32 Canadian books to read in spring 2023

Celebrate the return of spring by reading a great Canadian book! Check out this list of buzzworthy Canadian titles out right now.

Ducksby Kate Beaton

Ducksis an autobiographical graphic novel that recounts author Kate Beaton'stime 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.

Duckswon Canada Reads 2023, when it was championed by Jeopardy! star Mattea Roach.

• Kate Beaton's affectingDucksdives into the lonely life of labour in Alberta's oil sands

Kate Beaton is a cartoonist from Nova Scotia who launched her career by publishing the comic stripHark! A Vagrantonline. 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 bookStep Aside, Pops,which wonthe 2016 Eisner Award for best humour publication. Beatonhas also published two children's books,King BabyandThe Princess and the Pony.

WATCH | Mattea Roach on why Ducks should win Canada Reads:

Mattea Roach on why Kate Beaton's graphic memoir Ducks is the one book all of Canada should read

1 year ago

Duration 1:04

On the final day of Canada Reads 2023, Mattea Roach shared their thoughts on the graphic memoir by Kate Beaton.

Falling Hourby Geoffrey D. Morrison

Falling Hourfollows Hugh Dalgarno around a public park as he tries to determine the contents of his mind. An early 30's clerical worker, Dalgarno spends all day and night with his thoughts, walking through the park ruminating on such topics as the theory of quantum morality, nosiness, the CIA and the beauty of nature.

Geoffrey D. Morrison is the author of the poetry chapbookBlood-Brain Barrierand co-author of the short fiction collectionArchaic Torso of Gumby. He was a finalist in both the poetry and fiction categories of the 2020 Malahat Review Open Season Awards and a nominee for the 2020 Journey Prize. He lives in Vancouver.

WiresthatSputterby Britta Badour

Britta Badour's debut collection of poetry,WiresthatSputter, explores topics like pop culture, sports, family dynamics and Black liberation.

• Watch Britta B inspire with her poem of empowerment for young women

Badour, better known as Britta B., is an artist, public speakerand poet living in Toronto. She is the recipient of the 2021 Breakthrough Artist Award from the Toronto Arts Foundation. She teaches spoken word performance at Seneca College.

Bad Creeby Jessica Johns

Bad Creeis a horror-infused novelthatcentres around a young woman named Mackenzie who is haunted by terrifying nightmares and wracked with guilt about her sister Sabrina's untimely death. The lines between her dreams and reality start to blur whenshe begins seeing a murder of crows following her around the city and starts gettingthreatening text messages from someone claiming to be her dead sister. Looking to escape, Mackenzieheads back to her hometown in rural Alberta where she finds her family still entrenched in their grief. With her dreams intensifying and getting more dangerous, Mackenzie must confront a violent family legacy and reconcilewith the land and her community.

• Jessica Johns's novelBad Creeis a story about grief, guilt and healing

Jessica Johns is a Vancouver-based writer, visual artistandmember of Sucker Creek First Nation in Treaty 8 Territory in northern Alberta. Johns won the2020 Writers' TrustJourney Prizefor the short storyBad Cree, which evolved into the novel of the same name.

LISTEN | Jessica Johns discusses Bad Cree on The Next Chapter:

The Next Chapter2:52Jessica Johns on Bad Cree

Jessica Johns on the inspiration behind her book, Bad Cree.

Superfan by Jen Sookfong Lee

Jen Sookfong Lee'smemoirSuperfanbegins with the line"I was born in 1976 into a noisy house in East Vancouver where there were never enough bathrooms, privacy or salt and vinegar chips to go around." There was, however, television, music, celebrity popular art.Superfanis a memoir-in-pieces that uses one woman's life-long love affair with pop culture as a revelatory lens to explore family, identity, belonging, grief and the power of female rage.

• Jen Sookfong Lee's memoirSuperfanexamines a painful obsession with pop culture

Jen Sookfong Leeis a writer from Vancouver. Her books includeThe Conjoined,which was nominated for the International Dublin Literary Award and was a finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize;The Better Mother,which was a finalist for the City of Vancouver Book Award;The End of East;andFinding Home.

LISTEN | Jen Sookfong Lee discusses her memoir and love of pop culture with Shelagh Rogers:

The Next Chapter21:06Jen Sookfong Lee on Superfan: How Pop Culture Broke My Heart

The Vancouver novelist Jen Sookfong Lee on her memoir Superfan, where she shares her loves and losses through the lens of pop culture.

In the Upper Country by Kai Thomas

In the Upper Countryis a fictional portrayal of mid-19th century southern Ontario through the eyes of a youngBlack journalist. When a woman escaping the U.S.through the Underground Railroad kills a slave hunter,Lensindais enlisted to interviewher from jail. Instead of providing her testimony, the old woman proposes an exchange: a story for a story. The deal seems mundaneenough, excepttheirback-and-forth soon reveals an extraordinary range of stories, secrets and untoldhistories, including those of Black refugee communities and Indigenous nations around the Great Lakes.

• Kai Thomas's novel In the Upper Country is a fresh take on Black Canadian history & the Underground Railroad

KaiThomas isa writer, carpenter and land steward. Born and raised in Ottawa, he is of Black and mixed heritage descended from Trinidad and the British Isles.In the Upper Countryis his first novel.CBC Books named ThomasaBlack writer to watch in 2023.

LISTEN | KaiThomas discusses In the Upper Country on The Next Chapter:

The Next Chapter13:02Kai Thomas on Upper Country

TNC contributor Ryan B. Patrick interviews Kai Thomas about his historical fiction novel, Upper Country.

Really Good Actuallyby Monica Heisey

Really Good, Actuallyfollows Maggie, a 20-something woman trying to navigate heartbreak,divorce and online dating at a young age. Inspired by her personal experiences, Heisey explores the art of moving on, provingthe process is alot messier, nonlinearand interdependent than many of us would like to admit.

• Going through a break up? Read Monica Heisey'sReally Good, Actually

Monica Heisey is a comedian who has written for print and television, including shows like CBC'sSchitt's CreekandBaroness von Sketch Show.

LISTEN | Monica Heisey discusses comedy and writing with Tom Power:

Q14:41Monica Heisey on finding the humour in divorce for her novel, Really Good, Actually

Last month, the TV writer Monica Heisey (Schitts Creek, Baroness Von Sketch Show) released her highly anticipated debut novel, Really Good, Actually, which follows the devastating and often absurd journey of a 28-year-old going through the first year of her divorce. Hear Monica open up about navigating divorce at a young age, and how she found humour in heartbreak.

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.

Tara 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.

Hold My Girlby Charlene Carr

Hold My Girlis a dual narrative novel about two women,Katherine and Tess,whose eggs are switched during IVF.Hold My Girl, which exploresthe complexities of love, motherhood and racial identity, wasoptioned in 2023 by production company Blink Studios for a series adaptation.

• 6 Black Canadian writers to watch in 2023

Charlene Carr is a Toronto-raised writer and author who is now based in Nova Scotia. She is the author of several independently published novels and novellas.Hold My Girlis her first novel with a major publisher.

LISTEN | Charlene Carr talks to Shelagh Rogers about Hold My Girl:

The Next Chapter13:14Charlene Carr on Hold My Girl

Charlene Carr talks to Shelagh Rogers about her novel, Hold My Girl.

VenCoby Cherie Dimaline

VenCois a subversive and imaginative adult novel about a coven of modern-day witches. The book's protagonist, Lucky St. James, finds herself down on her luck when she and her grandmother Stella are set to be evicted from their apartment. One night, doing laundry in the building's basement, Lucky finds a tarnished silver spoon that features an illustration of a witch over letters that spell out S-A-L-E-M.This alerts Lucky to Meena, someone who is part of VenCo, an international headhunting firm that seeks out exceptional women. An adventure unfolds involving secret witches, witch hunters, magic spoons and an epic road trip from Torontoto Salem, through Appalachia and into New Orleans.

• Cherie Dimaline's novelVenCofeatures witches and a wild road trip across America

Cherie Dimaline is a Mtis author and editor. Her other books includeRed Rooms,The Girl Who Grew a Galaxy,A Gentle HabitandEmpire of Wild.The Marrow Thieveswas named one ofTime magazine's top 100 YA books of all time.The Marrow Thieveswas defended byJully BlackonCanada Reads2018.The Marrow Thievesalso won theGovernor General's Literary Award for Young people's literature textand theKirkus Prize for young readers' literature.

LISTEN | Cherie Dimaline talks to Tom Power about her writing success:

Q14:02Cherie Dimaline on how working in the world of magic made her a better writer

Cherie Dimaline on her new young adult novel Funeral Songs for Dying Girls, and how she sneaks social commentary into children's books.

We Are All Perfectly Fine by Dr. Jillian Horton

Six years ago, Dr. Jillian Horton was feelingburned out. At the time,she attended a five-day meditation retreat for healthcare workers.Horton arrived a skeptic, suspiciousabout whether a week-long wellness excursion would actually quell the exhaustion built up over years of working in a high-intensity, often overburdenedhealthcare system.The connections she made and the stories she heard from other healthcare professionals left a profound impact. So profound that Horton decided to write a memoir about her experience.That book isWe Are All Perfectly Fine.

• Dr. Jillian Horton examines burnout facing healthcare professionals in new book

Dr. Jillian Horton isa medical educator, writer, musician and podcaster from Winnipeg.

LISTEN | Dr. Jillian Horton talks to Shelagh Rogers about We Are All Perfectly Fine:

The Next Chapter19:03Dr. Jillian Horton on We Are All Perfectly Fine

Dr. Jillian Horton talks to Shelagh Rogers about her book, We Are All Perfectly Fine: A Memoir of Love, Medicine and Healing

More Sureby A. Light Zachary

A. Light Zachary's debut collection,More Sure, is about the process of finding oneself again and again through time, experience and community. The poet explores themes of queerness, neurodivergence, labour, love and family.

Zachary is a writer, editor and teacher living in Toronto and Grande-Digue, N.B.Zachary was longlistedtwice for the2021 CBC PoetryPrizefor their poemsTwo GirlsandWhy bury yourself in this place you ask.

Tell Me Pleasant Things about Immortalityby Lindsay Wong

Tell Me Pleasant Things about Immortalityis a collection of "immigrant horror stories." From Shanghai to Vancouver, the women inTell Me Pleasant Things about Immortalityhaunt and are haunted by first loves, troublesome family members and traumatic memories.

• Lindsay Wong writes 'immigrant horror stories' in new bookTell Me Pleasant Things about Immortality

Lindsay Wong is a Vancouver-based author. She holds a BFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and an MFA in literary nonfiction from Columbia University. Wong's memoirThe Woo-Woowasa finalist for the 2018 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfictionand was defended byJoe ZeeonCanada Reads2019.CBC Booksnamed Wonga writer to watchin 2019 andMy Summer of Love and Misfortune,her first YA novel, was published in 2020.

LISTEN | Lindsay Wong talks to Tom Power about writing about her life:

Q18:58Author Lindsay Wong is writing a new kind of ghost story

Author Lindsay Wong talks about the stigma around mental illness, growing up with ghosts, and what inspired her new book of short stories, Tell Me Pleasant Things About Immortality.

In the Belly of the Congoby Blaise Ndala

In the Belly of the Congois a novel about Nyota Kwete, a young woman set to attend university in Brussels when her father asks her to uncover the mystery behind her grandmother's disappearance. Kwete's grandmother is Princess Tshala Nyota, the daughter of King Kena Kwete III of the Kuba people in Congo. She disappeared decades ago after being forced to perform at the 1958 World's Fair in Brussels as a display of the Belgium royal palace's power.In the Belly of the Congotells the Congolese princess's story leading up to her disappearance, including her young life in the Congo, her love affair with a Belgian administrator and her adventures in Europe. Decades later, her granddaughter traverses the same streets she did, crossing paths with a Belgian scholar who helps her uncover her family's secret history.

• Blaise Ndala's novelIn the Belly of the Congolooks at the human cost of colonization in the Congo

Blaise Ndala is the Ottawa-based Congolese Canadian author of the novelsJ'irai danser sur la tombe de Senghor, which won the Ottawa Book Prize in the French Fiction category andSans capote ni kalachnikov,winner of the 2019 edition of theCombat national des livres.

Hollow Bambooby William Ping

Based on a true story, with elements of magical realism and satire,Hollow Bambooexplores the history of Chinese emigration to Newfoundland through a familial lens. When millennial William Ping finds himself in an uncomfortable conversation about his Chinese heritage with his girlfriend's parents, he excuses himself to go to the bathroom. There, William is visited by a stubborn and sarcastic spirit named Mo. The spirit soon takes him to the past where he learns about his grandfather, the first William Ping, who moved to Newfoundland from China in 1931.

William Ping is a Chinese Canadian writer from Newfoundland. His debut novelHollow Bamboowas written as a creative thesis for his MA at Memorial University. He is a producer with CBC Newfoundland.

The Porcelain Moonby Janie Chang

The Porcelain Moonis a story about forbidden love, belonging and freedom. Set in France in the final days of the First World War, the book follows Pauline Deng, a young Chinese woman who runs away from her uncle's home in Paris to avoid an arranged marriage in Shanghai.Pauline is offered refuge by Camille Roussel, a woman trying to escape from her abusive husband, and the two become fast friends. When Pauline discovers a secret Camille has been hiding, their situation becomes dangerous and the two women must make a choice that binds them together forever.

• Janie Chang'sThe Porcelain Moonis an illuminating look at a lost chapter in history

Janie Changis a B.C.-based historical fiction writer who draws inspiration from her family history, ancestral tales and the stories she was told as a child about life in a Chinese small town pre-First World War. Her novelsThree Souls,Dragon Springs RoadandThe Library of Legendspaint a picture of what life was like in China in the early 20th century.

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.

• Canadian poet Lorna Goodison shares the books that inspired her life and work

Lorna 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 thememoir 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 Story of Usby Catherine Hernandez

The Story of Usis the story of Mary Grace Concepcion, a Filipino worker who has left her family behind to build a new life in Canada. She secures employment as a personal support worker in Toronto, caring for Liz, an elderly woman living in a bungalow in Scarborough who is living with dementia. An unlikely relationship blossoms between the two, as Mary Grace works to bring her husband to Canada and learns more about Liz's surprising past.The Story of Usis narrated by Mary Grace's infant daughter, adding a unique twist to this heartfelt story.

• Catherine Hernandez's novelThe Story of Usis about 'love and the power of family'

Catherine Hernandez is a Canadian writer, author and playwright. She is the author of several books, including the novelsScarboroughandCrosshairsand the children's booksI Promise,M is for MustacheandWhere Do Your Feelings Live?. She is also the creator and star of the Audible Original sketch comedy podcastImminent Disaster.Scarboroughwas championed by actor Malia Baker onCanada Reads2022. It was also adapted into a feature film thatpremiered at TIFF in 2021.CBC Booksnamed hera writer to watchin 2017.

LISTEN | Catherine Hernandez talks to Shelagh Rogers about The Story of Us:

The Next Chapter12:41Catherine Hernandez on The Story of Us

Ryan B. Patrick interviews Catherine Hernandez about her latest novel, The Story of Us.

On the Ravineby Vincent Lam

Vincent Lam's newest novel is a follow-up of sorts to his 2006 Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning story collectionBloodletting & Miraculous Cures.InBloodletting & Miraculous Cures, readers met four medical students and were immersed in the challenges and transformations that unfolded as these students became young doctors.On the Ravinerevisits two of the characters from the earlier book Chen and Fitzgerald several years later in their career.On the Ravinereveals that Chen and Fitzgerald have remained close friends and have devoted themselves to the treatment of opioid addiction, each in a very different way. But when Claire, a talented violinist, comes under Chen's care, his desire to help her is intertwined with his own past and the demands of her medical care challenge Chen and Fitzgerald's delicately balanced friendship.

• Vincent Lam is back with new novelOn the Ravine

Vincent Lam is a Toronto-based short story writer, novelist and medical doctor. Hisbooks include the 2006 ScotiabankGiller Prize-winning story collectionBloodletting & Miraculous CuresandThe Headmaster's Wager,a 2012 novel that was shortlisted for the 2012 Governor General's Literary Award for fiction and the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize.

LISTEN | Vincent Lam talks to Matt Galloway about writing fiction about the opioidcrisis:

The Current23:15In new novel, Dr. Vincent Lam explores substance abuse and how to tackle it

In his new book On The Ravine, award-winning author and physician Dr. Vincent Lam uses fiction to explore different approaches to the opioid crisis. The addiction specialist joins us to discuss the concept of the safe supply of illicit drugs, and blurring the line between fact and fiction.

A Death at the Partyby Amy Stuart

A Death at the Partyis a thriller setover the course of a single day.The book centres around Nadine Walsh, a loving mother, devoted wife and dutiful daughter. While preparing to host a birthday party for her mother, Nadine is overwhelmed with thoughts of the past. The party was supposed to be a chance for her friends and family to celebrate, have fun and forget but Nadine is caught up with haunting memories and secrets that might come to a head when her guests arrive.

• Amy Stuart's thrillerA Death at the Partyinvites readers to a garden party whodunnit

Amy Stuartis a bestselling novelist and short story writer, currently living in Toronto. She is the author of the Still Mine thriller series, which features the novelsStill Mine,Still Waterand the latest entry,Still Here.

LISTEN | Amy Stuart talks to Shelagh Rogers about A Death at the Party:

The Next Chapter16:44A garden party turns into a murder mystery in Amy Stuarts new thriller (Encore: March 11, 2023)

The bestselling thriller writer Amy Stuart amps up the tension in her spellbinding domestic whodunit A Death at the Party.

Birnam Woodby Eleanor Catton

Birnam Woodis a thriller set in the middle of a landslide in New Zealand. Looking to make opportunity out of a disaster, Mira, the founder of a guerilla gardening collective that plants crops amid other criminal environmental activities, sets her sightson an evacuated farm as a way out of financial ruin.The only problem is theAmerican billionaire Robert Lemoinehas already laid claim to it as hisend-of-the-world lair. Afterthe same thing for polar opposite reasons, their paths cross and Robertmakes Miraan offer that would stave off her financial concerns for good. The question is: can she trust him?

• Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton's new novel, Birnam Wood, is a moral thriller for our times

Eleanor Catton is a London, Ont.-born New Zealand author. Shewon the 2013 Booker Prize for fictionand the 2013 Governor General's Literary Award for fiction for her second novel,The Luminaries.

LISTEN | Eleanor Catton talks to Eleanor Wachtel about Birnam Wood:

Writers and Company59:02Booker winner Eleanor Cattons new novel, Birnam Wood, is a moral thriller for our times

In 2013, Canadian-born, New Zealand writer Eleanor Catton made history when she became the youngest person ever to win the Booker Prize. Catton was just 28 and her novel, The Luminaries, went on to become an international bestseller. Catton later adapted her novel for a BBC-TV mini-series and wrote the screenplay for the 2020 film production of Jane Austen's Emma. Now, her much anticipated new novel, Birnam Wood, a page-turning eco-thriller set in New Zealand's South Island, tackles some of the biggest issues of our time, including the climate crisis, digital surveillance and economic inequality.

The Book of Rainby Thomas Wharton

The Book of Rainis a science fiction novel set in a world where ghost ore, a new minable energy source much more lucrative than gold can disrupt time and space and slowly make an environment inhospitable. In one of three ghost ore hotspots in the world, the mining town of River Meadows, residents have been evacuated, except Amery Hewitt can't seem to stay away. The former resident frequently returns to River Meadows to save the animals still living in the contaminated zone. When Amery goes on another dangerous trip and doesn't return, her game designer brother, Alex, enlists the help of his mathematician friendto help get her back. All they need to do is break the laws of physics. Amery's story is one plot line of three in this mind-bending epic by Wharton.

• Thomas Wharton's novel The Book of Rain is a sci-fi epic involving time, physics & environmental catastrophe

Alberta-based author Thomas Wharton has written several books, including his first novel,Icefields,which won the 1996 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book in Canada and the Caribbean.Icefieldswas a finalist forCanada Reads2008, when it was defended by Steve MacLean.His novelSalamander,was shortlisted for the 2001 Governor General's Award forfiction and was also a finalist for the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize the same year.

Pandexiconby Wayne Grady

The pandemic has changed the world including our language and our cultural understanding of the world around us. Wayne Grady kepta list of wordsthat emerged over the course of the pandemic, and has woven that notekeepingwith journal entriesand a timeline inPandexicon.Pandexiconreflects how the pandemic changed the way we communicate and how we connect with and understand each other.

• How has the pandemic changed our language?

Wayne 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.

LISTEN | Wane Grady talks to Shelagh Rogers about Pandexicon:

The Next Chapter18:08Wayne Grady on Pandexicon

Wayne Grady talks to Shelagh Rogers about his book Pandexicon: How the Language of the Pandemic Defined Our New Cultural Reality.

Chrysalisby Anuja Varghese

Chrysalisis a short story collection that examines the ways in which racialized women are undermined and exploited and the ways in which they reclaim their power. Blending realism with elements of fantasy, Varghesetells stories of a womandying in her sleep repeatedly until she finds an unexpected refuge or a couple in a broken marriage encountering spiritual direction. Each story looks at family, sexuality, cultural norms and the ties that bind.

Anuja Vargheseis a Hamilton, Ont.-based writer and editor. Her stories have been recognized in the Prism International Short Fiction Contest and the Alice Munro Festival Short Story Competition and nominated for the Pushcart Prize.Chrysalisis her first book.

The Fakeby Zoe Whittall

The Fakeis about Shelby, whosigns up for a grief support group after her wife dies and grieving with her family becomes unbearable. There, she meets Cammie, a dynamic person who just so happens to have cancer. Shelby throws herself into supporting Cammie but the closer she grows to her, the more she begins to question the person she is supporting. When Shelby meets Gibson, a newly divorced man who isintimately involved withCammie, the two of them soon realize Cammie may not be everything she saysshe is.

• What if someone lied to you about having cancer? That's the premise of Zoe Whittall's latest novel The Fake

Zoe Whittall is a Canadian novelist and screenwriter. Her books includeBottle Rocket Hearts,Holding Still for as Long as Possible,a Lambda Literary Award winner, andThe Best Kind of People,which was a finalist for the 2016 ScotiabankGiller Prize. She's also a writer for the hit CBC comedy seriesBaroness Von Sketch Showand was a story editor on the sitcomSchitt's Creek.The Best Kind of Peopleis being adapted for film by Sarah Polley. Whittall lives in Toronto.

The Berry Pickersby Amanda Peters

The Berry Pickerscentres arounda fictional,decades-old cold case of a missing four-year-old girl of a Mi'kmaq family from Nova Scotia.When four-year-old Ruthie goes missing from a blueberry field in Maine in 1962, her brother Joe the last person to see her before she went missing is forever changed by her disappearance. In Maine, a girl named Norma senses there is something her family isn't telling her. That feeling stays with her and eventually setsher off on a years-long journey touncover the truth.

Amanda Peters is a writer of Mi'kmaq and settler ancestry living in Annapolis Valley, N.S. Her work has appeared in the Antigonish Review, Grain Magazine, the Alaska Quarterly Review, the Dalhousie Review and Filling Station Magazine. She is the winner of the 2021 Indigenous Voices Award for Unpublished Prose and a participant in the 2021 Writers' Trust Rising Stars program.

Coronation Yearby Jennifer Robson

Coronation Yearis a novel set against the backdrop of Queen Elizabeth's 1953 coronation. In the Blue Lion Hotel, where the Queen is set to drive by in a carriage on her way to be crowned, the residents could not be more excited. That's because each one needs this day to happen for their own reasons. Edie, the owner of the hotel, is hoping the festivities will bring in a crowd that saves her from financial ruin. Stella Donati is a Holocaust survivor and photographer looking for a fresh start. James Geddes finally found a home in the Blue Lion after facing racial discrimination; if Edie can make enough money to keep the doors open, he could see a future here.When someone makes threats against Coronation Daythe residents of the Blue Lion Hotel take it upon themselves tofind out who is behind them or risk losing the security and peace this day promises to usher in.

• Jennifer Robson shares her biggest fears

Jennifer Robson is a Toronto-based historical fiction writer. Her books includeGoodnight From London,Moonlight Over Paris,After the War is Over,Somewhere in FranceandFall of Poppies.

Optic Nerveby Matthew Hollett

Matthew Hollett employs wordplay and a specific kindof playfulness in poems about photography, perception and ways of seeing in the poetry collectionOptic Nerve. Hollettdissects the way we see the world, from perspectives such asthe inside of an eyeball to the impact of a bomb crater.

• How Matthew Hollett wrote the poem that won the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize

Hollettis a writer and visual artist in St. John's. He published his debut book,Album Rock, in 2018. Hollettwon the2020CBC Poetry PrizeforTickling the Scar.

A World of Curiositiesby Louise Penny

A World of Curiositiesis Louise Penny's 18th book in the Armand Gamache series, which takes place in a warm, eccentric, tight-knitcommunity known as Three Pines. This time out, Inspector Gamachegets caught up in a story involvingtwo young siblings who have appeared in the village.The pairwere youngwhen their troubled mother was murdered, leaving them damaged. Gamache must uncover why they have arrived in townbefore it's too late.

Louise Penny, a former CBC broadcaster and journalist, is the award-winning author of the Inspector Armand Gamache mysteries.

LISTEN | Louise Penny talks about her latest titlein the Armand Gamache series:

The Next Chapter18:41Louise Penny on A World of Curiosities

Louise Penny talks to Shelagh Rogers about A World of Curiosities, the latest in the Inspector Armand Gamache series, live at the Ottawa International Writers Festival.

Some UnfinishedBusinessby Antanas Sileika

Some Unfinished Businesstells the story of Martin Averkaas he endures Soviet occupation and imprisonment in the Gulags, determined to see his wife again. Later, having survived the horrors of the labour camps, Martin is fueled by another emotion: retribution for the man that betrayed him and his friends decades earlier.

Antanas Sileika has written six other books, includingProvisionally Yoursand the memoirThe Barefoot Bingo Caller.Heregularly appears as a columnist onThe Next Chapter.He's the former director of the Humber School for Writers.

Burrby Brooke Lockyer

Burris a gothic fiction work; itusesmagical realism and ghosts to explore death, grief and the relationships we form to come to terms with them.Jane, a 13-year-old girl,entertains the idea of digging a tunnel to her dead father's coffin. This levelof angst leads her to Ernest, a man still grieving from the drowning of his younger sister years before. The two strike up a bond while Jane's mother remains absent and, eventually, get the town talking whenthey both disappear from Burr.

Brooke Lockyeris a Toronto-based writer. She won the 2009 Hart House Literary Contest and is a co-recipient of both the Peter S. Prescott and the Lenore Marshall Barnard prizes for prose. Her work has been published inToronto Life, carte blanche, the Hart House Review, White Wall ReviewandGeist.

The Winter Knightby Jes Battis

InThe Winter Knight, Jes Battis reimagines the King Arthur legendsas a modern, queer detective. These days, the knights of the round table live in Vancouver. When one of them turns up dead,Hildie,the leadinvestigator, is determined to find the murderer. On her list of suspects are Wayne, an autistic reincarnation of a medieval figure trying to keep up with modern times, and Burt, Wayne's love interest. To solve the case, Hildie will have to come up against some powerful adversaries, including knights, runesmiths and a beast hunting people's dreams.

Battisis a queer autistic writer and teacher and the author of the Occult Special Investigator series and Parallel Parks series. Their first novel,Night Child, was shortlisted for the Sunburst Award.