’m content with where she’s going and I’ll let her figure it out, for better or for worse.”

Besides your relationship with your mother, what examples of women-to-women relationships have made the most impact on you and/or are the most valuable to you?

I’d say the women-to-women relationships I really treasure are my childhood and teenagehood friends. I feel really lucky to be able maintain these friendships and incredibly proud of those women that I get to call friends. I also really took a lot of inspiration from the women at my gym when creating the comedian friend group. I’m just thrilled time and time again when this group of muscular women just rallies together to cheer each other on, to create these community events, to create spaces within the gym that are accessible and safe, and I just kind of revel in the fact that I can be even slightly associated with them.

In my opinion, Winnipeg (and places like it) tend to be a hotbed for culture. However, the flip-side is that the best things to come out of Winnipeg…get out of Winnipeg. (I’m ‘allowed’ to say this because it’s also my hometown!) I’m wondering how your upbringing in Winnipeg has – directly and/or indirectly – played a role in your writing style and/or practice? In your opinion, is there anything distinctly ‘Winnipeg’ about your writing and/or the writing/art of Winnipeggers in general that stands out to you?

Another Winnipegger! We’re everywhere but Winnipeg, kidding. I do think growing up in Winnipeg instilled a certain like…heartiness? Just gritting your teeth and baring down throughout the winter, being vigilant when you’re walking home from the Pyramid at 17 with your fake I.D. (A very Winnipeg reference). It has this intensity that I think I live with still and that comes out in my writing, I hope at least. I think living in Winnipeg fuels a need to create anything really. It’s cold and kinda barren for so long you just need to fill whatever spaces you can with life and art to get through it all.

Although I wouldn’t describe your book as being especially descriptive, it is written in such a way that the reader can easily picture it playing out in your head. When I realized that you’re also a screenwriter, it all made sense! When it comes to writing for the screen/television versus literature, how do you decide which is a better fit for a story that’s running in your mind? Do you visualize your characters and scenarios in your head as you’re writing them, also?

I think when there’s a story like this one that requires so much internal narration it’s just clear to me it’s a book. It really always was a book, I enjoy screenwriting but I think my first love is always going to be writing novels, so if I can put it in a book that’s the default. I always have heard characters and dialogue before I can write it; the look of it isn’t as important to me as what it sounds like it my head. Maybe that’s why it’s not a very descriptive book, haha. It’s a bit hard to describe, but if I can’t hear the characters voice, I can’t write it.

Lastly, circling back to my opening question to wrap it all up: another peeve of mine is endings that are too neat. But the ending of Nobody Asked For This leaves me wondering what’s next for Virginia, because in a way it seems like her story is only really beginning on the final page. Any plans on having her as a returning character in your writing?

Oh no, maybe in like thirty years if I’m lucky enough to keep doing this writing thing, maybe I’ll put together some last tome and have a bunch of characters come back for a reunion. It’s a bit like an itch, I needed to write this book, about Virginia and her world, I wrote it furiously and quickly and now that I’m done, I don’t have any want or need to revisit her. I’m content with where she’s going and I’ll let her figure it out, for better or for worse.