70 works of Canadian nonfiction to check out in spring 2023
Check out the great Canadian memoirs, biographies, sports books and more coming out in the first half of 2023 we can't wait to read.
The Mohawk Warrior Society by Louis Karoniaktajeh Hall
This anthology explores the hidden history of Kanien'kehá:ka survival and self-defense. The book provides documentation, context and analysis, including writing and artwork by visual artist and polemicist Louis Karoniaktajeh Hall. The Mohawk Warrior Society contains new oral history of the Rotisken'rhakéhte's revival in the 1970s and the story of how the Kanien'kehá:ka Longhouse became one the most militant resistance groups in North America.
Louis Karoniaktajeh Hall was a Kanien'kehá:a painter and writer from Kahnawake. He dedicated himself to reviving traditional Mohawk culture after renouncing Christianity and a life of priesthood. His works include The Warrior's Handbook, which was published in 1979, and Rebuilding the Iroquois Confederacy. Both these texts, which served as a political and cultural call to arms for Indigenous communities across Turtle Island, were initially printed by hand and distributed in secret.
Heartbroken by Laura Pratt
Laura Pratt struggles to make sense of the ending of her relationship, when her long-distance partner of six years suddenly breaks things off without explanation in the memoir Heartbroken. In the days, months and years that follow, Pratt, a journalist, seeks to understand heartbreak and how to survive it. She weaves together cultural history from literature to philosophy and science, with her own story, offering hope for life on the other side of heartbreak.
Laura Pratt is a journalist, writer and editor. Her first memoir, The Fleeting Years, about motherhood was published in 2004. She lives in Toronto.
Quantum Bullsh*t by Chris Ferrie
Chris Ferrie explains quantum physics in a way that makes sense, debunking myths and separating facts from fiction in Quantum Bullsh*t. If you love science and want to learn what quantum entanglement really is ― it has nothing to do with romance ― then this book is for you.
Chris Ferrie is a physicist and the senior lecturer for quantum software and information at the University of Technology Sydney. He has a Masters in applied mathematics, a BMath in mathematical physics and a PhD in applied mathematics. He lives in Australia.
Superfan by Jen Sookfong Lee
Superfan explores Jen Sookfong Lee's life-long love affair with pop culture. Using pop culture as an escape from family tragedy and to fit in with those around her, as Lee grew up she realized that pop culture was not made for the child of Chinese immigrants. Superfan connects key moments in pop culture with Lee's own stories as an Asian woman, single mother and writer.
Jen Sookfong Lee is a Vancouver-born novelist, broadcast personality, a past CBC Short Story Prize juror, a former Canada Reads panellist and a columnist on The Next Chapter. She is the author of the novel The Conjoined, the nonfiction book Gentleman of the Shade and the poetry collection The Shadow List.
Hand on My Heart by Maureen Mayhew
Canadian physician Maureen Mayhew reflects on her time spent working in Taliban-occupied Afghanistan over the span of a decade in the memoir Hand on My Heart. Mayhew juxtaposes her experiences of Afghanistan as a foreign, female physician with her personal journey of questioning who she is. She travels between remote outposts, learning the language and developing relationships with her patients, including members of the Taliban, and finds her Western beliefs challenged.
Maureen Mayhew has a medical degree from McGill University, a Masters degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University and a fellowship in research methods from the University of British Columbia. She has practiced medicine in eight provinces and two territories, as well as internationally.
The Way I Remember by Solomon Ratt
Torn from his family and placed in a residential school at the age of six, Solomon Ratt reflects on these dark memories and his life-long challenges in his memoir The Way I Remember. Ratt describes his life before, during and after residential school and how he would return home to his parents each summer, retaining his mother language of Cree. Shifting between autobiographical stories to sacred stories in the style of traditional Cree literature, Ratt illustrates how in a world uninterrupted by colonialism, these traditional stories would have formed the curriculum of a Cree child's education.
Solomon Ratt is an associate professor of languages, linguistics and literature at First Nations University of Canada. He is a first-language speaker of the Cree Th-dialect from Stanley Mission, Sask.
The Wild Boy of Waubamik by Thom Ernst
The Wild Boy of Waubamik chronicles the life of a boy who is adopted into a middle-class family and raised by an abusive father, while the community looked the other way. Despite his abusive childhood, the boy triumphs and grows into a man who becomes a film critic and broadcaster.
Thom Ernst is a film writer, broadcaster and critic. He was the former host and producer of TVO's Saturday Night at the Movies. Ernst lives in Toronto.
Love, Pamela by Pamela Anderson
Alternating between storytelling and her personal poetry, Pamela Anderson fights back to reclaim the narrative of her life in her memoir Love, Pamela. Anderson, now on Vancouver Island where she grew up, is fueled by a love of literature, her family and the causes she cares most about. She reflects on her childhood filled with imaginary friends, to life on covers of magazines, the beaches of Malibu and the sets of TV shows, where she eventually lost control of her own narrative to the media.
Pamela Anderson is a Canadian actor and environmental and animal rights activist. She is best known for modeling in Playboy magazine and for her role as C.J. Parker on the television series Baywatch.
True North Rising by Whit Fraser
In his memoir True North Rising, Whit Fraser recounts more than 50 years of living in the North first as a CBC reporter and then as a friend of Dene and Inuit activists and leaders. Fraser witnessed the MacKenzie Valley Pipeline inquiry, the constitutional conferences and the land-claims negotiations that reshaped the North. He has visited every town from Labrador to Alaska and paints portraits of Indigenous groundbreakers like Abe Okpik, Jose Kusugak, Stephen Kakfwi, John Amagoalik, Tagak Curley, and his own wife, Mary Simon.
Fraser was a founding chair of the Canadian Polar Commission, the former executive director of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and a CBC journalist covering stories throughout the North. His first book is the novel Cold Edge of Heaven.
Strange Bewildering Time by Mark Abley
At 22 years old, Mark Abley took a three-month trek with his friend across the Hippie Trail, from Europe to South Asia. It was the spring of 1978 and many of the places Abley visited would soon become inaccessible to foreign travellers. Using the notebook from his trip, Abley brings his vibrant experience back to life in his memoir Strange Bewildering Time, from dancing in a Turkish disco to clambering across a glacier in Kashmir, conjuring a region during a time of historical change.
Abley is a nonfiction writer, poet and journalist. His books include The Organist, Spoken Here, Watch Your Tongue, The Prodigal Tongue, Conversations with a Dead Man: The Legacy of Duncan Campbell Scott and several poetry collections and children's books. He lives in Montreal.
On Writing and Failure by Stephen Marche
On Writing and Failure is a guide to what you need to continue to exist as a writer. This book explores the role of rejection in literary endeavors and considers failure the essence of the writer's life. Author Stephen Marche reflects on his own history with rejection, the history of writerly failure and turns to James Baldwin's advice just to endure.
Marche is a novelist, essayist and cultural commentator. He is the author of half a dozen books and has written essays for The New Yorker, the New York Times, The Atlantic, Esquire, The Walrus and many others. He lives in Toronto.
Wanda's War by Marsha Faubert
Wanda's War tells the story of Wanda Gizmunt, who was taken from her home in Poland and deported to a forced labour camp in Nazi Germany. After the war ended, she was one of 100 young Polish women brought over to Canada in 1947 to address a labour shortage at a Quebec textile mill. Wanda and the women found themselves captive to their employer and their treatment eventually sparked a national controversy and the scrutiny of Canada's utilitarian immigration policy.
Marsha Faubert is a Toronto-based lawyer. She has worked as a litigator, an arbitrator, an adjudicator of appeals in workplace injury and disease claims and as the director of a provincial tribunal. Wanda's War is her first book.
Still, I Cannot Save You by Kelly S. Thompson
In Still, I Cannot Save You, Kelly S. Thompson explores her relationship with her older sister, Meghan. As the two grow into adulthood their paths diverge and Meghan faces an addiction that drives a wedge in their relationship. When Meghan becomes a mother, the sisters are able to face past hurts together. But a shocking new diagnosis pushes the pair to share all that they can in the time that they have.
Thompson is a retired military officer who holds an MFA and a Ph.D. in Creative Writing. She has been published in Chatelaine, Maclean's, the Globe and Mail and more. Her memoir Girls Need Not Apply was named among the Globe and Mail's top 100 books of 2019. In 2021, she made the longlist for the CBC Nonfiction Prize for Dear CAF. She lives in Nova Scotia.
An Anthology of Monsters by Cherie Dimaline
Cherie Dimaline explores her life-long experience with anxiety and how the stories we tell ourselves can help us reshape the ways in which we think, cope and survive in An Anthology of Monsters. She uses examples from her books, her mère and her own life to reveal how to collect and curate stories to elicit difficult and beautiful conversations. She also reflects on how family and community can be a source of strength and a place of refuge.
Dimaline is a bestselling Métis author best known for her YA novel The Marrow Thieves. The Marrow Thieves, was named one of Time magazine's top 100 YA novels of all time and was championed by Jully Black on Canada Reads 2018. Her other books include VenCo, Red Rooms, The Girl Who Grew a Galaxy, A Gentle Habit and Empire of Wild.
Psych by Paul Bloom
Psych explores the modern psychology of the brain, answering questions like: What is the function of emotions like shame, gratitude and disgust? And was Freud right about forbidden sexual desires? It also reveals what psychology can tell us about the belief in conspiracy theories, the role of genes in human differences and how to treat depression and anxiety.
Paul Bloom is a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen professor emeritus of psychology at Yale University. His research explores the psychology of morality, identity and pleasure. He is the author of several books including Against Empathy, Just Babies, How Pleasure Works, Descartes' Baby and The Sweet Spot.
Redemption Ground by Lorna Goodison
Redemption Ground is Lorna Goodison's first essay collection. It weaves the personal and political to reflect on her life, her love of poetry and art, the legacy of colonialism and the power of friendship. The collection takes its title from one of the oldest markets in Kingston, Jamaica and introduces a vivid cast of characters. The essays move from a cinema in Jamaica to New York's Bottom Line club, reflecting on daily challenges and uplifting compassion.
Goodison is one of Canada's most renowned writers. She was Jamaica's poet laureate from 2017 to 2020. Goodison is the author of several books including Collected Poems, and an award-winning memoir From Harvey River, which won the 2008 B.C. National Award for Canadian nonfiction. She was awarded the 2019 Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry for her body of work.
The Mirror Horse by Tamara Williamson
Tamara Williamson remembers the many horses in her life, from Stroller, the little bay pony, to the ribbon-winning Fletcher in the book The Mirror Horse. Williamson tries to understand what it means to be horse-obsessed and why these creatures reflect back to us both the best and worst of ourselves. As she faces life's challenges from financial to personal, Williamson finds herself drawn to the sport of dressage and her deep love for horses.
Williamson is a musician, playwright, multimedia artist, podcaster and equestrian coach from London, England. She is the creator of the musical The Break-Up Diet. She lives in Uxbridge, Ont.
Colonel Parkinson In Charge by François Gravel, translated by Shelley Pomerance
When François Gravel was diagnosed with Parkinson at the age of 65, the life he imagined for himself was upended so he turned to his love of writing. He immersed himself in Parkinson's research, paying close attention to his symptoms to best manage them. Gravel shares what he has learned in this memoir to help readers better understand life with Parkinson's disease in the book Colonel Parkinson In Charge.
Gravel is the author of more than 100 books for children and adults. His novels include Ostende and Adieu, Betty Crocker, both of which have been translated into English. He lives between Montréal and Île-aux-Grues.
Shelley Pomerance is the host of "Writers Unbound" on MAtv, a television series devoted to Montreal's English-language writers and their books. She has been a programmer with Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival. For many years she was a presence on CBC Radio as a host and arts reporter.
Pandexicon by Wayne Grady
Wayne Grady explores the language that emerged during the pandemic, from old words taking on new meaning to vocabulary like "quarantini" and "covidivorce." Pandexicon looks at how this new language evolved and the ways it changed how we think about ourselves and each other.
Grady is the author of three novels and several books of nonfiction, including The Great Lakes, Bone Museum and Bringing Back the Dodo. He lives in Kingston, Ontario and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
Arctic/Amazon edited by Gerald McMaster & Nina Vincent
Arctic/Amazon is a collection of essays from Indigenous artists, curators and knowledge-keepers from two regions in political and environmental upheaval. Both regions have become hotspots in the debates around climate change and are places where Indigenous people and outsiders meet and clash. Arctic/Amazon offers up a conversation about life, art and the geopolitical landscape facing Indigenous people in these regions.
Gerald McMaster is a curator, artist and scholar. He is the former director of the Wapatah Centre for Indigenous Visual Knowledge at OCAD University.
Nina Vincent is a Brazilian anthropologist, researcher, professor and independent curator. She works for the Brazilian National Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage.
Eyes on the Horizon by Balarama Holness
Balarama Holness shares his personal story from growing up on an ashram in West Virginia the son of a Jamaican father and Quebecois mother to his life in Montreal and then playing in the CFL in his memoir Eyes on the Horizon. Holness credits his success to his self-determination and spirituality, which helped him confront the systemic racism of his city and country. He connects his own journey to the social history of Quebec and through activism and politics, Holness is committed to reshaping society and teaching others about racism.
Holness is a former defensive back for the Montreal Alouettes. He won the Grey Cup with the Alouettes in 2010. Holness is also an activist and community organizer, focusing on systemic racism, justice, equality and inclusion.
Bleed by Tracey Lindeman
Bleed is an examination of how we treat endometriosis and the ways the medical system fails patients. Part memoir, part investigative journalism, Tracy Lindeman conducts extensive interviews and research to track the modern experience of those with endometriosis, from discrimination to medical gaslighting. She encourages patients to fight for a revolution in medicine and care.
Lindeman is a freelance journalist, who has reported for The Guardian, The Atlantic, Al Jazeera, Maclean's, The Walrus, the Globe and Mail, CBC and many others. She is based in western Quebec.
Crying Wolf by Eden Boudreau
In the memoir Crying Wolf, Eden Boudreau shares her path to recovery after being raped by a man she agreed to go on a date with. After the rape, she was met with disbelief by friends, strangers and authorities, often because of the stigma around her being bisexual and nonmonogamous. This pushed Boudreau into silence and despair, eventually leading to addiction and attempted suicide. However, through writing she began to heal, as she spotlights the ways marginalized survivors are often ignored.
Boudreau is a writer from Halifax. Her essays have been featured in Flare, Today's Parent, Runner's World and other publications. She is the host and creator of the podcast Dear Lonely Writer, which is aimed at destigmatizing mental health struggles during the writing process. Crying Wolf is her first book.
Life Sentence by Amy Bell
After Amy Bell's father defended two cop killers stating that "every person accused of a crime deserves a defence," his career and marriage began to crumble. Amy and her brother had to live in the aftermath of their father's choice, facing poverty and isolation. Many years later, when Amy, unaware of her father's involvement in the controversial case, stumbles across an old Polaroid of one of the killers among her dying father's things, she embarks on a journey in search of answers. She shares this story in her memoir Life Sentence.
Bell is a professor of history at Huron University College in London, Ont. Her research focuses on the history of crime and forensics, Britain during the Second World War and histories of the emotions.
Gibby by John Gibbons & Greg Oliver
John Gibbons shares his story from being raised in a military family to serving as the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays for over 11 years in two separate stints in the book Gibby. Gibbons led the Jays to the American League Championship Series in 2015, ending a 22-year playoff drought. The team did it again in 2016. Gibbons reflects on an on-field career that didn't pan out, but a managing career that did.
Gibbons is a retired professional baseball player and the former manager of the Toronto Blue Jays. He lives in San Antonio, Texas.
Greg Oliver is the author of over a dozen books. He is the 2020 recipient of the James C. Melby Historian Award for his contributions to pro wrestling history. He lives in Toronto.
Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe
Ordinary Notes reflects on questions about Black life in the wake of loss. Christina Sharpe brings together the past and present realities with possible futures to construct a portrait of everyday Black existence. The book touches on language, beauty, memory, art, photography and literature.
Sharpe is a writer and professor. She is the author of In the Wake: On Blackness and Being. It was named one of the best books of 2016 by the Guardian. She is also the author of Monstrous Intimacies: Making Post-Slavery Subjects. Sharpe is the Canada Research Chair in Black Studies in the department of humanities, at York University, in Toronto.
Quantum Physics Made Me Do It by Jeremie Harris
Quantum Physics Made Me Do It aims to tackle questions around the implications of science. We know that science is real, but what does it all mean for our place in the universe and for the future of humanity? This book offers an accessible and engaging look at the complex world as mapped out by modern physics.
Jeremie Harris is a physicist-turned Silicon Valley AI startup founder. His research in quantum mechanics has been featured in many of the world's top physics journals.
Scar Tissue by Sara Danièle Michaud, translated by Katia Grubisic
Sara Danièle Michaud considers what makes a mother in the book Scar Tissue. Mothers are created by their children and expanded and abbreviated by maternity as a social category. Motherhood is both organic and constructed. Scar Tissue explores this most primal human relationship from a personal and universal point of view.
Michaud is a writer and philosopher. Her research and publications focus on the intersection of philosophy and literature. She teaches at the Cégep de Saint-Laurent. Scar Tissue is her first book to be translated into English.
Katia Grubisic is a writer, editor and translator. Her translation of Brothers by David Clerson was a finalist for the 2017 Governor General's Literary Award for French-to-English translation.
Just Once, No More by Charles Foran
Charles Foran paints a portrait of fatherhood, as his own father begins to face his final decline. Just Once, No More reflects on Foran's relationship with his father, Dave, and how Dave remained a tough and emotionally distant man. Wanting to reassure Dave that he was loved, Foran began to write about their connection. In writing, Foran comes to terms with his own sadness and the stories we tell ourselves and those we love.
Foran is the author of several books including the novels Carolan's Farewell and House on Fire, as well as the nonfiction The Last House of Ulster. He has made documentaries for CBC Radio and is a contributing reviewer for the Globe and Mail. He is currently the executive director of the Writers' Trust of Canada.
Song of the Sparrow by Tara MacLean
In her memoir Song of the Sparrow, singer-songwriter Tara MacLean recalls her childhood in the backwoods of P.E.I. where hunger and uncertainty were always near as the daughter of a musician father and actor mother. Growing up, MacLean found danger even in her most trusted circles turning to singing as a refuge. Song of the Sparrow charts her musical career from her early days to touring with Dido, Tom Cochrane and Lilith Fair. It's a heartbreaking and raw memoir about a life filled with music.
MacLean is a singer-songwriter from P.E.I. She has been a recording and touring artist for over 25 years. She is also a playwright, author, poet and mother. Song of the Sparrow is her first book.
Between Good and Evil by Mellissa Fung
Veteran journalist Mellissa Fung uncovers the stories of the girls taken captive by the terrorist group Boko Haram in the book Between Good and Evil. Fung, who was captured by Taliban sympathizers in Afghanistan herself, conducted hundreds of hours of interviews with the survivors and their families. These are stories of rape, torture, escape and excommunication, as the girls fight against the terrorist group in their own ways and rebuild their lives in the aftermath.
Fung is a bestselling author, journalist and filmmaker. In 2008, as a field correspondent covering Afghanistan for CBC, she was taken hostage. Fung wrote about that experience in her book Under an Afghan Sky.
Unearthing by Kyo Maclear
After Kyo Maclear's father dies, a DNA test shows that she is not biologically related to the father that raised her. Maclear embarks on a journey to unravel the family mystery and uncover the story of her biological father, raising questions about kinship and what it means to be family in Unearthing.
Maclear is an essayist, novelist and children's author. Her books have been translated into 15 languages, won a Governor General's Literary Award and been nominated for the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award, among others. Her memoir Birds Art Life was a finalist for the 2017 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction and won the 2018 Trillium Book Award.
Oak Island Odyssey by Scott Clarke
Scott Clarke makes a compelling case for the connection between Freemasonry and the treasure at Nova Scotia's Oak Island in Oak Island Odyssey. Through years of research, Clarke shows how these mysteries are intertwined. Oak Island Odyssey includes images, maps and illustrations, offering a fresh perspective on the secrets of the Freemasons and the Oak Island treasure,
Clarke is a historian, librarian, archivist and record analyst in Toronto. He has been researching Nova Scotia's Oak Island mystery for more than 20 years.
Prisoner #1056 by Roy Ratnavel
Captured and tortured by government soldiers for being Tamil at the age of 17, Roy Ratnavel sought refuge in Canada. After being released from the prison camp where many of his friends died, Ratnavel's father helped him immigrate, before being shot and killed. To repay his hero father, Ratnavel made the most of his opportunities and rose from the mailroom to the executive suite of the country's largest independent asset management company. Prisoner #1056 recounts this harrowing experience.
Ratnavel was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 1969. As a teenager, he became a political prisoner before fleeing to Canada. Ratnavel is now an executive at Canada's largest independent asset management company. He lives in Toronto.
British Columbiana by Josie Teed
After graduation, Josie Teed accepts a position at a remote heritage site in British Columbia showcasing the 19th-century gold rush. Living in a nearby village with a population of 250 and no cell reception, Teed questions her future and tries to find connection and purpose while living in a place frozen in time. She recounts this story in her memoir British Columbiana.
Teed is a writer from Pelham, Ontario. Her work has been published in Bad Nudes Magazine and Graphite Publications. She lives in Montreal.
Outsider by Brett Popplewell
Outsider follows journalist Brett Popplewell as he uncovers the story of Dag Aabye, an aging former stuntman who lived alone inside a school bus on a mountain, running day and night through blizzards and heat waves. The book chronicles Aabye's life from childhood to the silver screen, reflecting on our notions of aging, belonging and human accomplishment.
Popplewell is a writer and associate professor of journalism at Carleton University in Ottawa. He is also the author of The Escapist: How One Man Cheated Death on the World's Highest Mountain.
Drawing Botany Home by Lyn Baldwin
In the memoir Drawing Botany Home, Lyn Baldwin returns to her childhood home in southern British Columbia for a new job, where she confronts the cost of her mobility. After nearly three decades of traveling for her career, Baldwin is homesick and disconnected from her green neighbours. Drawing Botany Home reflects on settler-Indigenous relations and Baldwin's challenging childhood.
Baldwin is a teacher and plant conservation biologist who uses art and science to help mitigate society's extinction of experience with the botanical world. She lives and works in southern British Columbia.
Indigiqueerness by Joshua Whitehead, with Angie Abdou
Indigiqueerness began from a conversation between Joshua Whitehead and Angie Abdou. Part dialogue, part collage and part memoir, the book reflects on Whitehead's childhood, queer identity, the role of theory and Indigenous language.
Joshua Whitehead is an Oji-nêhiyaw, two-spirit writer, poet and Indigiqueer scholar from Peguis First Nation. He is the author of the poetry collection full-metal indigiqueer and the Canada Reads-winning novel Jonny Appleseed. His first nonfiction book, Making Love with the Land, was published in 2022.
LISTEN | Joshua Whitehead reflects on changing how we deal with trauma:
Agent of Change by Huda Mukbil
Agent of Change recounts Huda Mukbil's experience working as an intelligence officer for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Mukbil was the first Black Arab-Canadian Muslim woman to join CSIS and she was at the forefront of the fight against terrorism after 9/11. Her expertise in international security and her commitment to workplace transparency drove important changes in the organization.
Mukbil is an international security consultant, activist and a former intelligence officer with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. She lives in Ottawa.
LISTEN | Huda Mukil reflects on her experience with CSIS:
Keep My Memory Safe by Stephanie Chitpin
In her memoir Keep My Memory Safe, Stephanie Chitpin tells the story of being transported to the island of Mauritius after being born to unwed parents in Hong Kong. In Mauritius, Chitpin was raised as an orphan in the Buddhist temple Fook Soo Am. She eventually moved to Canada, determined to pursue her education, and studied at the University of Guelph.
Chitpin is a professor of Educational Leadership in the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa. She is the co-editor of the book series Transforming Education Through Critical Leadership, Policy And Practice.
A Complex Coast by David Norwell
David Norwell recounts his 1,700-km kayak journey from Victoria, B.C. to Gustavus, Alaska in this illustrated book, filled with watercolour maps and depictions of local flora and fauna. A Complex Coast is a coming-of-age story that will appeal to kayakers, naturalists and adventure-seekers alike.
Norwell is an author, illustrator and world traveller.
Alphonso Davies: A New Hope by Farhan Devji
Alphonso Davies: A New Hope is the first biography of the Canadian soccer sensation. Based on years of reporting and extensive interviews with friends and family, the book explores Davies's life and career from growing up amidst the Liberian Civil War to starting life in a new country and becoming a superstar, helping Canada reach the men's World Cup for the first time in 36 years.
Farhan Devji is the former reporter for the Vancouver Whitecaps FC and a multimedia storyteller, whose writing has appeared in the Edmonton Journal and Ottawa Citizen. He produced the documentary Becoming Canadian: The Alphonso Davies Story.
LISTEN | Farhan Devji on writing about Alphonseo Davies:
Wildflower by Aurora James
In her memoir Wildflower, fashion star Aurora James recounts growing up the daughter of a counterculture mother to moving to Jamaica with a man her mother married when she was seven, where she learned harsh lessons about control, power and abuse. Scouted as a model when she was just in eighth grade, James became disenchanted by the industry and found power in creating for the runway, showcasing traditional African designs. Wildflower traces James's path to becoming the first Black female designer to win a Council of Fashion Designers of America Award and starting one of the fastest-growing social justice nonprofits.
James is the creative director and founder of the luxury accessories brand Brother Vellies, founder of the Fifteen Percent Pledge and vice chair of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Born in Toronto, James lives in Los Angeles and New York City.
LISTEN | Aurora James on her career, fashion and writing a memoir:
Leaning Out of Windows by Ingrid Koenig & Randy Lee Cutler
Leaning Out of Windows collects insights from a six-year exploration of how knowledge can be translated across disciplinary communities to create new scientific and aesthetic perspectives. It's a collaboration between scientists and artists seeking to understand the differences between the language they use and how knowledge is developed and visualized.
Ingrid Koenig is the inaugural Artist in Residence at TRIUMF, Canada's particle accelerator centre, where she organizes collaborations between artists and physicists. She is also a professor at Emily Carr University.
Randy Lee Cutler is a professor at Emily Carr University interested in themes of collaboration, materiality, and intuition. She explores the intersection of matter and metaphor.
I Felt the End Before It Came by Daniel Allen Cox
Growing up a Jehovah's Witness, Daniel Allan Cox understood his queerness was considered unacceptable by his religion. This resulted in disassociation and a lifelong journey to disentangle himself from the gaslighting and shunning he faced by being part of the religious group. I Felt the End Before It Came grapples with Cox's complicated past, from his early days as a door-to-door preacher to his time in New York City among a scene of photographers and provocateurs.
Cox is the author of four novels. His writing has appeared in Catapult, Electric Literature, The Rumpus and Maisonneuve.
The New Masculinity by Alex Manley
The New Masculinity is a guide for escaping toxic masculinity and unlearning what it means to be a man. Editor and nonbinary writer Alex Manley reflects on the state of men's mental health and offers up ways to unlearn gender roles that put masculinity before one's humanity.
Manley is a Montreal-based writer, editor and translator. Their work has been published by AskMen, Hazlitt, The Walrus, Vulture, Catapult, Electric Literature, Maisonneuve, This Magazine and the Literary Review of Canada.
The Autumn Ghost by Hannah Wunsch
Hannah Wunsch traces the origins of intensive care units and mechanical ventilation back to the polio epidemic in the book The Autumn Ghost. Without these innovations, the death toll of the COVID-19 pandemic would have been even higher. Through compelling testimony from doctors, nurses, medical students and patients, Wunsch explores how the polio epidemic revolutionized modern medical care.
Wunsch is a critical care physician and researcher at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. She is a professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at the University of Toronto and a Canada Research Chair. The Autumn Ghost is her first book.
Who Gets In by Norman Ravvin
In Who Gets In, Norman Ravvin tells the story of his Jewish grandfather's experience fleeing Nazism and immigrating to Canada from Poland in the 1930s. Who Gets In looks at xenophobic, anti-Semitic government policies and the true legacy of nation-building in Canada.
Who Gets In will be available on May 13.
Ravvin is the author of The Girl Who Stole Everything, Hidden Canada: An Intimate Travelogue and A House of Words: Jewish Writing, Identity, and Memory. Born in Calgary, he now lives in Montreal.
Storylines by J. Edward Chamberlin
J. Edward Chamberlin explores the power of stories and how they have helped us survive for thousands of years in Storylines. Stories have told humanity what we know, what to watch out for and what to wonder about. Storytelling holds us together and can push us apart. Storylines looks at how stories work to find a way forward that centres hope and possibility.
Storylines will be available on May 13.
Chamberlin is a professor at the University of Toronto and a former senior research associate with the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. He is the author of several books including Horse: How the Horse Has Shaped Civilizations and If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories?: Finding Common Ground. Chamberlin is an officer of the Order of Canada.
Discipline n.v. by Concetta Principe
In Discipline n.v., which fuses poetry and academic theory, Concetta Principe reflects on the discipline required to earn a PhD while dealing with a mood disorder. Principe opens up about the barriers to academic success and what it's like to be an older woman pursuing a PhD.
Discipline n.v. will be available on May 15.
Principe is a poet and scholar. She is the author of the book Stars Need Counting: Essays on Suicide and the poetry collections, Interference and This Real.
Archives of Joy by Jean-François Beauchemin, translated by David Warriner
In Archives of Joy, Jean-François Beauchemin turns his poetic and playful gaze on animals, reflecting on their potential to change our lives. From his beloved pet dogs and cats to garden creatures and farm animals, Beauchemin shows that nature is the joyful antidote to our anxieties around mortality.
Archives of Joy will be available on May 16.
Beauchemin is an author from Quebec. He has been shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Awards twice. His writing includes books like Garage Molinari, Turkana Boy and Young and Wise.
David Warriner translates from French to English. He has lived in France and Quebec and is now based in British Columbia.
Brown Boy by Omer Aziz
In Brown Boy, Omer Aziz describes the complex process of creating an identity as a first-generation Pakistani Muslim boy on the outskirts of Toronto, that fuses where he's from, what people see in him, and who he knows himself to be.
Through his personal narrative with the books and friendships that move him, Aziz wrestles with the contradiction of feeling like an Other and his desire to belong to a Western world that never quite accepts him.
Aziz was born in Toronto and was educated through scholarships at Queen's University, the Paris Institute of Political Studies, Cambridge University, and Yale Law School.
He has written for publications such as the New York Times and the Atlantic, and has worked for politicians such as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chrystia Freeland.
Bones of Belonging by Annahid Dashtgard
Bones of Belonging is a collection of essays that examine what it's like to be a Brown woman working for change in a white world. Annahid Dashtgard, a racialized immigrant writer and diversity and inclusion leader, uses honesty and humour to consider what it means to belong to a culture dominated by whiteness.
Bones of Belonging will be available on May 16.
Dashtgard is a leading voice on race, trauma and immigration. She is the CEO and co-founder of Anima Leadership, a company working for justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. She is the author of the memoir Breaking the Ocean.
Searching for Happy Valley by Jane Marshall
During her career as a travel writer, Jane Marshall came across hidden valleys known as "happy valleys" on different continents. Geographically isolated and protected by walls of mountains, these valleys are home to endangered species and inside the valleys humans and nature have struck a balance. Marshall aims to learn about these areas from their Indigenous keepers and why she finds deep peace within them. She writes about this journey in Searching for Happy Valley.
Searching for Happy Valley will be available on May 16.
Marshall is a travel writer living in Canmore, Alta. She has written for the Edmonton Journal, Travel Alberta, VUE Weekly, Avenue Magazine and more. Her first book is Back Over the Mountains: A Journey to the Buddha Within.
How to Clean a Fish by Esmeralda Cabral
In How to Clean a Fish, Esmeralda Cabral recounts an extended stay in Portugal, the country of her birth, with her family. Cabral, her Canadian-born husband, children and Portuguese water dog, Maggie, explore cobblestone alleys, try local cuisine and connect with the culture, seeking to make their own version of home.
How to Clean a Fish will be available on May 16.
Cabral is a creative nonfiction writer. She was born in the Azores, grew up in Alberta, and now lives in Vancouver.
Making a Home by Jen Powley
In Making a Home, Jen Powley tells the story of how she developed a shared attendant services system for young adults living with severe physical disabilities. The book looks at how putting young people with disabilities in nursing homes may meet their physical needs but not their social, psychological and emotional needs.
Making a Home will be available on May 18.
Powley is a writer living in Halifax. She is the author of Just Jen: Thriving Through Multiple Sclerosis, which won the 2018 Margaret and John Savage First Time Author Nonfiction Book Award.
Instructions for a Flood by Adrienne Fitzpatrick
Instructions for a Flood comes in the form of personal essays about life in central and coastal regions of British Columbia. Adrienne Fitzpatrick reflects on the landscapes she inhabits, the isolation of these areas and the community that results in remote regions. The stories of people and places explore the strong pull of nature and serve as a guide for being.
Instructions for a Flood will be available on May 19.
Fitzpatrick is a writer from northern British Columbia. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in Prairie Fire, CV2, subTerrain, The New Quarterly and Thimbleberry.
I Got a Name by Eliza Robertson, with Myles Dolphin
Eliza Robertson reopens the case of Krstal Senyk's murder in the book I Got a Name. When Senyk stepped up to help her best friend leave an abusive husband, Senyk became the outlet for the husband's rage. Ronald Bax terrorized and threatened Senyk for months, until one day, she was shot and killed at her home in the Yukon and Bax was nowhere to be found. Robertson pieces together Senyk's story and examines gender-based violence and the failings of law enforcement.
I Got a Name will be available on May 23.
Robertson is the author of the novel Demi-Gods, which won the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction. Her first story collection, Wallflowers, was shortlisted for the East Anglia Book Award and selected as a New York Times Editor's Choice. She lives in Montreal. In 2013, she was shortlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize for her story L'Étranger.
Myles Dolphin is a communications specialist and a former journalist in all three Canadian territories. He has worked for newspapers such as Hay River Hub, Nunavut News and Yukon News. He currently lives in Victoria.
The Human Scale by Michael Lista
The Human Scale highlights Michael Lista's signature approach to crime reporting, where minute details are not overlooked, but instead used as doorways deep into extreme situations. The book includes Lista's most celebrated stories with postscripts that describe his writing process and the fallout from publication.
The Human Scale will be available on May 25.
Lista is a poet and journalist, whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Slate, The Walrus and Toronto Life. He is the author of three books of poetry and a collection of essays. Lista was the winner of the 2020 National Magazine Award Gold Medals for both Investigative Reporting and Long Form Feature Writing. His story, The Sting, is being adapted into a television series for Apple TV+.
Unbroken by Angela Sterritt
In her memoir Unbroken, Angela Sterritt shares her story from navigating life on the streets to becoming an award-winning journalist. As a teenager, she wrote in her notebook to survive. Now, she reports on cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada, showing how colonialism and racism create a society where Indigenous people are devalued. Unbroken is a story about courage and strength against all odds.
Unbroken will be available on May 30.
Sterritt is a journalist, writer and artist. She currently works with CBC Vancouver as a host and reporter. Sterritt is a member of the Gitxsan Nation and lives on Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh territories, Vancouver, Canada.
Ukrainian Scorpions by Grand Chief Ronald M. Derrickson
Ukrainian Scorpions is about Grand Chief Ronald M. Derrickson's personal experience fighting for justice in Ukraine's political and diplomatic spheres. Derrickson has spent much of the past 20 years doing business in the country that has been shut out of the EU and left on its own. The book also explores the much wider struggle of Ukraine to find its footing and shake off the gangsterism that has plagued the country since the 1990s.
Ukrainian Scorpions will be available on May 30.
Derrickson is an Indigenous leader from British Columbia and an international businessman. His memoir Fight or Submit was shortlisted for the National Business Book Award. He also co-authored Unsettling Canada and Reconciliation Manifesto with Arthur Manuel.
Truth Telling by Michelle Good
Truth Telling is a collection of seven personal essays that explore a wide range of issues affecting Indigenous people in Canada today, including reconciliation, the rise of Indigenous literature in the 1970s and the impact it has to this day, the emergence of "pretendians" and more.
Truth Telling will be available on May 30.
Good is a Cree writer and retired lawyer, as well as a member of Red Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. Five Little Indians, her first book, won the 2020 Governor General's Literary Award for fiction and the 2021 Amazon Canada First Novel Award. It also won Canada Reads 2022, when it was championed by Ojibway fashion journalist Christian Allaire.
LISTEN | Michelle Good reflects on her literary success and debut novel:
Tracking Giants by Amanda Lewis
Burned out from her career as an overachieving book editor, Amanda Lewis moved to British Columbia and pledged to visit all of the biggest trees in the province. When the pandemic hit and with the effects of climate change and logging, Lewis shifted her focus to learning about forests in an interconnected way. Tracking Giants offers insights on what she learned and what we might really be after when we pursue big things.
Tracking Giants will be available on May 30.
Lewis is a book editor and big-tree tracker. Born in Dublin, Ireland, she now lives in British Columbia. Tracking Giants is her first book.
The Fire Still Burns by Sam George
Set in the Vancouver area from the 1940s to present day, The Fire Still Burns recounts Sam George's life from the village of Eslhá7an to the confines of St. Paul's Indian Residential School, and then to a life of addiction and incarceration. It's a story of survival and rebuilding after trauma.
The Fire Still Burns will be available on May 31.
George is a Squamish elder and a residential school survivor. He works as an educator with the Indian Residential School Survivors Society and speaks with students and community groups about his experiences.
Pageboy by Elliot Page
Elliot Page shares his personal journey from the massive success of Juno to discovering his queerness and identity as a trans person, while navigating criticism and abuse from some of the most powerful people in Hollywood. Pageboy is filled with behind-the-scenes details and interrogations on sex, love and trauma. It's a story about what it means to free ourselves from the expectations of others and step into our truth with defiance, strength and joy.
Pageboy will be available on June 6.
Page is an Academy Award-nominated actor, producer and director. He currently stars in the hit TV-series The Umbrella Academy. Pageboy is his first book.
The War As I Saw It by George Matuvi
As violence drives George Matuvi's family from their home in the mountains to the streets of Zimbabwe, a journey of displacement, hardship and resilience begins. Living through a war he doesn't understand as a young boy, Matuvi explores the ingenuity of his family and what happens when we need to cope with forces beyond our control. He shares his story in The War As I Saw It.
The War As I Saw It will be available on June 6.
Matuvi is an electrical engineer from Chamini, a rural part of Zimbabwe. The War as I Saw It is his first book. He lives in Hamilton, Ontario, with his family.
The Temple at the End of the Universe by Josiah Neufeld
In the memoir The Temple at the End of the Universe, Josiah Neufeld reflects on his childhood as the son of Chrisitan missionaries based in Burkina Faso. This experience showed him how people's actions are influenced by spiritual and religious convictions and how faith can combat feelings of personal powerlessness. The Temple at the End of the Universe calls for a new spiritual paradigm in the face of the climate crisis.
The Temple at the End of the Universe will be available on June 6.
Neufeld is a journalist who grew up in Burkina Faso. His writing has appeared in the Walrus, Hazlitt, the Globe and Mail, Eighteen Bridges, the Ottawa Citizen, the Vancouver Sun, Utne Reader, Prairie Fire and the New Quarterly. He lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Love Notes to Grievers by Angela E. Morris
Love Notes to Grievers is a collection of poetic notes by Angela E. Morris, written following the death of her father, grandmother and friend all within a short period of time, Morris reminds grievers to make space for personal grief. This book encourages readers to take their time with loss and let go of the confines of other people's timelines and expectations.
Love Notes to Grievers will be available on June 13.
Morris is a writer and massage therapist based on Vancouver Island. She writes about loss, grief, relationships and bereavement.
Gendered Islamophobia by Monia Mazigh
Gendered Islamophobia explores Monia Mazigh's multiple identities as a hijab-wearing Muslim woman who has spent most of her life as an immigrant residing in Quebec. Mazigh reflects on Islamophobia as applied to women and the stereotypes that Muslim women face.
Gendered Islamophobia will be available on June 15.
Mazigh was born and raised in Tunisia and immigrated to Canada in 1991. Her book Hope and Despair tells the story of her husband's deportation to Syria where he was tortured and held without charge for over a year. She is also the author of the novels Mirrors and Mirages and Hope Has Two Daughters.
The Deepest Map by Laura Trethewey
The Deepest Map chronicles the global efforts to map the oceans' floor and obtain an accurate reading of the vast underwater terrain. Documenting Inuit-led crowdsourced mapping in the Arctic and a Texan's quest to become the first man to dive to the deepest point in each ocean, this book explores the world's oceans and fraught questions around deep sea mining.
The Deepest Map will be available on July 11.
Trethewey is an author and journalist. Her writing has appeared in the Guardian, the Atlantic and the Walrus. She is the author of the book The Imperilled Ocean: Human Stories from a Changing Sea.
