17 writers to watch in 2017

The 2017 edition of CBC Books' annual writers to watch list is here. Be sure to get to know these writers before their careers enter the stratosphere. Here's a PDF that liststheir recent books.

1. S.K. Ali

Who they are: S.K. Ali is one of the most exciting new voices on the YA scene. TheToronto-basedauthor'sdebut novel, Saints and Misfits, is the first title to be published by Simon & Schuster's new imprint,Salaam Reads,which isfocused on telling Muslim stories.

Read this now: Saints and Misfits, a charming YA novel about a Muslim teen who believes everyone can be divided into one of three categories: saints, misfits or monsters.

• Saints & Misfits is on the Canada Reads 2018 longlist

2. Zoey Leigh Peterson

Who they are:ZoeyLeigh Peterson's writing has appeared in numerous literary magazines, including The Walrus and The Malahat Review. The Vancouver-based writer's debut novel,Next Year, For Sure, came outearlier this year, and it's thoughtful, introspective and highlights an emerging literary voice in Canada.

Read this now:Next Year, For Sure,a novel that explores the complex nature of monogamy, long-term relationships and what it means to try to figure out what you really want.

• How Zoey Leigh Peterson wrote a novel about an open relationship that's not really about an open relationship

3. OmarEl Akkad

Who they are: OmarEl Akkad is a an award-winning journalist who has covered events ranging from the Black Lives Matter movement to the war in Afghanistan. Now based in Portland, Oregon, Akkad released his debut novel,American War, earlier this year, which has been one of the most-talked about books of the year so far.

Read this now: American War, a novel that imagines a United States that's in the middle of a second civil war, thanks to the devastating social and economic impacts of climate change.

• How a bad day at work was the push Omar El Akkad needed to become a novelist

4. Jonny Sun

Who they are: Jonny Sun is an engineer, artist, comic and PhD candidateat MIT. He gained fame on Twitter with comics featuring an alien trying to understand the human condition. His first book,Everyone's a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Tootaps into a collective feeling of loneliness, misplacement and a desire to belong that shines through in both 140-characters and his full-length book.

Read this now:Everyone's a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too, an insightful graphic novel thatexplores what it means to be caught between worlds.

• Why Jonny Sun created an alien that helps us understand what it means to be human

5. Catherine Hernandez

Who they are:Catherine Hernandezis a former theatre practioner and daycare provider from Scarborough, Ont. who mined these experiences to write her vivid and very impressivedebut novel, Scarborough.

Read this now:Scarborough, a moving multi-voiced story about a Toronto neighbourhood that refuses to fall apart in the face of poverty and crime.

• How Catherine Hernandez's resilient neighbourhood inspired her debut novel

6. Kai ChengThom

Who they are: Kai Cheng Thom is a spoken word artist, writer and social worker.Her debut novel,Fierce Femmes, was shortlisted for theLambda Literary Awardfor transgender fiction. Earlier this year, Cheng Tom received the2017Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ emerging writers. ChengThom fearlessly explores challenging topics with inventive, artistic writing.

Read this now:a place called No Homeland, an intimate poetry collection that explorestopics like gender, race and sexuality.

• How writing poetry helped Kai Cheng Thom find a place to belong

7. Aisha Sasha John

Who they are:Aisha Sasha John is a dancer and poet whose poetry collection, Thou, was a finalist for the Trillium Book Award and the ReLit Poetry Award. John's dance background shines through her words, which are passionate, colourful and challenging.

Read this now:I have to live, a powerful poetry collection that explores the tension between our inner and outer selves and meditates on the body as a vehicle for life, communication and art.

• Why Aisha Sasha John believes poetry is the scholarship of "aliveness"

8. Naben Ruthnum

Who they are: Naben Ruthnum is a cultural critic and book reviewer who won the 2013 Journey Prize. He also writes crime fiction under the pseudonym Nathan Ripley. His book, Curry, is insightful, unexpected andeye-opening.

Read this now: Curry, a provacativelong-form essay that asks the questionhow did a dish that doesn'treallyexist come to ubiquitously represent Indian food and culture?

• How Naben Ruthnum uses curry to stir discussion on what it means to be South Asian in Canada

9. Kevin Hardcastle

Who they are: Toronto'sKevin Hardcastle won the 2016 Trillium Award and the 2017 ReLit Award for fictionfor his short story collection Debris. His debut novel, In the Cage, iscoming out this fall. Hardcastle is one of Canada's emerging literary fiction stars.

Read this now:Debris, a collection of 11 short stories about characters struggling to survive on the fringes of society.

10. Gwen Benaway

Who they are: Gwen Benaway is an Anishinaabe and Mtispoet. In 2016,she was the recipient of theDayne Ogilvie Honour of Distinction for emergingLGBTQ authors in Canada. She's also a contributor to CBC Arts. Benaway's writing, whether it's poetry or a personal essay, is sharp, astute and moving.

Read this now: Passage, a poetry collection thatmirrors Benaway'spaths of her ancestors withher own transition from male to female.

• How Gwen Benaway faces her transgender future in her new poetry collection

11. Carleigh Baker

Who they are: Carleigh Baker is aCree-Mtis and Icelandic writer. She was a Journey Prize finalist in 2012 and her writing has appeared in publications like PRISMinternational and The Globe and Mail. Baker's debut short story collection, Bad Endings, highlights a quietly confident voice that deserves to be read more widely.

Read this now:Bad Endings, a short story collection thatexplores failing relationships, challenging family dynamics and mental health.

• Why Carleigh Baker was lost until she wrote a short story collection

12.Kaie Kellough

Who they are:KaieKellough is a Montreal-based poet whose work explores the relationship between poetry and sound. His debut novel,Accordon, was a finalist for the 2017 Amazon.ca First Novel Award, and, likeKellough's poetry, is experimental, original and a pleasure to consume.

Read this now:Accordon, an experimental work of fiction that explores Montreal and the intersection of French and English culture.

• How an album title inspired Kaie Kellough to become a writer

13.Elan Mastai

Who they are: Vancouver-born Elan Mastai is an award-winning screenwriter best known for the film The F Word. He turned to writing fiction in 2017with the publication of his debut novel All Our Wrong Todays, which was so hotly anticipated, he received more than $1 million for it from his publisher.

Read this now:All Our Wrong Todays, a novel that imagines two realities: our current dystopiaand an alternate reality where avocadoes never go bad.

• How Elan Mastai time-warped his way to a debut novel

14. Durga Chew-Bose

Who they are: Durga Chew-Bose was born in Montreal, is now based in Brooklyn and is known for her essays in publications like Buzzfeed, the Guardian and GQ. Her debut essay collection,Too Much and Not the Mood, will show even more readers why Chew-Bose has become one of the most respected and popular writers online today.

Read this now:Too Much and Not the Mood is a collection ofpersonal essays thatexamines issues regarding identity, culture and the intricate process of writing.

• Durga Chew-Bose's surprising literary inspiration

15. Lorina Mapa

Who they are: Lorina Mapa was born in the Phillipines and came to North America when she was 16 years old. She now lives in Quebec, where she creates comics like her movinggraphic memoir,Duran Duran, Imelda Marcos and Me.

Read this now:Duran Duran, Imelda Marcos and Me, a graphic memoir that recalls Mapa'schildhood in the Philippines, as a Duran Duranloving tomboy and politically outspoken teenager during the turbulent 1980s.

• How a great loss inspired Lorina Mapa's graphic memoir about growing up in the Philippines

16. Gillian Best

Who they are: Gillian Best is from Ontario but now lives in the U.K. Her adopted home is also the setting of her thoroughly enjoyabledebut novel,The Last Wave. She won theBronwen Wallace Award in 2003, an award that recognizes writers under the age of 35 who have yet to publish in book form.

Read this now: The Last Wave, a novelthat covers six decades and explores how one woman's drive to do the extraordinary has a lasting impact on her family and relationships.

17. Melanie Mah

Who they are:MelanieMah lives in Toronto, but was born in Alberta,where she sets her debut novel, The Sweetest One, which won the 2017 Trillium Book Award.Mah may only have the one book under her belt, but is already making a name for herself by writing about the"under-told Canadian experience."

Read this now:The Sweetest Oneisa novel thatfollows a 17-year-old living in a rural Alberta, whose elder siblings have met terrible fates after venturing beyond their town's borders.

• Why Melanie Mah loves to write in libraries