40 Canadian books we can't wait to read in October

A latest month means latest books! Listed here are the Canadian novels, poetry, comics and works of nonfiction we won’t wait to read in October.

The Punishment is a poetry collection by Kwantlen author Joseph Dandurand. (Peter Arkell, Nightwood Editions)

B.C. author Joseph Dandurand returns with The Punishment, a poetry collection rooted in story, with scenes of residential school, the psych ward, the streets and the river. Through his poems, he shares what he sees: the nice eagles and small birds; his culture and teachings; Vancouver’s East Side; and his Kwantlen community.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 1, 2022

Dandurand is a member of the Kwantlen First Nation, east of Vancouver. He’s the director of the Kwantlen Cultural Centre and the creator of several books of poetry, including 2020’s The East Side of It All, which was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize. In 2021, Dandurand received the BC Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence.

False Creek is a poetry collection by Jane Munro. (Harbour Publishing, Belle Ancell/janemunro.com)

False Creek is Vancouver poet Jane Munro’s latest poetry collection. In it, Munro tackles her signature themes of the natural world, the ability of art and what it means to dream.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 1, 2022

Munro is a author form Vancouver. Her poetry books include Lively PassPoint No Point and Grief Notes & Animal Dreams. Her poetry collection Blue Sonoma won the 2015 Griffin Poetry Prize. She can be the creator of the memoir Open Every Window.

No One Knows About Us is a book by Bridget Canning. (Breakwater)

No One Knows About Us is a set of short fiction with characters on the seek for connection in a disconnected world. The stories involves themes of affection, loss and evolving relationship dynamics.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 1, 2022

Bridget Canning is a St. John’s creator. Her debut novel, The Best Hits of Wanda Jaynes, was shortlisted for the BMO Winterset Award, The Margaret and John Savage First Book Award and the Newfoundland and Labrador Book Award for Fiction. Her other work includes the novel Some People’s Children. 

I Am Claude Francois and You Are a Bathtub is a book by Stuart Ross. (Anvil Press)

I Am Claude Francois and You Are a Bathtub is a brief story collection that experiments with craft and form using elements of pathos, absurdism and humour. The characters in these stories cope with problems with displacement, belonging and identity because the creator deconstructs narrative to look at loss, dysfunction and survival.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 1, 2022

Stuart Ross is a author, editor and teacher. He’s the creator of several books of poetry, fiction and essays, including You ExistPockets and A Sparrow Got here Down Resplendent. Ross was the 2019 recipient of the Harbourfront Festival Prize. He lives in Cobourg, Ont. 

The Animals is a book by Cary Fagan. (Bookhug)

The Animals is a fable-like narrative featuring the protagonist Dorn, who creates miniature scale models displayed within the local shops. The mild-mannered Dorn deals with an untrustworthy younger sibling and a distant father — all while attempting to show his deeper feelings of affection to Ravenna, the ungainly schoolteacher. Life takes a wierd turn when the government-sponsored “Wild Home Project” is introduced and wild animals cohabit with the town residents. The Animals explores the character of relationships, faunal and human, and reminds us of the challenges of finding one’s place in society.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 1, 2022

Cary Fagan is an Ontario creator of several books for adults and kids. His kid’s books include the favored Kaspar Snit novels, the two-volume Master Melville’s Medicine Show and the image book Mr. Zinger’s Hat. He can be the creator of the novels A Bird’s Eye and The Student and the short story collection My Life Among the many Apes. In 2014, Fagan received the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People for his body of labor.

Possessed is a book by Jowita Bydlowska. (Rare Machines)

Possessed is a novel that uses dark humour to reflect on sexual obsession, mental health and the supernatural. The protagonist, Josephine, has overwhelming feelings for a younger suitor who doesn’t reciprocate in ways she desires. When the connection withers and he or she meets someone latest, things take a haunting and erotic turn.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 1, 2022

Jowita Bydlowska is a author and journalist based in Toronto. Her memoir, Drunk Momrecounts her relapse into alcoholism after having her first child. She can be the creator of the novel Guy. Bydlowska has written columns on popular culture and mental health for the National Post, the Globe and Mail and CBC.

More Than a Footnote is a book by Karin Wells. (Second Story Press)

More Than a Footnote is a nonfiction take a look at stories of Canadian women who’ve overcome adversity throughout history. The book features detailed accounts of girls comparable to Mina Benson Hubbard, who finished the mission to map northern Labrador that had killed her explorer husband; and Vera Peters, a medical doctor who revolutionized treatments for Hodgkin’s lymphoma and breast cancer. 

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 4, 2022

Karin Wells is a lawyer, a CBC Radio documentary maker and a 3‐time recipient of the Canadian Association of Journalists’ documentary award. She has reported from greater than 50 countries. Her first book, The Abortion Caravan, was a 2021 finalist for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing.

The Other Ones is a book by Jamesie Fournier, pictured, illustrated by Toma Feizo Gas. (Inhabit)

The Other Ones is a novella with elements of horror set within the North. Featuring vibrant illustrations, the tales include a story about eerie occurrences on a frozen lake, supernatural creatures and foreboding notions of travelling to otherworldly realms.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 4, 2022

Inuk creator Jamesie Fournier’s work has appeared in Inuit Art Quarterly, Red Rising magazine, Northern Public Affairs, and the anthology Coming Home: Stories from the Northwest Territories. He lives in Thebacha/Fort Smith between Salt River First Nation, Smith’s Landing First Nation and the South Slave Metis Nation.

Toma Feizo Gas is a Canadian artist and illustrator who has spent 10 years working in entertainment arts, with experience in production art, creative direction and concept design.

My Road From Damascus is a memoir by Jamal Saeed. (ECW Press, Rufaida al-Khabbaz)

Jamal Saeed sought refuge in Canada in 2016 after being imprisoned 3 times for a complete of 12 years in his native Syria. Imprisoned for his political writing and his opposition to the regimes of the al-Assads, Saeed spent years in Syria’s most notorious military prisons. My Road from Damascus tells the story of his life: as a teen finding love, developing critical thought, living in hiding from the police for 30 months, his eventual imprisonment and his family’s escape to Canada. He chronicles the sociopolitical landscape in Syria from the Nineteen Fifties up until his escape to Canada, documenting the harrowing experience but additionally the great thing about village life, the love of his family and his hope for the longer term. 

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 4, 2022

Saeed spent 12 years as a prisoner of conscience in Syria before being invited to Canada in 2016. He continues to boost awareness about Syria’s ongoing civil war and humanitarian crisis through his work as an activist, editor, visual artist and creator. He lives in Kingston, Ont.

Fight, Magic, Items is a book by Aidan Moher. (Running Press Adult, Liam Cross)

Fight, Magic, Items is a nonfiction book that explores the “geek culture” across the classic video games referred to as Japanese role-playing games, also referred to as JRPGs. It delves into the origin stories of two classic Nintendo titles, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, and serves as a primer for JRPGs because it looks on the evolution of the genre and why the games have endured through the years.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 4, 2022

Aidan Moher is a science fiction and fantasy author, essayist and editor from Victoria. As an editor, Moher won a Hugo Award in 2014 for the fanzine A Dribble of Ink. His work has been featured in Wired, Kotaku, Electronic Gaming Monthly, Uncanny Magazine, Fanbyte and Tor.com.

Scenes From the Underground is a book by Gabriel Cholette and Illustrated by Jacob Pyne. (Vincent Morreale, House of Anansi Press)

Accompanied by Jacob Pyne’s full-colour illustrations, Gabriel Cholette’s lyricism leads us through the bathrooms and back rooms of clubs and raves across Montreal, Recent York and Paris in Scenes from the Underground. Cholette’s words read like field notes of the sex, drugs and music that make up queer nightlife. 

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 4, 2022

Cholette frequents the Recent York, Berlin, and Montreal underground scenes for literary material. He can be ending a thesis on the business imagination in medieval French literature.

Pyne is an artist from Montreal whose work explores themes of sexual identity, relationships and anonymous sex from a queer perspective. 

Elina Tallion is a queer, neurodiverse author, an MFA candidate within the University of British Columbia’s creative writing program and the previous managing editor at PRISM international magazine.

Suck It In and Smile is a book by Laurence Beaudoin-Masse, pictured, and translated by Shelley Tanaka. (Groundwood Books)

Previously released in French, Suck It In and Smile is a YA novel in regards to the dark side of web stardom. Removed from the shy teenager she was, Ellie resides life as a preferred fitness influencer with lots of of 1000’s of followers and a famous boyfriend. Yet, Ellie worries her life won’t be as flawless as she makes it out to be on social media. From her obsession with the “ideal weight,” her growing attraction to a different man and her family’s disdain for her profession as a content creator, Ellie fears she can have lost herself along the way in which. 

Suck It In and Smile is for ages 12 and up.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 4, 2022

Laurence Beaudoin-Masse is a author from Montreal. She is the creator of two novels: Suck It In and Smile and its sequel. 

Shelley Tanaka is an creator, translator and editor who has written and translated greater than 30 books for youngsters and young adults. She lives in Kingston, Ont.

The Future Is Disabled is a book by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. (Arsenal Pulp Press)

In The Future Is Disabled, Leah Laksmi Piepzna-Samarasinha writes in regards to the power of disability justice to create a future during which humanity as an entire can survive fascism, climate crisis and pandemics. The book argues that disability justice can liberate us all and examines how disabled people kept and are keeping one another — and the remainder of the world — alive during our current collective crises.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 4, 2022

Piepzna-Samarasinha is a queer, disabled, non-binary femme author, educator and disability and transformative justice employee. They’ve written or co-edited nine books, including Care Work and Tonguebreaker.

A headshot of a bald, black man in a blue suit with a white collared shirt is beside the book cover for No Bootstraps When You're Barefoot. The book cover features a black boy in a blue collared-shirt, a black belt with a big circular buckle and blue and white plaid, flared pants looks down, eyes averted from the camera. On top of the photo, the text reads
No Bootstraps When You are Barefoot is a book by Wes Hall. (CBC, Random House Canada)

Wes Hall’s memoir No Bootstraps When You are Barefoot traces his childhood in Jamaica where he was raised by his grandmother and experienced abuse by the hands of his mother to his eventual move to Canada where he eventually went on to grow to be a significant entrepreneur and philanthropist. Starting out in a law firm mail room, Hall’s resilience paved the way in which for his life as a business leader while the roadblocks he faced, including racism and discrimination, forged his commitment to justice. 

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 4, 2022

Hall is a Jamaican-Canadian business leader and business school instructor. His podcast, Between Us with Wes Hall, features conversations on systemic racism with leaders of color. He’s the founding father of the anti-Black racism initiative BlackNorth and considered one of the investors on the hit CBC series Dragons’ Den.

The book title, in light-blue text, reads "Boldly Go" at the top of the black cover. In white text, "William Shatner with Joshua Brandon" is in the centre and underneath, the subtitle in light blue reads "Reflections of a Life of Awe And Wonder." In between each section of text is a gold line.
Boldly Go is a book by William Shatner. (williamshatner.com/Simon and Schuster Canada)

 William Shatner, the beloved star of Star Trek, reflects on nearly nine many years of exploring the world with a way of wonder and awe. In heartfelt, often funny essays, Shatner shares the stories of his life and the insights he has gleaned along the way in which. 

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 4, 2022

Shatner is the creator of nine Star Trek novels, including The Ashes of Eden and The Return. He can be the creator of several nonfiction books, including Get a Life! and I’m Working on That

Joshua Brandon is a director, producer and author.

Cactus Gardens is a poetry collection by Evelyn Lau. (Anvil Press)

Cactus Gardens is a poetry collection in two parts. The primary follows a single narrator as they cope with friendships and relationships which might be complicated, meaningful and messy. The second part explores poet Evelyn’ Lau’s relationship with an older author and the fallout and scrutiny that followed when Lau wrote a public essay about their relationship. It also examines Lau’s own relationship to poetry and the way that have shaped how she engages together with her own art.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 7, 2022

Evelyn Lau is the Vancouver-based creator of several poetry collections. Her memoir Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid, which recounts her time living on the streets of Vancouver, was published when she was 18 years old.

On the left, a photo of writer Carol Rose GoldenEagle. She has dark brown hair with heavy bangs and side braids and is looking off to the side in front of a brick wall. On the right is the cover for her poetry book Stations of the Crossed, which features a colourful painting in a square in the middle of a blue background.
Stations of the Crossed is a poetry collection by Cree/Dene author and artist Carol Rose GoldenEagle. (Inanna Publications)

In Stations of the Crossed, Cree/Dene author Carol Rose GoldenEagle uses her childhood memory of the church rite “stations of the cross” as a springboard for critical reflection, examining the dark legacy of the residential school system, church and government policies and their ongoing impacts on Indigenous people today.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 11, 2022

GoldenEagle is a author who was appointed Saskatchewan’s poet laureate in 2021. She can be the creator of the novel Bearskin Diary. Her first book of poetry, Hiraeth, was shortlisted for a Saskatchewan Book Award in 2019. Her latest novel, The Narrows of Fear (Wapawikoscikanik), was published in 2020 and won the 2021 Rasmussen & Co. Indigenous Peoples’ Writing Award on the Saskatchewan Book Awards. She lives in Regina Beach.

The Tragedy of Eva Mott is a book by David Adams Richards. (Doubleday)

The Tragedy of Eva Mott is a novel in regards to the Raskin brothers, who were once proud to be producers of a much sought-after material of great profit to society — asbestos. But now their mine is under close scientific scrutiny, with reports of great illness linked to the place. Family lies and secrets soon come to light and the mystery involves a young woman who threatens to vary lives ceaselessly.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 11, 2022

David Adams Richards is a novelist, nonfiction author and Canadian senator from Recent Brunswick. His quite a few books include The Keeping of GustiesThe Coming of Winter, Nights Below Station Street and Mercy Among the many Children, which won the Scotiabank Giller Prize.

(Knopf Canada)

Fayne is a novel about Charlotte Bell, a young woman growing up within the nineteenth century. She lives at Fayne House, an unlimited and lonely estate straddling the border between England and Scotland. When a mysterious artifact is found, Charlotte’s passion for knowledge and adventure will take her to the underside of family secrets — and to the guts of her own identity. 

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 11, 2022

Ann-Marie MacDonald, born in Germany, now lives between Toronto and Montreal. She’s the creator of several bestselling novels, including Fall on Your KneesThe Way the Crow Flies and Adult OnsetFall on Your Knees was a finalist for Canada Reads in 2010, when it was defended by Perdita Felicien.

A black-and-white closeup of an older, white woman wearing glasses, smiling to camera is beside the book cover for Dancing in Small Spaces. The book cover features middle-aged white man with a moustache and a jean collared shirt hugs a woman with short brown hair and bangs. He looks off to the left while her eyes are closed. In the background, out of focus, there is a tree with orange leaves.
Dancing in Small Spaces is a book by Leslie A. Davidson. (Sarah Mickel, TouchWood Editions)

Dancing in Small Spaces is the story of a wedding. In 2011, Leslie Davidson and her husband, Lincoln Ford, were finding adventure of their retirement through the outside, travelling and preparing to be grandparents. Then, when Lincoln began experiencing confusion and Leslie experienced tremors in her body, a double diagnosis of Lewy body dementia and Parkinson’s disease transformed the couple’s lives. In Dancing in Small Spaces, Davidson documents the years following the diagnoses, including navigating easy methods to care and be cared for, reckoning with the physical symptoms and community support. In Dancing in Small Spaces, she writes her way through the emotional turmoil, sharing the teachings she learned along the way in which about herself and the person she loved, in a bid to maneuver toward understanding and acceptance. 

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 11, 2022

Davidson is the creator of two kid’s books, Within the Red Canoe and The Sun is a Shine. Her essay Adaptation won the 2016 CBC Creative Nonfiction Prize. She lives in Revelstoke, B.C.

The Burden of Exile is a book by Aaron Berhane. (Dundurn Press, twitter.com/aaronberhane)

In Eritrea, one of the vital severe dictatorships on this planet, Aaron Berhane founded the primary independent newspaper. When the paper is shut down, Berhane must flee to avoid arrest, sending him on a journey across the desert, into Sudan after which into secret secure houses in Kenya, before eventually finding sanctuary in Canada. Pursued by the Eritrean secret police and having to go away his young family behind, Berhane is forced to piece his life together in a foreign place. The Burden of Exile is a story of struggle, courage, resilience and the fight for freedom. 

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 11, 2022

Berhane was a journalist and a co-founder of Eritrea’s first independent newspaper. Berhane got here to Canada after fleeing Eritrea by means of Sudan. He previously chaired Pen Canada’s writers-in-exile group. He died in 2021.

An older Cree man with two blonde braids, a black brimmed hat and blue eyes framed by glasses black glasses looks to the right of camera. He is pictured shoulder-up wearing a brown collared button-up and black leather jacket, set against a deep orange background. Beside him, the white book cover features the author's name, Harold R. Johnson is blue text at the top, the title
The Power of Story is a book by Harold R. Johnson. (House of Anansi Press, Biblioasis)

The Power of Story reflects on the power of storytelling — from personal narratives to historical sagas — as they relate to humanity and even how humans structure societies. On this posthumous work, Harold R. Johnson makes a case for a way stories can shape and alter our lives for the higher if only we’re willing to employ story because the world-building tool that it’s.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 11, 2022

Johnson, a member of the Montreal Lake Cree Nation, was a lawyer and author whose groundbreaking book Firewater: How Alcohol Is Killing My People (and Yours) was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for nonfiction. He died in February 2022.

A Ballet of Lepers is a book by Leonard Cohen. (McClelland & Stewart, Canadian Press/DAPD/Kai-‘Uwe Knoth)

A Ballet of Lepers was created by the late Leonard Cohen sometime between the mid-Nineteen Fifties to Nineteen Sixties in Montreal and Greece. The titular novel, A Ballet of Lepers, is a take a look at fear and insecurity, while the accompanying 15 stories and play script probe the inner demons of his characters, a lot of whom could function as stand-ins for the creator himself.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 11, 2022

Cohen is a legendary figure on this planet of music and literature. The late Montreal artist released 14 albums over the span of nearly 50 years, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008 and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. His books include the novel Beautiful Losers and Chosen Poems 1956-1968, for which he won — and declined — a Governor General’s Literary Award. Cohen died on Nov. 7, 2016 on the age of 82. 

Radioland is a book by Matt Cahill. (Buckrider Books)

Radioland is a thriller novel set in Toronto. A series of murders around the town’s bustling music and nightclub scene has people on edge. An online of intrigue surrounds two characters, Kris and Jill, as they explore their past, their reference to music and ways to navigate their world. 

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 11, 2022

Matt Cahill is a Toronto author and psychotherapist. Cahill’s debut novel, The Society of Experience, was published in 2015. His short stories have appeared with Found Press, The Quarantine Review and Fusion Fragment.

Ruby Red Skies is a book by Taslim Burkowicz. (Roseway)

Within the novel Ruby Red Skies, an Indo-Canadian woman named Ruby looks back at her life and the way things may need been different. Now in middle age with a mixed-race daughter and a distant white husband, she is compelled to hunt fulfilment by means of B.C.’s raging wildfires, accompanied only by the fantastical stories her mother used to inform about their ancient Mughal ancestry — a dancer named Rubina who lived within the concubine quarters of the nice Agra Fort.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 13, 2022

Taslim Burkowicz is a B.C. author. She can be the creator of the novels Chocolate Cherry Chai and The Desirable Sister.

On the left, a photo of writer Emily Riddle looking off to the left side, standing in front of a brown brick wall and wearing a blue dress. On the right is the cover of her poetry book The Big Melt, which features yellow square graphics over a wavy blue-and-yellow background.
The Big Melt is the debut poetry collection from Nehiyaw author Emily Riddle. (Rose-Eva Forgues-Jenkins, Nightwood Editions)

The Big Melt is a debut poetry collection rooted in Nehiyaw thought and concrete millennial life events. Part memoir, part research project, it draws on author Emily Riddle’s experience working in Indigenous governance and her circle of relatives’s experience — demonstrating that governance is as much about interpersonal relationships because it is about law and policy.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 15, 2022

Riddle is Nehiyaw and a member of the Alexander First Nation (Kipohtakaw). A author, editor, policy analyst, language learner and visual artist, she lives in Edmonton. Her writing has been published within the Globe and Mail, Teen Vogue, The Malahat Review and Room Magazine. She was shortlisted for the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize.

The Rooftop Garden is a novel by Toronto based author and journalist Menaka Raman-Wilms. (Harbour Publishing, Fred Lum)

The Rooftop Garden is a novel that follows Nabila and her childhood friend Matthew, who played on Nabila’s rooftop garden in an imaginary world that has flooded from climate change. Nabila comes from an informed, middle-class family, while Matthew had been abandoned by his father and was often left to cope with things on his own. Now each of their 20s, Matthew has disappeared from his Toronto home, and Nabila travels to Berlin to search out him and take a look at to bring him back. 

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 15, 2022

Menaka Raman-Wilms is a author and journalist based in Toronto. Raman-Wilms was shortlisted for the 2019 CBC Short Story Prize. She’s the host of The Decibel, the day by day news podcast from the Globe and Mail. She’s also worked as a parliamentary reporter for the Globe and as an associate producer at CBC Radio One. Her writing has also been published in Broken Pencil Magazine and Acta Victoriana.

On the left, a photo of writer Jaspreet Singh. He is wearing glasses and a black collared shirt and is looking directly into the camera. On the left is the cover of his poetry book How to Hold a Pebble, which features yellow flame-like graphics over a grey background.
The right way to Hold a Pebble is the second poetry collection by Calgary author Jaspreet Singh. (Submitted by Jaspreet Singh, NeWest Press)

Jaspreet Singh’s second collection of poems, The right way to Hold a Pebble, engages with memory, place, language and migration, exploring strategies for survival and motion amid the realities of colonialization, climate change and other existential issues facing humans within the Anthropocene.

 When you possibly can read it: Oct. 15, 2022

Jaspreet Singh is the creator of the novels Helium, Chef and Face, the story collection Seventeen Tomatoes, the poetry collections November and The right way to Hold a Pebble, and the memoir My Mother, My Translator. He lives in Calgary.

Love from Mecca to Medina is a book by S.K. Ali. (Salaam Reads/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)

Within the sequel to Love from A to Z, Adam and Zayneb must find their way back to at least one one other. Adam is in Doha, Qatar, making a map of the Hijra, a historic migration from Mecca to Medina, and Zayneb is in class in Chicago. When the pair get a probability to reunite for Thanksgiving week on the Umrah in Saudi Arabia, the trip goes nothing like what they expect and their love is put to the test.

Love from Mecca to Medina is for ages 14 and up.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 18, 2022

S.K. Ali is a author and teacher from Toronto, best known for her debut YA novel, Saints and MisfitsShe can be the creator of Love from A to Z.

On the left, a photo of writer Jesse Thistle, sitting in front of a leafy bush. He is wearing a denim jacket and smiling directly into the camera. On the right is the cover of his poetry book Scars & Stars, which features gold type and small gold stars over a dark blue background.
Scars & Stars is a poetry collection by bestselling Métis-Cree author Jesse Thistle. (Natasha Rosa Del Vecchio, McClelland & Stewart)

Jesse Thistle, the creator of the bestselling memoir From the Ashes — a Canada Reads 2020 finalist — returns with the poetry collection Scars and StarsScars and Stars charts his own history and the stories of individuals from his past, including the complex legacies of family, parenthood and community.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 18, 2022

Thistle is Métis-Cree, from Prince Albert, Sask., and an assistant professor in humanities at York University in Toronto. His memoir, From the Ashes, won the Rakuten Kobo Emerging Author Prize for Nonfiction, the Indigenous Voices Award, the High Plains Book Award, and was also a finalist on Canada Reads 2020. He lives in Hamilton, Ont.

The Lost Century is a book by Larissa Lai. (Arsenal Pulp Press)

The Lost Century is a historical novel that explores the legacy of colonialism and resistance involving the British, China and Hong Kong. On the eve of the return of the British crown colony of Hong Kong to China in 1997, a young woman explores a possible murder in her family’s past. The search for the reality unearths family secrets, lies, violence and love.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 18, 2022

Larissa Lai is a author from Calgary. She can be the creator of the novels The Tiger FluSalt Fish Girl and When Fox is a Thousand and the poetry books Sybil Unrest, co-written with Rita Wong, and Automaton Biographies. The Tiger Flu won a Lambda Literary Award. She is a Canada Research Chair in creative writing on the University of Calgary.

The Last Chairlift is a book by John Irving. (Knopf)

The Last Chairlift is an epic novel involving an American slalom skier who leaves that life behind after becoming pregnant with her son Adam during a contest in Colorado. Years later, Adam returns to the Aspen hotel where he was conceived to learn more about his past and identity.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 18, 2022

John Irving is an American-Canadian novelist and screenwriter. Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of the 1978 novel The World In accordance with Garp. His other work includes The Cider House Rules, A Prayer for Owen Meany and Avenue of Mysteries.

The red book cover features a cut-out photo of a man with a beard wearing a medical jacket and stethoscope, holding a football.
Red Zone is a book by Laurent Dovernay-Tardif. (HarperCollins Canada, Martin Girard)

In July 2020, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif made headlines when he decided to opt out of the upcoming NFL season because of the worldwide pandemic. Knowledgeable football player and a graduate of medical school, Durvernay-Tardif made the unique decision to step out of the NFL limelight to be able to step onto the frontlines where he worked as an orderly in a long-term care facility in Montreal throughout the pandemic. He shares this story in Red Zone.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 18, 2022

Duvernay-Tardif is a football player for the Recent York Jets. He won a Superbowl in 2020 with the Kansas City Chiefs. He graduated with a medical degree from McGill University in 2018 after which worked as an orderly in a long-term care facility in Montreal throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, he received the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award. His scrubs and lab coat are on display within the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Running Down a Dream is a book by Candy Palmater (HarperCollins, Dustin Rabin/CBC)

Running Down a Dream is Candy Palmater’s story in regards to the highs, the lows, the gut instincts and the pitfalls that led her to live a novel, multi-hyphenate life, often exceeding expectations and finding success through self-belief and community support. She described herself as “a queer Mi’kmaw lawyer-turned-comic raised by bikers in rural Recent Brunswick” and located major success across mediums and careers. After practicing law and landing a government job, Palmater left to pursue comedy and later starred in five successful seasons of her own national TV show, and hosted many radio shows.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 18, 2022

Palmater was a band member of Ugpi’ganjig, a Mi’kmaw First Nation in northern Recent Brunswick formerly called Eel River Bar. Palmater created and hosted The Candy Show on APTN, was a daily co-host on CTV’s afternoon talk show The Social and acted in various shows, including Trailer Park Boys. She also hosted The Candy Palmater Show on CBC Radio One and championed The Break by Katherena Vermette on Canada Reads 2017. She died in December 2021.

Geneviève Castrée: Complete Works 1981-2016 is the collected works of late cartoonist and musician Geneviève Castrée. (Drawn & Quarterly)

Geneviève Castrée: Complete Works 1981-2016 is a posthumous collection of the works of illustrator, cartoonist and musician Geneviève Castrée. Featuring an introduction from Castrée’s widower, American musician Phil Elverum, the book collects never-before-seen illustrations, comics, album covers and more. 

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 18, 2022

Castrée was a cartoonist, illustrator and musician from Quebec. Her books include the memoir Susceptible and the youngsters’s book A Bubblewhich she drew as a final gift to her then two-year-old daughterCastrée died of pancreatic cancer on July 9, 2016.

Road of the Lost is a book by Nafiza Azad. (Margaret K. McElderry Books)

Road of the Lost is a fantasy YA novel. Croi, a brownie, lives within the Wilde Forest and her power is weak, until her guardian gives her a book about magic from the Otherworld. Soon Croi finds herself being pulled to this latest place, so she embarks on a journey beyond the forest, only to be met with danger and surprises. Enchanted to forget her true identity, Croi starts to vary as she travels this treacherous path to search out her true self and her place within the Otherworld.

Road of the Lost is for ages 14 and up.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 18, 2022

Nafiza Azad is a author from Fiji now based in British Columbia. She can be the creator of The Candle and the Flame, which was nominated for the William C. Morris Award, The Wild Ones and Road of the Lost. 

Kwändǖr is a graphic novel by Cole Pauls. (Conundrum Press)

Kwändǖr collects Cole Pauls’s work from comic festivals, magazines and zine-making workshops. The comics covers topics like racism, family and identity, and have Yukon history and Southern Tutchone cultural practices and language lessons.

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 23, 2022

Pauls is a Tahltan comic artist. He created his first comic, Dakwäkãda Warriorsas a language-revival initiative. In 2017, it won Broken Pencil magazine’s awards for best comic and best zine of the 12 months. in 2020, it won best work in an Indigenous language from the Indigenous Voices Awards. He can be the creator of the graphic novel Pizza Punks.

The beige book cover features a collaged image of what appears to be an eye and nature.
Imminent Domains is a book by Alessandra Naccarato. (Jacklyn Atlas, Book*hugPress)

Imminent Domains asks essential questions on our current relationship to nature amidst the climate crisis and what it takes to survive. Arranged by five central elements of survival — earth, fire, water, air and spirit — Alessandra Naccarato uses lyric prose, first-hand observations and research to weave an intriguing meditation on how each of us can come to our own unique answers to our most pressing collective questions. 

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 25, 2022

Naccarato is a author whose debut poetry collection, Re-Origin of Speciesfeatures the poem Postcards for my Sister for which she won the 2017 CBC Poetry Prize. She also won the 2015 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers.

A headshot of a woman with brown hair wearing a black shirt under a blue, white and black cardigan is beside the cover of Kinauvit? The black book cover features nine copper-coloured circles spaced out evenly in a grid. Each circle features a stamping of a crown and the words "Eskimo Identification Canada" around the edge of each circle.
Kinauvit? is a book by Norma Dunning. (Emily Welz Studios, Douglas & McIntyre)

When Dr. Norma Dunning applied to the Nunavut Beneficiary program, in search of to verify her identity as an Inuk woman, she was asked one query that might set her down a path to grasp the history of Canadian bureaucracy. She was asked, “What was your disc number?” This query begged others, leading Dunning to conduct a series of heartfelt interviews with Inuit community members who experienced the Eskimo Identification Tag System. Kinauvit? examines the treatment experienced by the small Indigenous population in Canada by the hands of the Canadian government. Dunning provides a comprehensive look into this dehumanizing practice and shares the voices of those that, under this technique, were only ever viewed as a number. 

When you possibly can read it: Oct. 29, 2022

Dunning is an Inuk author who currently lives in Edmonton. She wrote Tainnawhich won the 2021 Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction. She can be the creator of the short story collection Annie Muktuk and Other Stories and the poetry collection Eskimo Pie: A Poetics of Inuit IdentityAnnie Muktuk and Other Stories won the 2018 Danuta Gleed Literary Award, which recognizes the very best debut short story collection of the 12 months. Dunning is currently a juror for the 2023 CBC Short Story Prize.

We Were Younger Once is a graphic novel by Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet. (Conundrum Press, kionaligtvoet.com)

We Were Younger Once is a graphic memoir about Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet’s life growing up together with her moshom (grandfather), cousins and other relatives on the Prairies, told in a series of nonlinear mini-memories.

When you possibly can read it: October 2022

Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet is a mixed Cree, Métis and Dutch visual artist, creator and printmaker based in Edmonton.

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