29 Canadian books you should be reading in April

CBC

10-04-2025

A new month means new books! Here are some of the most anticipated Canadian titles for April 2025.
A Mouth Full of Salt
In A Mouth Full of Salt, the lives of Sudan's men, women and children reveal a country on the edge of seismic change, as women challenge and reshape cultural traditions. In a small farming village in North Sudan, the tragic drowning of a young boy sets off a series of mysterious events: animals fall ill, date gardens burn and rumours of a sorceress spread.
A Mouth Full of Salt is out now.
Reem Gaafar is a writer, physician and filmmaker. Her work has appeared in African Arguments, African Feminism, Teakisi Magazine, Andariya and 500 Words Magazine, Relations: An Anthology of African and Diaspora Voices, among others. Her short story Light of the Desert, published in I Know Two Sudans, won an Honourable Mention. A Mouth Full of Salt is her debut novel and won the 2023 Island Prize.
REDress edited by Jaime Black-Morsette
REDress is a powerful anthology that brings together the voices of Indigenous women, elders, activists, artists, academics and families affected by the tragedy of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people from across Turtle Island. Through personal stories and reflections on the REDress Project — an art installation featuring red dresses placed in public spaces as a call for justice — the book emphasizes the ongoing call for action and honours the vital role of Indigenous women as keepers and protectors of land, culture and community.
Jaime Black-Morsette is a Red River Métis artist and activist. Founder of The REDress project in 2010, Black-Morsette has used their art to foster community and drive change against the epidemic of violence against Indigenous women and girls across Turtle Island for over a decade. Their interdisciplinary art practice spans immersive film, video, installation, photography and performance, exploring themes of memory, identity, place and resistance.
Finding Flora by Elinor Florence
In Finding Flora, Scottish newcomer to Canada, Flora, escapes her abusive husband to the Alberta prairie, determined to rebuild her life. But when a hostile government threatens their land and her violent husband is on the hunt for her, Flora forms a bond with her neighbours — a Welsh widow with three children, two American women raising chickens and a Métis woman training wild horses. United, the women come together to face their challenges.
Finding Flora is out now.
Elinor Florence is an author, journalist and member of the Métis Nation of B.C. Her debut novel was Bird's Eye View, and her second novel, Wildwood, was one of Kobo's Hundred Most Popular Canadian Books of All Time. Florence holds degrees in English and journalism. She grew up in Saskatchewan and currently lives in Invermere, B.C.
Defund by Sandy Hudson
In Defund: Black Lives, Policing, and Safety for All, Sandy Hudson, founder of Black Lives Matter Canada, reveals that defunding the police is essential to creating a model of security to increase public safety. Drawing on research and interviews, Hudson shares how simple changes to educational resources, community centres and civic engagement can not only enhance community safety, but also improve the ability to meet the diverse needs of their citizens.
Hudson is a producer, writer, lawyer and activist. She is co-executive producer of CBC documentary series Black Life: Untold Stories and co-founder of Black Lives Matter Canada and the Black Legal Action Centre.
Small Ceremonies by Kyle Edwards
In the city of Winnipeg, two Indigenous boys are on the cusp of adulthood, imagining a future filled with possibility and greatness. In Small Ceremonies, their stories are intertwined with others in the community, who are also searching for purpose, all of which ultimately leads to one fateful and tragic night.
Small Ceremonies is out now.
Kyle Edwards is an Anishinaabe journalist and writer from the Lake Manitoba First Nation and a member of the Ebb and Flow First Nation. His work has appeared in the BBC News World, CBC, Maclean's, Native News Online and the Toronto Star.
Restaurant Kid by Rachel Phan
Three decades after her family's restaurant opened, Rachel Phan's parents are considering retirement. In Restaurant Kid, Phan reflects on this milestone and shares her experience growing up as the daughter of Chinese immigrants, from living with parents who were building a new life to navigating the challenges of being the only Chinese girl at school.
Phan is a Toronto-based writer. Her work has been featured in HuffPost, CBC, the National Post and Maclean's. She holds a Master of Journalism from the Toronto Metropolitan University.
On Oil by Don Gillmor
In On Oil, Don Gillmor examines how oil has been a constant in the lives of modern society. Gillmor, who worked as a roughneck on oil rigs during the seventies oil boom in Alberta, looks at the ways our dependence on oil has led to regulatory capture and how the industry has evolved over the decades.
Gillmor is a Toronto journalist and author of novels and nonfiction books, including Canada: A People's History. He has twice been nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award in the young people's literature — text category for The Fabulous Song and The Christmas Orange.
In The Book of Possibilities, Bee Quammie challenges the idea of being a "role model" and instead offers herself as a "possibility model" — one example among many of how to live one's life. Through this approach, she aims to show her daughters and other women the vast array of opportunities and paths available, encouraging them to embrace life even when it leads to unexpected or unconventional destinations.
The Book of Possibilities is out now.
Quammie is a writer and broadcaster based in Toronto. She co-hosted the Kultur'D podcast on Global News Radio and is a regular guest on The Social. Her work has been featured in publications including EBONY, The Globe and Mail, Maclean's and Chatelaine, among others. She covers a wide range of topics, including race and culture, parenthood, and health and wellness.
The Maid's Secret by Nita Prose
The latest by bestselling author Nita Prose is novel The Maid's Secret. Everything seems to be on the up and up for Molly Gray, but her life is soon to change. Despite a new promotion at the hotel she works at and impending nuptials to her beloved Juan Manuel, a new mystery involving a rare treasure, an elusive thief and a long-forgotten diary put Molly's life in peril.
The Maid, The Mystery Guest and The Mistletoe Mystery.
Vauhini Vara's Searches is a nonfiction work that grapples with ethical questions around AI, big tech and human nature. In 2021, Vara asked a predecessor of ChatGPT to write about her sister's death, resulting in an essay that was equal parts moving and disturbing. The experience led Vara to explore how these technologies shape identity and how online content is often exploited for corporations' financial gain.
The Saskatchewan-born, Colorado-based Vara has been a technology reporter and editor for The Atlantic, The New Yorker and the New York Times Magazine, and is the author of novel The Immortal King Rao and story collection This is Salvaged.
Story of Your Mother by Chantal Braganza
In Story of Your Mother, Chantal Braganza reflects on her intergenerational experiences growing up as the daughter of Mexican and Indian immigrants, as well as raising her own two children. Through a series of essays, she explores themes of migration, identity, motherhood, loss, nourishment and violence.
Story of Your Mother is out now.
Braganza is a Toronto-based writer and editor. Her writing has been featured in the New York Times Magazine, Hazlitt, The Hairpin, the Globe and Mail, Toronto Life, Fashion Magazine and Maisonneuve, among others. She is currently a senior editor at Chatelaine.
She's a Lamb! by Meredith Hambrock
Jessamyn St. Germain is convinced that she's destined to be a big star. While others might see her dreams as delusional, She's a Lamb! follows Jessamyn's relentless quest — revealing the oppressive weight of patriarchy and the depths she will sink to, for a chance to make her dreams a reality.
She's a Lamb! is out now.
Meredith Hambrock is a novelist and television writer from Saskatoon. Her story You Should Go Over There was longlisted for the 2016 CBC Short Story Prize. She is also the author of the novel Other People's Secrets.
I Want to Die in My Boots by Natalie Appleton
I Want to Die in My Boots is a captivating, untold portrait of Belle Jane, a larger than life woman who led a gang of cattle thieves in Saskatchewan in the 1920s — defying social conventions and living a life full of rebellion.
I Want to Die in My Boots is out now.
Natalie Appleton is a writer from Okanagan, B.C. Her previous work includes the travel memoir I Have Something to Tell You, which evolved from an essay written for the New York Times' Modern Love column. Appleton has won the Prairie Fire's Banff Centre Bliss Carman Poetry Award and Room Magazine's Creative Nonfiction Contest. She studied journalism at the University of Regina and creative writing at City University London. She was on the longlist for the 2016 CBC Nonfiction Prize for her story Fourth Son of Fourth Wife.
Field Work by Andrew Forbes
Field Work: On Baseball and Making a Living explores baseball's history and sheds light on the people who make the game happen, from the people building ballparks to parents coaching Little League teams. Relayed poetically, Andrew Forbes examines the complex relationship between work, play and how we value labour in the world of baseball.
Field Work is available April 15, 2025.
Forbes's first short story collection What You Need was a finalist for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award and Trillium Book Award. He is also the author of The Utility of Boredom, The Only Way Is the Steady Way, McCurdle's Arm and The Diapause. His stories have appeared in the Toronto Star, Canadian Notes and Queries and Maisonneuve Magazine, among others. He is based in Peterborough, Ont.
elseship by Tree Abraham
In elseship, Tree Abraham recounts the emotional rollercoaster of falling in love with her housemate, who did not return her feelings. The book blends personal reflections, research, illustrations, photos and diagrams, all organized within the eight ancient Greek categories of love. It explores the beauty and pain of unrequited love while challenging the traditional heteronormative narrative of romance.
elseship is available April 15, 2025.
Abraham is a Brooklyn-based writer, art director and book designer. Originally from Ottawa, she is also the author of Cyclettes.
The O'Keefes of O'Kanagan by Ken Mather
The O'Keefes of Okanagan tells the fascinating rags-to-riches story of Michael O'Keefe, who arrived in Canada as a penniless Irish immigrant in 1819, unaware of the lasting legacy his descendants would create in the Canadian west. This multi-generational tale explores the O'Keefe family's ranching journey and prosperity, offering a snapshot of the early farming community in the Okanagan Valley.
The O'Keefes of Okanagan is available April 15, 2025.
Ken Mather has spent over four decades researching western Canadian heritage, holding curatorial, management and research roles at Fort Edmonton Park in Barkerville, B.C. and the O'Keefe Ranch since the early 1970s. He is the editor of the Okanagan Historical Society Report and was awarded the 2015 Joe Martin Memorial Award for his contributions to B.C. cowboy heritage. His previous books include Stagecoach North, Ranch Tales, Frontier Cowboys and the Great Divide and Trail North, which was a finalist for the British Columbia Lieutenant Governor's Award for Historical Writing.
Lake Burntshore by Aaron Kreuter
In Lake Burntshore, camp counselor Ruby's idyllic summer is disrupted when the camp owner's son hires Israeli soldiers to fill staffing gaps. Ruby, a committed anti-Zionist, must decide if she's willing to risk her job to confront him over issues of Jewish belonging and settler-colonialism, even as she falls for one of the soldiers, Etai. As tensions rise, Ruby must navigate her growing feelings for Etai while also grappling with the camp's impact on its relationship with the nearby Black Spruce First Nation.
When you can read it: April 22, 2025.
Aaron Kreuter is a Toronto-based author of five books. His short story collection You and Me, Belonging won The Miramichi Reader's 2019 "The Very Best Of!" award for short fiction and was shortlisted for a Vine Award for Jewish Literature in the fiction category. Kreuter's previous works also include the poetry collections Arguments for Lawn Chairs and Shifting Baseline Syndrome, which was a finalist for the 2022 Governor General's Literary Award for poetry.
Skin by Catherine Bush
Skin is a collection of stories that delves into how acts of intimacy can take on strange and perplexing forms in a world shaped by climate change, ecological disasters and the tumult of viruses. From a man who falls in love with the wind to a woman fixated on washing strangers' feet, the stories explore the unexpected ways human connection is affected by a transforming world.
When you can read it: April 22, 2025.
Catherine Bush is the Toronto-based bestselling author of five novels. Her previous works include the Trillium Book Award finalist Claire's Head and New York Times Notable Book The Rules of Engagement. Her latest novel Blaze Island was a Globe and Mail and Writers' Trust of Canada Best Book of the Year and a 2021 Hamilton Reads Selection. Bush is an associate professor at the University of Guelph's Creative Writing MFA program.
In Everything Is Fine Here, a younger sister navigates the challenges of family and societal pressures while offering love and support to her older sister, who is gay, in a country with strict anti-homosexuality laws.
When you can read it: April 22, 2025.
Iryn Tushabe is a Ugandan Canadian writer and journalist based in Regina. Her writing has appeared in Briarpatch Magazine, Adda, Grain Magazine, The Walrus and CBC Saskatchewan, among others. She won the City of Regina writing award in both 2020 and 2024, and was a finalist for the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2021. In 2023, she won the Writers' Trust McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize. Tushabe was longlisted for the CBC Nonfiction Prize in 2016.
The Hypebeast by Adnan Khan
In The Hypebeast, Hamid Shaikh is a small-time crook, dabbling in everything from telemarketing scams to tax frauds, all while dreaming of making it big. When his girlfriend vanishes, he finds himself entangled in a much more sinister scheme than he's ever known, forcing him to confront how far he's willing to go before he loses himself completely.
When you can read it: April 22, 2025.
Adnan Khan is a journalist, author and screenwriter. He was the recipient of the 2016 RBC Taylor Prize for Emerging Writer and his debut novel, There Has to Be a Knife, was included in CBC Book's list of the best Canadian fiction of 2019. He was also named one of CBC Books' writers to watch in 2020. His first feature film, Shook, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2024.
Where the Jasmine Blooms by Zeina Sleiman
In Where the Jasmine Blooms, Yasmine returns to Lebanon to escape a messy divorce and reconnect with her cultural roots, having been raised in Toronto. During her visit, she reunites with an old lover and uncovers long-hidden political secrets within her family, all while grappling with the effects of grief, displacement and war.
When you can read it: April 22, 2025.
Zeina Sleiman is an Edmonton-based Palestinian Canadian writer and educator. With over a decade of experience in post-secondary education, she has contributed to research focused on creating barrier-free communities. Sleiman, a former mentee in the Writers' Union of Canada's BIPOC Connect Program, was awarded the 2024 Silk Road Creative Arts Grant. Where the Jasmine Blooms is her debut novel. Sleiman is a finalist for the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize for her story My Father's Soil.
Book of Hope by Agnes R. Pascal
Book of Hope brings together over 30 voices from northern and Indigenous cancer survivors and caregivers, highlighting the unique challenges of accessing healthcare in the North.
When you can read it: April 22, 2025.
Agnes R. Pascal is Tetlit Gwich'in, originally from Fort McPherson, N.W.T. She was adopted at birth by her grandparents. Now living in Inuvik, N.W.T., Pascal founded the Inuvik Cancer Support group in 2018 after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Currently training to become a counselor at Rhodes Wellness College, Pascal considers her upbringing, community and family to be her strengths.
Theory of Water by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
In Theory of Water, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson discovers, understands and traces the historical and cultural interactions of Indigenous peoples with water in all its forms. She presents water as a catalyst for radical transformation and how it has the potential to heal and reshape the world in response to environmental and social injustice.
When you can read it: April 22, 2025.
Betasamosake Simpson is a Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg scholar, activist, musician, artist, author and member of Alderville First Nation. Her books include Islands of Decolonial Love, This Accident of Being Lost, Dancing on Our Turtle's Back and As We Have Always Done. Simpson was chosen by Thomas King for the 2014 RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award. This Accident of Being Lost was shortlisted for the Rogers Writer's Trust Fiction Prize in 2017 and the 2018 Trillium Book Award.
Her novel Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies was shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction and the Dublin Literary Prize. Her most recent book, a collaboration with Robyn Maynard titled Rehearsals for Living, was shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award for Nonfiction.
I Remember Lights by Ben Ladouceur
A young gay man finds romance in the novel I Remember Lights, when he goes to Montreal during the spectacular celebrations of Expo '67. However, he is struck with the harsh dilemma that many like him must confront — the choice between happiness and safety — when the 1977 police raid on the Truxx gay bar shakes his world.
When you can read it: April 24, 2025.
Ben Ladouceur is an award-winning poet from Ottawa. His first collection Otter, an exploration and celebration of friendship, love and queerness, won the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award for best debut collection. Ladouceur's book Mad Long Emotion won the Archibald Lampman Award. In 2018, Ladouceur received the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ emerging writers. CBC Books named Ladouceur a writer to watch in 2019.
The World So Wide by Zilla Jones
The World So Wide tells the story of Felicity Alexander, a mixed-race opera star, who spends her life chasing love and validation. It is a story of betrayal, revolution — set within the context of the United States invasion of Grenada — and the healing power of music.
When you can read it: April 26, 2025.
Jones is an author based in Winnipeg. She's won many literary awards including the Journey Prize, the Malahat Review Open Season Award, the Jacob Zilber Prize for Short Fiction and the FreeFall short fiction award.
Jones made the 2020 CBC Short Story Prize longlist for Our Father and has longlisted twice for her story How to Make a Friend, in 2022 and 2023; in 2024, Jones was included on the CBC Short Story Prize shortlist. The same year, Jones made the long list for the CBC Nonfiction Prize. She was also named a writer to watch by CBC Books in 2024.
Having built a new life in Vancouver with his boyfriend, Casper Han rarely returns to his hometown, a small remote town in B.C., in The Tiger and the Cosmonaut. But when a crisis forces him and his siblings to reunite, they are compelled to confront a long-avoided tragedy — the mysterious disappearance of his twin brother more than 20 years ago.
When you can read it: April 29, 2025.
Eddy Boudel Tan is a writer based in Vancouver, where he co-founded the Sidewalk Supper Project. His previous works include the novels After Elias and The Rebellious Tide. Tan has been a finalist for the Edmund White Award, the ReLit Best Novel Award and the Ferro-Grumley Award and was named a Rising Star by Writers' Trust of Canada in 2021. His work has appeared in Joyland and Yolk, among others.
Beneath Dark Waters by Eve Lazarus
Beneath Dark Waters is about the tragic sinking of the RMS Empress of Ireland in 1914, during its 192nd voyage from Quebec City to Liverpool, England, claiming more lives than the Titanic. Investigative journalist Eve Lazarus draws on historical records and first-hand accounts to uncover the story of the deadliest peacetime maritime tragedy in Canadian history and its aftermath.
When you can read it: April 29, 2025.
Lazarus is a Vancouver-based journalist, author, and the host and producer of the true crime podcast Cold Case Canada. Her previous works include Murder by Milkshake, Blood, Sweat, and Fear, Cold Case BC and Vancouver Exposed.
The Cost of a Hostage by Iona Whishaw
In the Cost of a Hostage, Lane's quiet August morning is jolted when two shocking cases unfold — she receives news that her brother-in-law, Bob, is missing in Mexico, while her husband, Inspector Darling, is confronted by a frantic mother reporting her son's kidnapping. While the couple searches for Bob, the kidnapper and child are found, making it seem like the case is solved — until another body is discovered.
When you can read it: April 29, 2025.
Iona Whishaw is a Vancouver-based author and former teacher and social worker. She has published works of short fiction, poetry, the children's book Henry and the Cow Problem and the Lane Winslow Mystery series.
Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang
In Julie Chan is Dead, Julie Chan and her identical twin sister Chloe VanHuusen are polar opposites and barely communicate after being separated at a young age. But when Chloe, a popular influencer, mysteriously dies, Julie steps in to take her place and is thrust into a glamourous world with millions of followers. However, she quickly learns that Chloe's seemingly flawless life was far from it, and as she uncovers the sinister cause behind her death, it casts Julie as the next target.
When you can read it: April 29, 2025.
Liann Zhang is a second-generation Chinese Canadian writer who was a former skincare content creator. She holds a psychology and criminology degree from the University of Toronto and splits her time between Vancouver and Toronto. Julie Chan is Dead is Zhang's debut novel.