30 Canadian books to read in winter 2024
CBC Books | Posted: January 4, 2024 7:42 PM | Last Updated: January 5, 2024
Cozy up with a great Canadian book during the cold and dark winter season. Check out this list of 30 buzzworthy Canadian titles to read right now!
the berry takes the shape of the bloom by andrea bennett
Beginning as a linear narrative in verse, the berry takes the shape of the bloom encapsulates moments in the life of a trans person. andrea bennett writes of the entangled experiences of gender, family, abuse and more from their complex perspective.
bennett is a nonbinary poet and editor currently based in B.C. Their work has appeared in the Globe and Mail, the Walrus and Reader's Digest. bennett's other books include their poetry collection Canoodlers and their first book of essays, Like a Boy but Not a Boy.
Nights Too Short to Dance by Marie-Claire Blais, translated by Katia Grubisic
René is finally feeling his age in the novel Nights Too Short to Dance. He wants nothing more but to continue to dress elegantly and be independent but those days are long gone. René is visited by old friends and together they reminisce about everything from past loves to tragedies and fights. The old friends find comfort and hope in each other's presence as they fight to live on their own terms.
Marie-Claire Blais was often lauded as one of Quebec's greatest writers. Her latest novel is The Acacia Gardens. She was the winner of numerous awards including the Médicis Prize, the W.O. Mitchell Literary Prize, four Governor General's Literary Awards and two Guggenheim Fellowships. She died in 2021.
Katia Grubisic is a writer, editor and translator. She has been a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for translation and the A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry. Her collection of poems What if red ran out won the Gerald Lampert award for best first book.
WATCH | An interview with Marie-Claire Blais from the CBC Archives:
Songs of Irie by Asha Ashanti Bromfield
Songs of Irie is a historical coming-of-age YA novel set in 1976. Irie and Jilly are from two different worlds — Jilly lives in the hills, safe in a mansion, while Irie is from the heart of Kingston, where fighting on the streets is a regular occurrence. Tension is building on the streets and there is civil unrest in the lead-up to an important election. Irie and Jilly bond at Irie's dad's record store over their love of Reggae music and must fight for their friendship, and budding romance, to survive.
Asha Ashanti Bromfield is a Toronto-based writer, actress, singer and producer of Afro-Jamaican descent. She is known for starring as Melody Valentine, drummer for the band Josie and the Pussycats, in the television show Riverdale and as Zadie Wells in the Netflix show Locke and Key. Her YA novels include Hurricane Summer and Songs of Irie. CBC Books named Bromfield a Black Canadian writer to watch in 2022.
LISTEN | Asha Ashanti Bromfield talks about going from acting to writing:
What Wild Women Do by Karma Brown
What Wild Women Do follows a screenwriter Rowan as she's searching for her purpose and finds an unsolved mystery — the disappearance of camp leader Eddie Calloway — at an abandoned camp in the Adirondacks.
Karma Brown is the author of five other novels, including Recipe for a Perfect Wife. She lives in Ontario.
LISTEN | Karma Brown discusses What Wild Women Do:
A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll
A Guest in the House is a haunting graphic novel about Abby, a newlywed to a recently widowed dentist. But the more she learns about her new husband's first wife, the more suspicious she becomes that she may not have died of natural causes.
Emily Carroll is a Stratford, Ont.-based artist whose books include Through the Woods, a collection of horror comics, and Speak, an adaptation of Laurie Halse Anderson's YA novel, and When I Arrived at the Castle.
An Ordinary Violence by Adriana Chartrand
An Ordinary Violence is a darkly funny horror novel about a young Indigenous woman named Dawn trying to find peace in a world where the lines between the spirit realm and the real world are blurred. For most of her life, Dawn has been haunted by cryptic messages from her dead mother and when her life implodes, she returns to her childhood home and must face the past.
Adriana Chartrand is a mixed-race Métis author originally from Winnipeg and currently based in Toronto. An Ordinary Violence is her debut novel.
LISTEN | Adriana Chartrand discusses An Ordinary Violence:
The Lost Cause by Cory Doctorow
This sci-fi novel from Cory Doctorow imagines a world in the near future where climate change has gone from a divisive topic to a reality of life. Whole cities are being moved inland to prevent flooding and clean energy projects abound. But there are still aging holdouts, who refuse to let go of their old destructive ways — and they are willing to use violence to protect their way of life.
Cory Doctorow is a Canadian science fiction writer, activist and journalist currently based in Los Angeles. Among his many novels are notable titles such as Walkaway and Little Brother. His novel Radicalized was a finalist on Canada Reads in 2020.
LISTEN | Cory Doctorow on why the internet is getting worse:
The Syrian Ladies Benevolent Society by Christine Estima
The Syrian Ladies Benevolent Society is a collection of connected stories traces the immigrant experience of an Arab family through multiple generations. From brave Syrian refugees to trailblazing Lebanese freedom fighters, Azuree knows she comes from a long line of daring Arab women. These stories follow her as she explores ideas of love, faith, despair and the effects of war — and what those family histories mean for her as an Arab woman in the 21st century.
Christine Estima is a writer, playwright and journalist living in Toronto. She was longlisted for the 2015 CBC Nonfiction Prize for her essay Sarajevo Roses. The Syrian Ladies Benevolant Society is her first book.
LISTEN | Christine Estima discusses The Syrian Ladies Benevolent Society:
The Red One by Safia Fazlul
Nisha is an image-obsessed woman living the "perfect" life in a Toronto suburb in the novel The Red One. But behind closed doors she is in a passionless marriage with an unfaithful husband. She hides the pain of her abusive past with shopping sprees, fake friends and a secret drug addiction. A chance meeting with a mysterious man who she's instantly attracted to makes her realize that she must face her past and overcome it.
Safia Fazlul is a Bangladeshi Canadian author and poet based in Toronto. She is also the author of the novel The Harem.
Those Pink Mountain Nights by Jen Ferguson
Those Pink Mountain Nights is a YA novel set in Alberta that follows three teenagers — Berlin, Cameron and Jessie — who are brought together by working at Pink Mountain Pizza. A possible sighting of Kiki, Cameron's cousin who disappeared five months earlier, sets off a course of events over one week in their small, snowy town that will alter all their lives. Those Pink Mountain Nights explores topics such as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, mental health and sexuality.
Jen Ferguson is a YA author, activist and academic of Michif/Métis and Canadian settler heritage, based in Los Angeles. Ferguson has a PhD in English and creative writing. Her debut novel, The Summer of Bitter and Sweet, won the 2022 Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature — text.
LISTEN | Jen Ferguson discusses Those Pink Mountain Nights:
When My Ghost Sings by Tara Sidhoo Fraser
In When My Ghost Sings: A Memoir of Stroke, Recovery, and Transformation, Tara Sidhoo Fraser details how a stroke left her with amnesia and how, when her memories started coming back, she didn't always recognize the person who she used to be. She names that other version of her, Ghost, and in letting Ghost take up more space in her life, she eventually has to reclaim her sense of self.
Tara Sidhoo Fraser is a writer from Vancouver. Her work has been published in Autostraddle and Anathema magazine. When My Ghost Sings is her first book.
LISTEN | Tara Sidhoo Fraser discusses When My Ghost Sings:
Normal Women by Ainslie Hogarth
Normal Women is a darkly comic story about a stay-at-home mom Dani who is becoming increasingly anxious about what would happen to her financially if her husband died. Stumbling into a yoga centre called The Temple, she falls under the spell of its guardian Renata who seems to be committed to helping people reach their "full potential." Things take a turn when Renata disappears and Dani tires to piece together exactly what's going on.
Ainslie Hogarth is a Canadian YA and speculative fiction writer. Her other books include Motherthing, The Lonely and The Boy Meets Girl Massacre (Annotated).
My Effin' Life by Geddy Lee
My Effin' Life is the long-awaited memoir from Rush bassist Geddy Lee. He writes candidly about his childhood, the history of the Canadian band Rush and their success after some struggles early on, as well as intimate stories about his friends and bandmates Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart.
Lee is the vocalist, bassist and keyboard player for the group Rush, with drummer Neil Peart and guitarist Alex Lifeson. Lee was ranked by Rolling Stone as one of the top bassists of all time. He is also the author of Geddy Lee's Big Beautiful Book of Bass.
WATCH | Geddy Less disucsses his life and career on The National:
What Comes Echoing Back by Leo McKay, Jr.
In What Comes Echoing Back, Sam and Robot share a few things in common. First, they are both in the same high school music class. Second, both of them became infamous for the worst things that ever happened to them. While the Internet moves on and small town rumour mills keep cycling, they can't. That is, until a friendship forms and they find music just might be the key to continue playing along.
Leo McKay Jr. is a writer and a high school teacher. He is known for his novel Twenty-Six, which won the Dartmouth Book Award and was chosen for the One Book Nova Scotia event. His debut collection of stories, Like This, also won the Dartmouth Book Award and was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.
LISTEN | Leo McKay, Jr. discussed What Comes Echoing Back:
A Season in Chezgh'un by Darrel J. McLeod
A Season in Chezgh'un is a fictionalized year in the life of a Nehiyaw man and what he experiences working in a remote B.C. First Nation. James, a man from a small settlement in Northern Alberta has created a comfortable life for himself in a trendy neighbourhood in Vancouver. He has all the things he once dreamed of — he travels, has great friends, a great career and a caring partner — but part of him is wary of assimilating into mainstream culture. When his mother dies suddenly, James embarks on a journey to reconnect with his roots. After securing a job as a principal in a remote northern Dakelh community where he encounters poverty, cultural disruption and abuse, he is haunted by ghosts from his past that threaten to throw him off balance.
Darrel J. McLeod is from Treaty 8 territory in Northern Alberta. Before his retirement, he was chief negotiator of land claims for the federal government and executive director of education and international affairs with the Assembly of First Nations. He's the author of the memoirs Mamaskatch and Peyakow. Mamaskatch won the 2018 Governor General's Literary Award for nonfiction and Peyakow was shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction.
LISTEN | Darrel J. McLeod discusses A Season in Chezgh'un:
Held by Anne Michaels
Weaving in historical figures and events, the mysterious generations-spanning novel Held begins on a First World War battlefield near the River Aisne in 1917, where John lies in the falling snow unable to move or feel his legs. When he returns home to North Yorkshire with life-changing injuries, he reopens his photography business in an effort to move on with his life. The past proves harder to escape than he once thought and John is haunted by ghosts that begin to surface in his photos with messages he struggles to decipher.
Anne Michaels is the winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction, the Guardian Fiction Prize, the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, the Trillium Book Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She has been shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award, the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Scotiabank Giller Prize.
LISTEN | Anne Michaels discusses her long career and latest book:
Are You Willing to Die for the Cause? by Chris Oliveros
Are You Willing to Die for the Cause? is an oral history of the movement known as the Quebec Liberation Front, told in comic book form. The story starts in 1963, when a dozen mailboxes in an affluent Montreal neighbourhood are destroyed by homemade bombs. Chris Oliveros' book explores how this eight-year-long movement turned violent and explores the ingredients to dissatisfaction and dissent.
Oliveros is a Montreal-based writer and publisher. In 1989, he founded Drawn & Quarterly, a Montreal publishing company that specializes in comics. He left the company in 2015 to work on Are You Willing to Die for the Cause?
LISTEN | Chris Oliveros discusses Are You Willing to Die for the Cause?
Sonnets from a Cell by Bradley Peters
In his debut collection, Sonnets from a Cell, Bradley Peters writes from personal experiences as a young man in the Canadian prison system. Combining lyrical verse with inmate speech, Sonnets from a Cell offers empathy and grace within moments of isolation and fear.
Peters is a poet and actor currently based in Mission, B.C. His poetry has been featured in numerous literary magazines. Sonnets from a Cell is his debut poetry collection.
LISTEN | Bradley Peters discusses writing poetry about being incarcerated:
On Community by Casey Plett
Casey Plett writes about the implications of community as a word, an idea and a symbol in the book-length essay On Community. Plett uses her firsthand experiences to eventually reach a cumulative definition of community and explore how we form bonds with one another.
Plett is the author of A Dream of a Woman, Little Fish, and A Safe Girl to Love. She is a winner of the Amazon First Novel Award, the Firecracker Award for Fiction and a two-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award. Her work has also been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Plett splits her time between New York City and Windsor, Ont.
LISTEN | Casey Plett discusses the power of community:
How to be Found by Emily Pohl-Weary
How to be Found is a YA novel about best friends Michie and Trissa, who were raised by their single mothers in the same duplex. At 16-years-old, the friends suddenly find themselves with different interests — Trissa loves going to the hottest nightclub in town, while Michie would prefer to stay in reading her favourite book. When Trissa goes missing one night everyone writes her off, but Michie refuses to give up on her friend. Her search for Trissa takes her to dangerous places, all the while a serial killer is targeting girls in their city.
Emily Pohl-Weary is a writer and creative writing instructor at the University of British Columbia. Her previous books include the YA novels Not Your Ordinary Wolf Girl and Strange Times at Western High and the poetry book Ghost Sick. Pohl-Weary is originally from Toronto and now lives in Vancouver.
The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose
The Mystery Guest is a sequel to the bestseller The Maid. The Mystery Guest sees Molly now risen through the ranks to become the Head Maid at the five-star Regency Grand Hotel. Things are looking great until world-renowned mystery author J.D. Grimthorpe drops dead in the hotel. Molly must look deep into her past to unlock clues that reveal her connection to Grimthorpe — and hopefully solve his murder.
Nita Prose is an Toronto author and editor. She is currently the Canadian vice president and editorial director for publishing company Simon & Schuster.
LISTEN | Nita Prose discusses The Mystery Guest:
The Jazz Club Spy by Roberta Rich
The 1930s-set novel The Jazz Club Spy follows Giddy Brodsyk, a Jewish girl who makes a living serving cigarettes at a Manhattan jazz club called Sid's Palace. When she thinks she recognizes the man who burned her Russian village to the ground decades earlier, she agrees to become a spy for Carter van der Zalm, Commissioner of Immigration at Ellis Island. Betrayals and intrigue ensue as Giddy finds herself in the middle of a political conspiracy on the eve of the Second World War, and has to choose between justice and forgiveness.
Roberta Rich is a former lawyer and the bestselling author of a series of historical novels set in Venice in the 16th century and revolve around the life of a midwife. Her books include The Midwife of Venice, The Harem Midwife and A Trial in Venice.
People You Know, Places You've Been by Hana Shafi
People You Know, Places You've Been is a collection of poetry and illustrations that focuses on those everyday interactions that leave a lasting impression on your own identity. Hana Shafi gives insight into the liminal spaces of waiting rooms, checkout counters, public transit and more.
Shafi is a visual artist and poet also known as Frizz Kid. Her writing often explores feminism, race, body politics and popular culture. Her previous poetry collections include It Begins With The Body and Small, Broke, and Kind of Dirty. She is currently based in Toronto.
LISTEN | Hana Shafi discusses People You Know, Places You've Been:
The Cobra and the Key by Sam Shelstad
The Cobra and the Key is a satirical novel centred around the life of a writer named Sam Shelstad who is busy at work on a book about his failed relationship, while he awaits word from a publisher about the manuscript he's sure will make him a star. He's also got another project in the works: a how to book for aspiring fiction writers detailing the finer points of the craft.
Sam Shelstad is a writer currently based in Toronto. He was formerly longlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize and a runner-up for the Thomas Morton Memorial Prize. He has previously published a short story collection called Cop House. His debut novel was Citizens of Light.
Where the Falcon Flies by Adam Shoalts
In Where the Falcon Flies, explorer Adam Shoalts writes about five Canadian ecoregions and centuries of history through following the peregrine falcon's 3,400-kilometre long migration from southern Canada to the Arctic. He explores the importance of the connections between the wilderness and urban parks.
Shoalts is a writer, historian, archaeologist and geographer. He is the author of Alone Against the North, Beyond the Trees, The Whisper on the Night Wind and A History of Canada in Ten Maps. In 2018, he was the Royal Canadian Geographical Society's Explorer-in-Residence.
The Space Between Here & Now by Sarah Suk
In The Space Between Here & Now, Aimee Roh has a rare condition called Sensory Time Warp Syndrome. When Aimee smells something that is linked to a memory, she will travel in time to that moment in her life. When Aimee time travels to a memory about her estranged mother, the moment she is brought back to doesn't match up with the story she was told about why her mother left. Aimee decides to travel to Korea in search of some answers.
Sarah Suk is a YA writer living in Vancouver. Her debut novel, Made in Korea, was named one of the best Canadian books for kids and young adults of 2022 by CBC Books.
LISTEN | Sarah Suk discusses The Space Between Here & Now:
Skid Dogs by Emelia Symington-Fedy
Skid Dogs is a first-hand account of what it was like being an unsupervised and wild girl in a small town in the 1990s. Emelia Symington-Fedy recalls her teenage years after coming home two decades later and following the murder of an 18-year-old girl on the same tracks that she used to hang out at as a kid.
Symington-Fedy is an essayist, storyteller and documentary producer. She is the creator of the blog and radio show that became an audiobook, Trying to Be Good: The Healing Powers of Lying, Cheating, Stealing, and Drugs. She grew up in Armstrong, B.C. and currently lives in Shuswap, B.C.
LISTEN | Emelia Symington-Fedy discusses Skid Dogs:
By the Ghost Light by R.H. Thomson
By the Ghost Light is a personal look at the wonder of youth, the power of art and how the First and Second World Wars forever changed his family. Growing up hearing stories about eight of Thomson's great uncles who fought in the First World War and his Aunt Margaret who served as a nurse, Thomson shares his family history. The memoir explores his childhood playing toy soldiers on the carpet of his grandmother's house and being enamoured by romantic notions of war.
R.H. Thomson, is a Canadian television, film and stage actor. He is best known for playing Jasper Dale in Road to Avonlea and as Matthew Cuthbert in Anne with an E. By the Ghost Light is his debut book.
LISTEN | R.H. Thomson takes the Proust Questionnaire:
Landbridge by Y-Dang Troeung
In her memoir Landbridge: Life in Fragments, Y-Dang Troeung wrote about the transactional relationship host countries have with the refugees they admit. Troeung herself was only one-year-old when she came to Canada from Cambodia fleeing Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime. The book also explores the complex ethnic, regional and national identities of family legacies and how they are passed down to the next generation.
Troeung was a researcher, writer and assistant professor of English at the University of British Columbia. Her first book, Refugee Lifeworlds: The Afterlife of the Cold War in Cambodia, explored the enduring impact of war, genocide and displacement. She died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 42 in 2022.
LISTEN | Y-Dang's husband Christopher B. Patterson and friend Madeleine Thien discuss Landbridge:
Bad Medicine by Christopher Twin
Inspired by Cree folklore and modern Cree life, Bad Medicine follows five teens who share chilling horror stories around a campfire.
Christopher Twin is from the Swan River First Nation in northern Alberta. Currently based in Edmonton, he does comic work and illustrations as a freelancer.
LISTEN | Christopher Twin discusses Bad Medicine: