30 Canadian books to read in winter 2025

CBC

24-02-2025

Cozy up with a great Canadian book during the cold and dark winter season. Check out this list of 30 buzzworthy Canadian titles, featuring books ranging from fiction to poetry to nonfiction to comics!
Dandelion by Jamie Chai Yun Liew
Dandelion is a novel about family secrets, migration, isolation, motherhood and mental illness. When Lily was a child, her mother, Swee Hua, walked away from the family and was never heard from again. After becoming a new mother herself, Lily is obsessed with discovering what happened to Swee Hua. She recalls growing up in a British Columbia mining town where there were only a handful of Asian families and how Swee Hua longed to return to Brunei. Eventually, a clue leads Lily to southeast Asia to find out the truth about her mother.
Jamie Chai Yun Liew is a lawyer, law professor and podcaster based in Ottawa. Dandelion Ghost Citizens. Liew was named one of CBC Books writers to watch in 2022.
Watch Out for Her by Samantha M. Bailey
Watch Out for Her is about a young mother named Sarah who thinks her problems are solved when she hires a young babysitter, Holly, for her six-year-old son. Her son adores Holly and Holly adores Sarah, who is like the mother she never had. But when Sarah sees something that she can't unsee, she uproots her family to start over.
Her past follows her to this new life, raising paranoid questions of who is watching her now? And what do they want?
Samantha M. Bailey is a journalist and editor in Toronto. Her first thriller, Woman on the Edge, was released in 2019 and was an international bestseller. Her other novels include A Friend in the Dark and Hello, Juliet. Her journalistic work can be found in publications including NOW Magazine, The Village Post, The Thrill Begins and The Crime Hub.
In A Two-Spirit Journey, Ma-Nee Chacaby, an Ojibwa-Cree lesbian who grew up in a remote northern Ontario community, tells the story of how she overcame experiences with abuse and alcohol addiction to become a counsellor and lead Thunder Bay's first gay pride parade.
Ma-Nee Chacaby is a two-spirit Ojibwa-Cree writer, artist, storyteller and activist. She lives in Thunder Bay, Ont., and was raised by her grandmother near Lake Nipigon, Ont. Chacaby won the Ontario Historical Society's Alison Prentice Award and the Oral History Association's Book Award for A Two-Spirit Journey. In 2021, Chacaby won the Community Hero Award from the mayor of Thunder Bay.
Mary Louisa Plummer is a social scientist whose work focuses on public health and children's rights.
Jennie's Boy by Wayne Johnston
Jennie's Boy is a memoir that recounts a six-month period in Wayne Johnston's chaotic childhood, much of which was spent as a frail and sickly boy with a fiercely protective mother. While too sick to attend school, he spent his time with his funny and eccentric grandmother Lucy and picked up some important life lessons along the way.
Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper
In Etta and Otto and Russell and James, 82-year-old Etta decides to walk 3,232 kilometres to Halifax from her farm in Saskatchewan to fulfil her dream of seeing the ocean. With little more than a rusty rifle and a talking coyote named James for company, she begins her adventure, and in the process, her early life with her husband Otto and their friend Russell is revealed in flashbacks. While Russell wants to bring her home safe, she's committed to making her way to the sea and before returning to her husband who will always wait patiently for her to come back.
Emma Hooper is a Canadian musician and writer. Her other novels include Our Homesick Songs, which was on longlisted for the 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize, and We Should Not Be Afraid of the Sky. She also holds a PhD in music-literary studies and has published her research on many related topics. Raised in Alberta, she currently lives in England.
Here After by Amy Lin
Here After tells the powerful love story between Amy Lin and her husband Kurtis and how she copes with his sudden death. Lin shares how this loss upended her ideas of grief, strength and memory.
Amy Lin is a Calgary-based writer whose work has been published in Ploughshares. She has received residencies from Yaddo and Casa Comala. Here After was on the 2024 shortlist for $75K Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction. Lin was recently announced as one of the readers for the 2025 CBC Nonfiction Prize.
Home and Away tracks a path that began with Mats Sudin's parents and two brothers outside Stockholm and eventually led to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Sudin dives into the pressures and anxieties of being the first European selected No. 1 overall at the NHL draft, getting traded by the Quebec Nordiques to Toronto for franchise icon Wendel Clark and the turbulent end to his time with the Leafs.
Mats Sundin is the former captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs and also a Hall of Fame hockey player.
The Lifecycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight
In The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus, 18-year-old Pen arrives at the University of Edinburgh with some baggage from back home in Canada. Her parent's messy divorce has left her with some unanswered questions about their break up and she's hoping her new life in Scotland will provide some answers. When she writes a letter to her dad's estranged best friend, thriller writer Lord Lennox, he invites her to spend a weekend at his family estate. She can't help but become enthralled with his entire family and begins to unravel family secrets and experiences her first debilitating crush.
Emma Knight is an author, journalist and entrepreneur based in Toronto. Her work has appeared in Literary Hub, Vogue, The Globe and Mail, The Walrus and The New York Times. She co-hosted and created the podcast Fanfare and co-founded the organic beverage company Greenhouse. She is the author of cookbooks How to Eat with One Hand and The Greenhouse Cookbook.
How To Share An Egg by Bonny Reichert
When Toronto-based journalist Bonny Reichert turned 40, she quit her job and enrolled in culinary school — a life-changing decision that pushed her to explore her relationship with food in writing. This exploration, along with a critical bowl of borscht in Warsaw, led Reichert to writing her memoir, How to Share an Egg, which dives into how food shapes her history as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor.
2020 CBC Short Story Prize. She teaches writing at the University of Toronto.
For the Love of a Son: A Memoir of Addiction, Loss and Hope by Scott Oake
For the Love of a Son is about a young man who never got to grow up and a family's mission to help others find hope and healing. After the heartbreaking loss of his son Bruce, who battled addiction and died from an overdose at 25, broadcaster Scott Oake and his family founded the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre to support those facing substance use disorder.
Scott Oake is a Gemini award-winning sportscaster for CBC Sports, Sportsnet and Hockey Night in Canada. He is on the Roll of Honour of the Manitoba Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association and appointed a Member of the Order of Manitoba and the Order of Canada. Originally from Sydney, Nova Scotia, Oake started his broadcasting career at Memorial University's campus radio station before spending five decades with CBC.
Scott Oake carries his grief every day
29 days ago
Duration 8:42
The Art of Doing by Jesse Lipscombe
In The Art of Doing, Jesse Lipscombe shares how a life-changing mini-stroke that disrupted his Olympic dreams transformed his focus from single-minded goal pursuit to embracing the process of "doing," unlocking a world of opportunity, wonder and happiness. Drawing from his diverse experiences as an actor, speaker, writer, entrepreneur, athlete and singer, he offers practical strategies to help you stay motivated, productive and achieve your dreams.
Lipscombe is an Alberta-born actor, speaker, former athlete, entrepreneur and activist. He invests in multiple businesses and runs a consultancy focused on fighting racism, misogyny, homophobia and hatred. In 2017, he won the Obsidian Award for Top Business Leader in Western Canada and named Community Man of the Year by Diversity magazine. He is the first Black man to receive the AMPIA Award for Best Male Acting Performance at the Rosie Awards.
Almost Brown by Charlotte Gill
In Almost Brown: A Mixed-Race Family Memoir, a young Charlotte recalls her experiences living in the diaspora in Toronto and New York. As the daughter of a Punjabi Sikh father and English mother, following their divorce, she looks into the frayed familial relationships that brought them to the present. Later in life, after spending time in India, Gill reconnects with her father and attempts to answer questions about what it means to be mixed-race and have two parents with very contrasting views on parenthood.
Charlotte Gill is a B.C.-based writer of Indian and English descent. She is also the author of the memoir Eating Dirt and currently teaches writing at the University of King's College.
No Credit River by Zoe Whittall
In No Credit River, Whittall brings readers along through six years of her life which include the loss of a pregnancy, a global pandemic and abandoned love. Honest, emotional and painful, the collection of prose poems examines anxiety and creativity in the modern world as well as the intersection of motherhood and queerness.
Wild Failure and the novels The Fake, The Best Kind of People and Bottle Rocket Hearts. Her previous poetry collections include The Emily Valentine Poems and The Best Ten Minutes of Your Life. She has received the Writers' Trust Dayne Ogilvie Award, a Lambda Literary Award and been shortlisted for the Giller Prize. Whittall is also a juror for the 2025 CBC Nonfiction Prize alongside Danny Ramadan and Helen Knott.
At a Loss for Words by Carol Off
At a Loss for Words: Conversation in an Age of Rage, traces what former CBC Host Carol Off calls the manipulation and weaponization of language through the lens of six words: freedom, democracy, truth, woke, choice and taxes.
Off co-hosted the acclaimed CBC radio program As It Happens for nearly sixteen years. Prior to that, she reported on news and current affairs both in Canada and internationally. Her previous books include The Lion, The Fox and the Eagle: A Story of Generals and Justice in Yugoslavia and Rwanda and All We Leave Behind: A Reporter's Journey into the Lives of Others which won the British Columbia National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction.
When the Pine Needles Fall by Katsi'tsakwas Ellen Gabriel, with Sean Carleton
When the Pine Needles Fall tells the story of Canada's violent siege of Kanehsatà:ke and Kahnawà:ke in 1990 from the perspective of Katsi'tsakwas Ellen Gabriel who was the Kanien'kehá:ka spokesperson during that time. The book covers her experiences leading up to the siege and her work as an activist for her community since.
Gabriel is a Kanien'kehá:ka, Wakeniáhton, artist, documentarian and Indigenous human rights and environmental rights activist. She lives in Kanehsatà:ke Kanien'kehá:ka Homelands.
readers for the 2025 CBC Nonfiction Prize.
However Far Away by Rajinderpal S. Pal
However Far Away follows Devinder Gill who must navigate the emotional minefield of both his wife and his ex-girlfriend, with whom he's been having an affair, attending his nephew's wedding. He is certain nothing will come between him and his wife Kuldip but as the day goes on he realizes he does not have the control he thought. A series of threats including a curious daughter and an unwelcome guest only throw Dev's life into further disarray.
pappaji wrote poetry in a language i cannot read and pulse.
Songs for the Brokenhearted by Ayelet Tsabari
In Songs for the Brokenhearted, Zohara hasn't looked back since moving to the U.S. for her PhD. Her life feels much simpler than her childhood growing up in Israel, where she felt othered as a Yemeni Jew by the predominant Ashkenazi (eastern European) culture. When her sister calls to let her know of their mother's death, she gets on a plane with no return ticket. But as she goes through her mother's belongings and discovers tapes of her mother singing hauntingly beautiful songs in Arabic, she begins to unravel family secrets, including a forbidden romance that challenges her perception of the conservative Yemeni community of her parents.
Ayelet Tsabari is the author of The Art of Leaving, which won the Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Memoir and was a finalist for the Writer's Trust Hilary Weston Prize, and The Best Place on Earth, which won the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature and the Edward Lewis Wallant Award. She spent years living in Canada and is now based in Tel Aviv. Tsabari's short story Green was shortlisted for the 2018 CBC Short Story Prize.
It Must be Beautiful to be Finished by Kate Gies
In It Must Be Beautiful to Be Finished, Kate Gies recounts her experiences as a young girl born without an ear and the 14 surgeries she underwent before the age of 13 to craft the appearance of an outer ear. Her debut memoir details the path to accepting her body through poignant vignettes.
We Could Be Rats by Emily Austin
In We Could Be Rats, Margit has always found it difficult to understand her sister Sigrid, who rejected the conventional path of life, never graduating high school, and preferring instead, to roam the streets with her best friend Greta. When Margit, for the first time, tries to connect with her sister, she uncovers the heartwrenching reasons behind her sister's choices.
Emily Austin is a writer based in Ottawa who studied English literature and library science at Western University. She is also the author of the novels Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead and Interesting Facts About Space, and the poetry collection Gay Girl Prayers.
Searching for Serafim is about the life of Vancouver's first lifeguard, Serafim "Joe" Fortes. The book explores the complexities of his legacy as a hero who saved numerous lives in a racially divided society. Through a blend of historical research, personal reflections and poetry, Ruby Smith Diaz sheds light on the untold struggles of an Afro Latino man in an openly white supremacist world.
Ruby Smith Diaz is an Afro Latina multidisciplinary artist, educator and award-winning body-positive personal trainer. Raised in a migrant, low-income, single-parent household in amiskwaciy (Edmonton), her upbringing has fuelled her dedication to addressing equity and social justice issues. She now lives on the unceded territories of the Stz'uminus peoples (Ladysmith, B.C.).
I Might Be in Trouble by Daniel Aleman
In I Might Be in Trouble, David hooks up with a great guy, only to find him dead in his bed the next morning. He teams up with his literary agent, Stacey, on a mission to find out just what happened the night before and maybe turn the disaster into inspiration for David's next book.
We, the Kindling by Otoniya J. Okot Bitek
In We, the Kindling, three women who, as children, survived the horrors of war in Uganda, continue to experience the trauma of their past, even when they've started families of their own.
Otoniya J. Okot Bitek, a poet, fiction writer and scholar born in Kenya to Ugandan parents, who currently lives in Kingston, Ont. Her first collection of poetry, 100 Days, won the 2017 IndieFab Book of the Year Award for poetry and the 2017 Glenna Lushei Prize for African Poetry. Her second poetry collection, A is for Acholi, won the 2023 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. She was also longlisted for the 2018 CBC Poetry Prize. We, the Kindling is her debut novel.
May It Have a Happy Ending by Minelle Mahtani
May It Have a Happy Ending is a memoir about the anticipatory grief of caring for a dying loved one and the gravity of their loss when they do pass. As Minelle Mahtani was finding her stride in the newsroom, hosting her radio show Sense of Place in Vancouver, her Iranian mother had been diagnosed with tongue cancer. Through vignettes and lyrical prose, Mahtani shares the intimate experience of talking with strangers while struggling to have tough conversations with close friends and family.
The Riveter by Jack Wang
The Riveter follows a Chinese Canadian man named Josiah Chang who pursues a cross-cultural romance with a singer named Poppy. When he is given the chance to fight abroad in Europe during World War II, their passionate relationship is what keeps Josiah determined to survive the battlefields and make it back home.
Jack Wang is a N.Y.-based writer and professor originally from Vancouver. He teaches in the department of writing at Ithaca College and his writing has appeared in Joyland Magazine, The New Quarterly and Fiddlehead, among others. Wang's debut short story collection, We Two Alone, was longlisted for Canada Reads 2022, shortlisted for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize and won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award.
In All Our Ordinary Stories, Teresa Wong unpacks how intergenerational trauma and resilience can shape our identities. Starting with her mother's stroke a decade ago, Wong takes a journey through time and place to find the origin of her feelings of disconnection from her parents. The graphic memoir examines the cultural, language, historical and personality issues that have been barriers to intimacy in her family.
Chrystia by Catherine Tsalikis
Chrystia is a biography that chronicles Chrystia Freeland's incredible journey from her roots in Peace River, Alta., to her role as a journalist and ultimately to her position as deputy prime minister and finance minister in prime minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government. The book gives an inside look at the trailblazing woman, sharing key moments and achievements in her impressive political career.
Catherine Tsalikis is a Toronto-based writer and journalist. She reports on foreign policy, politics and gender equality. Tsalikis respectively received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Toronto and the London School of Economics. She worked as an editorial assistant for The World Today magazine, a politics producer for Sky News, and most recently, as the senior editor for OpenCanada.org, an international affairs site.
All You Can Kill, is an absurdist story set at a wellness resort that specializes in solving couples' martial issues with erotic therapy. But the main characters of the novel are not a couple — which incites humorous, yet uncomfortable moments. As horror and surrealism seeps into the narrative, Pasha Malla creates a world and a story that reminds us how strange people can be.
Pasha Malla is the author of several books of poetry and fiction including The Withdrawal Method, which was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize and longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, People Park, which was shortlisted for the Amazon First Novel Award, and Kill the Mall. Originally from Newfoundland, he now lives in Ontario and has taught at York University, University of Toronto, the University of Guelph, Brock University and McMaster University.
Just Say Yes: A Memoir by Bob McDonald
Starting in a small town with a boy from a low-income family, Just Say Yes explores how Bob McDonald ended up travelling the world, hosting CBC's Quirks and Quarks, becoming an officer of the Order of Canada and even having an asteroid named in his honour.
Living Disability brings together diverse disabled perspectives to explore how urban systems can be accessible to all populations. Including both essays and interviews, the book brings research together with lived experience to share stories and strategies for an inclusive future.
Emily Macrae is a disabled writer and organizer. Her work has been published in Canadian Architect, Spacing and NOW magazine. She is based in Toronto.
Safekeeping by Chelene Knight
In Safekeeping, award-winning author Chelene Knight provides practical advice for writers at all stages of their literary endeavours. The book combines writing prompts, tips, reflective exercises and mindset-building activities to equip authors with the tools for successful publishing, while maintaining a healthy outlook and helping them avoid imposter syndrome, burnout and the pitfalls of comparing themselves to others.
Chelene Knight reimagines Vancouver's historic Black neighbourhood Hogan's Alley in debut novel
Chelene Knight is a writer and poet from Vancouver. She is the author of the Braided Skin and the memoir Dear Current Occupant, which won the 2018 Vancouver Book Award. Her 2022 novel Junie won the 2023 Vancouver Book Award, was longlisted for Canada Reads 2024 and the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, and was a finalist for the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ fiction. Her work has appeared in literary magazines in Canada and the U.S. and she has been a judge for literary awards, including the B.C. Book Prizes.
LISTEN | Chelene Knight on what inspired her to write Junie:
The Next Chapter3:33Chelene Knight on Junie