Here are all the great Canadian books to check out this fall
Check out all of the CBC Books preview lists for fall 2022
Check out all our fall 2022 book previews in one place — covering the most exciting Canadian fiction, nonfiction, comics, poetry and books for young readers out this season.
Fiction
Our top pick: The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr
The Sleeping Car Porter tells the story of Baxter, a Black man in 1929 who works as a sleeping car porter on a train that travels across the country. He smiles and tries to be invisible to the passengers, but what he really wants is to save up and go to dentistry school. On one particular trip out west, the train is stalled and Baxter finds a naughty postcard of two gay men. The postcard reawakens his memories and longings and puts his job in jeopardy.
The Sleeping Car Porter is on the Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist. The winner will be announced on Nov. 7.
Suzette Mayr is a poet and novelist based in Calgary. She is the author of the novels Dr. Edith Vane and the Hares of Crawley Hall, Monoceros, Moon Honey, The Widows and Venous Hum. Monoceros won the ReLit Award, the City of Calgary W. O. Mitchell Book Prize and made the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist.
LISTEN | Suzette Mayr discusses being a finalist for the Giller Prize:
Nonfiction
Our top pick: Kinauvit? by Norma Dunning
When Dr. Norma Dunning applied to the Nunavut Beneficiary program, seeking to confirm her identity as an Inuk woman, she was asked one question that would set her down a path to understand the history of Canadian bureaucracy. She was asked, "What was your disc number?" This question 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 at the hands of the Canadian government. Dunning provides a comprehensive look into this dehumanizing practice and shares the voices of those who, under this system, were only ever viewed as a number.
Dunning is an Inuk writer who currently lives in Edmonton. She wrote Tainna, which won the 2021 Governor General's Literary Award for fiction. She is also the author of the short story collection Annie Muktuk and Other Stories and the poetry collection Eskimo Pie: A Poetics of Inuit Identity. Annie Muktuk and Other Stories won the 2018 Danuta Gleed Literary Award, which recognizes the best debut short story collection of the year.
Dunning is a juror for the 2023 CBC Short Story Prize, which is currently accepting submissions until Oct. 31.
LISTEN | Norma Dunning talks to Piya Chattopadhyay about reconnecting to her culture:
Poetry
Our top pick: Scars and Stars by Jesse Thistle
Jesse Thistle, the author of the bestselling memoir From the Ashes — a Canada Reads 2020 finalist — returns with the poetry collection Scars and Stars. Scars and Stars charts his own history and the stories of people from his past, including the complex legacies of family, parenthood and community.
Jesse 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 Writer 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.
LISTEN | Jesse Thistle talks to Shelagh Rogers about the healing power of poetry:
Comics
Our top pick: Ducks by Kate Beaton
Ducks is an autobiographical graphic novel that recounts author Kate Beaton's time spent working in the Alberta oil sands. With the goal of paying off her student loans, Kate leaves her tight-knit seaside Nova Scotia community and heads west, where she encounters harsh realities, including the everyday trauma that no one discusses.
Kate Beaton is a cartoonist from Nova Scotia who launched her career by publishing the comic strip Hark! A Vagrant online. The sassy historical webcomic gained a following of 500,000 monthly visitors and was eventually turned into a bestselling book. Beaton's success continued with the book Step Aside, Pops!, which won the 2016 Eisner Award for best humour publication. Beaton has also published two children's books, King Baby and The Princess and the Pony.
LISTEN | Kate Beaton reflects on her time in the Alberta oil sands:
Young adult
Our top pick: Love from Mecca to Medina by S.K. Ali
In the sequel to Love from A to Z, Adam and Zayneb must find their way back to one another. Adam is in Doha, Qatar, making a map of the Hijra, a historic migration from Mecca to Medina, and Zayneb is in school in Chicago. When the pair get a chance 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.
S.K. Ali is a writer and teacher from Toronto, best known for her debut YA novel, Saints and Misfits. She is also the author of Love from A to Z.
LISTEN | S.K. Ali talks to Shelagh Rogers about writing YA:
Middle-grade
Our top pick: Ghostlight by Kenneth Oppel
In the novel Ghostlight, a teen named Gabe revels in his summer job giving ghost tours on Toronto Island. He loves to tell the story of Rebecca Strand, a teen who died after a fall from Gibraltar Point Lighthouse in 1839. But when he encounters the ghost of Rebecca, he learns that her death may not have been an accident. Gabe tries to solve the mystery but along the way encounters more ghosts, some not quite as friendly as Rebecca.
Ghostlight is for ages 9 to 12.
Kenneth Oppel is a bestselling author whose books include the Silverwing trilogy, which has sold over a million copies worldwide, and Airborn, which won the Governor General's Literary Award for children's literature — text. His most recent books include Inkling, Every Hidden Thing and The Nest.
LISTEN | Kenneth Oppel takes The Next Chapter's Proust Questionnaire:
Picture books
Our top pick: Still This Love Goes On by Buffy Sainte-Marie, illustrated by Julie Flett
Still This Love Goes On is a picture book about the power of love and of Cree traditions. It is an artful look at how love will always live on, across time, geography and generations.
Still This Love Goes On is for ages 3 to 8.
Cree singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie's long career includes an expansive catalogue of music, art and work in activism. Hey Little Rockabye was her first children's picture book, published in 2020.
Julie Flett has illustrated several picture books including Richard Van Camp's Little You and We Sang You Home, Monique Gray Smith's My Heart Fills with Happiness and David A. Robertson's On the Trapline. She also is the creator behind the picture book Birdsong.
WATCH | Buffy Sainte-Marie on CBC Music:
