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CBC
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
3 'diverse' historical fiction novels that transport you to another time
Ever since she was a child, CBC Books associate producer and columnist Talia Kliot has been drawn to historical fiction. While she enjoys stories set in eras or places she already finds intriguing, what truly captivates her is the genre's ability to introduce readers to unfamiliar histories and cultures. "I like to look for books that are part of different time periods and different places that I don't necessarily know so much about," said Kliot. "The stuff that we don't always cover in school, the places that I've never been, or never even thought of exploring." The 2025 CBC Poetry Prize is now open For Kliot, historical fiction is more than escapism; it's a way to learn about the world through the lens of personal stories and lived experience. On The Next Chapter with Antonio Michael Downing, she shared three of her recent favourites — diverse novels set in different countries and time periods — and what she learned from them. The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue The Paris Express provides a vivid account of late 19th-century France, exploring the fears and desires of the time through a group of passengers — diverse in their social class, age and occupation, aboard the Granville-Paris express. The fascinating stories of the passengers, including a young boy traveling solo, a pregnant woman on the run, a medical student and the devoted railway workers, are woven around the central, suspenseful plot of a young anarchist on a mission. But this is no ordinary journey. The story unfolds on the day of the infamous 1895 French railway disaster. Donoghue is an Irish Canadian writer whose books include the novels Landing, Room, Frog Music, The Wonder, The Pull of the Stars, Learned by Heart and the children's book The Lotterys Plus One. Room was an international bestseller and was adapted into a critically acclaimed film starring Brie Larson. Talia Kliot says: "Trains in this period are new, they're exciting. [They] are the hot commodity. It connects all of Europe, the whole country. [Donoghue] just plops you in the head of each [of] the perspective of each of the characters... they all have such distinct personalities and perspectives. The humanness and the stuckness of all of them on this train really shines through, through the jumping of perspectives." 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. 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. Talia Kliot says: "It's really powerful to see these people of different backgrounds who don't necessarily all get along super well at the beginning, because they don't want to be lumped in together as the 'women homesteaders [who] all need help.' They want to prove that they can do it on their own, but end up finding such a powerful community and togetherness in the work that they're doing." The Immortal Woman by Su Chang In the novel The Immortal Woman, Lemei's daughter, Lin, struggles with distancing herself from her Chinese heritage while studying in America. At the same time, she is taken aback by her mother's increasing nationalism toward China — this shift is especially surprising considering her mother had once been a student Red Guard leader who had witnessed the atrocities of the Tiananmen Square protests. Su Chang is a Chinese Canadian writer born and raised in Shanghai. The Immortal Woman is her debut novel. Her writing has been recognized in numerous contests, including Prairie Fire's Short Fiction Contest, the Master Review's Novel Excerpt Contest and the Canadian Authors Association Toronto National Writing Contest, among the others. Talia Kliot says:"I really like how you're learning about history and a time period that, like, I really didn't know a lot about, but you're learning it through humans, through stories, through people that you can relate to. We're learning about politics, but you're getting such a human perspective, and this mother-daughter relationship that mothers and daughters can certainly relate to."
CBC
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
28 Canadian books to read during Asian Heritage Month 2025 and beyond
May is Asian Heritage Month in Canada. CBC Books is highlighting books across genres by writers of East Asian, South Asian, Western, Central and Southeast Asian descent. 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 glamorous 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. 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. Sucker Punch by Scaachi Koul In Sucker Punch, Scaachi Koul candidly recounts the painful events that turned her life upside down, from her marriage falling apart to her mother's cancer diagnosis, and everything in between. With her signature humour, Koul reflects on navigating struggle — shifting from her belief that fighting is the only way out — to exploring when to fight and when to let go in the face of life's unexpected challenges. Koul is a writer from Calgary who currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. Her debut book, One Day We'll All Be Dead And None Of This Will Matter, was a New York Times Editors' Choice and a finalist for the Leacock Medal for Humor and the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. She is currently a Senior Writer at Slate and co-hosts the Ambie Award-winning podcast Scamfluencers. Koul also co-hosted the Emmy-nominated Netflix series Follow This, and her work has been published in The New Yorker, This American Life, New York Magazine and The Cut. She has also appeared in documentaries such as Quiet On Set and Pretty Baby. A Palace Near the Wind by Ai Jiang In the first science-fantasy novella of the Natural Engines series, the threat of human intervention is a constant worry for the Feng family. A Palace Near the Wind follows Liu Lufeng, the eldest daughter of the Feng people, who live within nature with faces and limbs that look more like trees. Destined to be married off to a human king as all of the arranged marriages before her, Lufeng devises a plan to kill him, only to discover her people's true histories. Faced with the reality of loss and oppression, Lufeng must rebel against the human forces that seek to eradicate her. Ai Jiang is a Chinese Canadian writer of speculative fiction and a 2022 finalist of the Nebula Award for Best Short Story. Her other short novels include Linghun and I Am Ai. She is currently based in Toronto. All You Can Kill by Pasha Malla 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. All Our Ordinary Stories by Teresa Wong In the graphic memoir All Our Ordinary Stories, Teresa Wong uses spare black-and-white illustrations and thought-provoking prose to unpack 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 series of stories carefully examine the cultural, language, historical and personality issues that have been barriers to intimacy in her family. Wong is the Calgary-based author of the graphic memoir Dear Scarlet, which was on the Canada Reads longlist in 2020 and a finalist for the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize. Her work has appeared in The Believer, The New Yorker, McSweeney's and The Walrus. CBC Books named her a writer to watch in 2019. The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar In The River Has Roots, a mysterious family known as the Hawthorns live in an enchanted world. The family care for enchanted willows and honour an ancient and magical compact. But when a daughter of the family decides to seek her own path to find love and happiness, the fate of the entire world just might be at risk. Amal El-Mohtar is a Ottawa-based author, editor and critic. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, NPR Books, among others. El-Mohtar's short stories Seasons of Glass and Iron won Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards. Her novella This Is How You Lose the Time War co-written with Max Gladstone has been translated into over ten languages. Spiral by Bal Khabra Two different worlds collide in Spiral, when Elias Westbrook, a famous hockey player always in the spotlight, agrees to fake date Sage Beaumont, an aspiring, less assuming ballerina hoping to join the Aurora Ballet Theatre. As they spend more time together, the two opposites begin to realize that their feelings for each other are more than just for show. Bal Khabra is a Vancouver-based writer. Her debut novel is Collide. 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. 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. The Tiger and the Cosmonaut by Eddy Boudel Tan 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. 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. The Book of Records by Madeleine Thien In The Book of Records, Lina grows up in "The Sea," a building that serves as a home for migrants from all over the world, while caring for her sick father. She forms friendships with her fascinating neighbours, including a Jewish scholar exiled for his radical views and a poet from the Tang Dynasty, whose stories captivate her. However, her seemingly perfect life takes a startling turn when her father reveals the true reason they came to live at "The Sea." Madeleine Thien is a short story writer and novelist. She is the author of novel Do Not Say We Have Nothing, which won the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General's Award in 2016 and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Her debut novel, Certainty, published in 2006, won the Amazon First Novel Award, and was a Globe and Mail Best Book. Thien is also the author of Dogs at the Perimeter, which was a Globe and Mail Best Book, and the children's book The Chinese Violin. Her first work of fiction, Simple Recipes, won four awards in Canada and was a finalist for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. Meet Me at Blue Hour by Sarah Suk In Busan, South Korea, there's a clinic one can go to to erase your memories. Yena Bae is a teenage girl and daughter to the clinic's owner and she misses her best friend Lucas. Meet Me at Blue Hour follows the unexpected reunion of the two best friends years after he moved away when Lucas brings his grandfather with Alzheimer's disease to the clinic in search of a cure. As the two childhood friends try to figure out what happened to their memories, their connection grows again, but can their relationship ever be the same as what it once was? Sarah Suk is a YA writer living in Vancouver. Her other books include the young adult novels The Space Between Here & Now, Made in Korea and co-author of the middle grade novel Troublemaker with John Cho. In 2023, CBC Books named Suk one of the writers to watch. Ghost Citizens by Jamie Chai Yun Liew From the author of the Canada Reads 2025 runner-up, Dandelion, comes a work of nonfiction that delves into decolonization and what it means to be stateless. Ghost Citizens: Decolonial Apparitions of Stateless, Foreign and Wayward Figures in Law draws on Jamie Chai Yun Liew's experience as a legal scholar. Liew explains the category of statelessness both as a legal condition and a lived reality for racialized minority groups who constantly combat oppression and strive for justice. Liew is a lawyer, law professor and podcaster based in Ottawa. Dandelion Canada Reads 2025. Liew was named one of CBC Books writers to watch in 2022. Fledgling by S.K. Ali Fledgling: The Keeper's Records of Revolution is the first book in a YA science fiction duology set amidst two earths on the brink of self destruction. When the dutiful Raisa of Upper Earth is arranged to be married to Lein, the Crown Prince of Lower Earth, Raisa obliges in the hopes of preventing further war. Lein's cousin and recently imprisoned Nada has a different idea: stop the royal wedding and spark a revolution. As tensions rise between both worlds, the paths to tyranny or peace become more and more blurred. S.K. Ali is a writer and teacher from Toronto. She is best known for her YA novels Saints and Misfits, Love from A to Z and is the co-editor of the middle grade anthology, Once Upon an Eid which won the Middle East Book Honor Award in 2020. 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. Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao In the follow up to their New York Times bestselling YA novel Iron Widow, Zetian finds herself on the seat of power in Huaxia after enduring devastating loss and making drastic decision. When revelations about an enemy who holds the fate of her loved ones in their hands come to light, Zetian must team up with a dangerous man and work together to depose their common enemy and stoke a revolution against the dark forces that plague their world. Xiran Jay Zhao is a Vancouver-based author and social media creator. They are a first-generation Chinese immigrant who is passionate about Chinese history, cosplay and anime. Their debut novel Iron Widow, a YA fantasy featuring aliens, giant robots and a quest to battle evil, was a New York Times bestseller. Magdaragat edited by C. E. Gatchalian, Teodoro Alcuitas, Patria Rivera Magdaragat, which translates to seafarer, is an anthology of Filipino Canadian writing, such as short fiction, poetry and illustration, that showcases the expansive contributions and experiences diasporic Filipinos add to Canadian society. Featuring 43 writers, the anthology includes moments of joy, sorrow and sacrifice woven into the fabric of Filipinos past, present and future. C.E. Gatchalian is a Filipino writer and editor from Vancouver and currently based in Toronto. His other works include the 2003 Lambda Literary Award finalist Motifs & Repetitions & Other Plays and Double Melancholy. Teodoro Alcuitas is a Vancouver editor and the current publisher of Philippine Canadian News. Patria Rivera is a Filipino Canadian writer and poet based in Toronto. Her other collections include Puti/White which was shortlisted for the 2006 Trillium Book Award for Poetry, The Bride Anthology and BE. Batshit Seven by Sheung-King In Batshit Seven, Glen "Glue" Wu has a general apathy toward his return to Hong Kong from Toronto. As a lacklustre, weed smoking, hungover ESL teacher, Glue watches passively as Hong Kong falls into conflict around him. He cares only for his sister, who is trying to marry rich, and for both an on-and-off-again relationship and the memory of a Canadian connection now lost. Government control hardens, thrusting Glue into a journey that ultimately ends in violence. Sheung-King's first novel, You Are Eating an Orange. You are Naked., was a finalist for multiple awards, including the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction and the Amazon Canada First Novel Award. It was also longlisted for Canada Reads 2021. Sheung-King splits his time between Canada and China. Celestina's House by Clarissa Trinidad Gonzalez In Celestina's House, Celestina is desperate to get out of her family's house after a shocking betrayal made the atmosphere too tense to bear. When her Lolo gifts her a property in Manila's bohemian district, she feels at home, even though there are ghosts lurking. As time goes on, she gets a real chance at happiness, but voices from the past threaten to take it all away. Clarissa Trinidad Gonzalez is a Filipina author based in Toronto. Celestina's House is her first book. From the Lost and Found Department by Joy Kagawa From the Lost and Found Department is a poetry collection that spans acclaimed writer Joy Kogawa's entire career. It is composed of poems newly written as well as poems from The Splintered Moon, A Choice of Dreams, Jericho Road, Woman In the Woods and A Garden of Anchors. Kogawa is a celebrated Japanese Canadian writer currently based in Toronto. She is best known for her novel Obasan which is based on her family's experiences during the Second World War. Obasan won the Books in Canada First Novel Award (now known as the Amazon First Novel Award) in 1982. Her poetry collections include The Splintered Moon, A Choice of Dreams and Woman in the Woods. She is also the author of the memoir Gently to Nagasaki. 52 Weeks to a Sweeter Life by Farzana Doctor 52 Weeks to a Sweeter Life for Caregivers, Activists and Helping Professionals is a practical guide that offers weekly advice to helpers and activists struggling with exhaustion and burnout. Farzana Doctor uses her own experience as a social worker, community organizer and activist to discuss the challenges and necessity of setting boundaries and preventing overwork in a spirit of self and community care. 14 Canadian books to help motivate and inspire you Doctor is an Ontario-based novelist, activist and psychotherapist of Indian ancestry. She is the author of several books, including the poetry collection Seven and the novels All Inclusive and Six Metres of Pavement, which won a 2012 Lambda Literary Award and was shortlisted for a 2012 Toronto Book Award. She was the recipient of the 2011 Dayne Ogilvie Prize from the Writer's Trust of Canada for an emerging lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender writer and the 2023 Freedom to Read Award. Everything and Nothing At All by Jenny Heijun Wills Everything and Nothing At All is an essay collection that discusses Jenny Heijun Wills' quest for belonging as a transnational and transracial adoptee, a pansexual and polyamorous person and a parent with a life-long eating disorder. Drawing on her life experiences, she creates a vision of family — chosen, adopted and biological all at once. Wills is a writer born in Seoul and raised in Southern Ontario. Her memoir Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related won the 2019 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Award for Nonfiction and the 2020 Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book. She currently lives in Winnipeg and teaches English at the University of Winnipeg. Everything and Nothing At All by Jenny Heijun Wills is an essay collection where the author reflects on her experiences as a transnational adoptee. Jenny was born in Korea and was adopted by a white Canadian family in southwestern Ontario when she was nine months old. Twenty years ago, she reconnected with her Korean birth family. She talks to Mattea Roach about this journey — which also inspired her prize-winning memoir, Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related — and about how writing and literature have helped her figure out who she is. The Legend of Meneka By Kritika H. Rao The Legend of Meneka is an epic fantasy inspired by Hindu myths, like the celestial dancer. Despite being revered for their enchanting beauty, Meneka knows that a larger part of being a celestial dancer is being trained as a warrior. Seeking an escape from Lord Indra, king of heaven's control, she sets out to take down her latest mark, a dangerous human sage named Kaushika. Slowly but surely she begins to fall for him and Meneka is torn between the call of duty and the call of her heart. Kritika H. Rao is a speculative fiction writer of novels including The Surving Sky and The Unrelenting Earth. She has lived in India, Australia, Canada and The Sultanate of Oman. The Migrant Rain Falls in Reverse by Vinh Nguyen In the memoir, The Migrant Rain Falls in Reverse, Vinh Nguyen retraces his family's journey from post-war Vietname to Canada. Canada accepted approximately 200,000 refugees from the region between 1975 and the 1990s. Born in Ho Chi Minh City, Nguyen was among those who fled Vietnam by boat along with his mother and siblings — but his father, who left separately, mysteriously vanished. Nguyen mixes his real-life experiences with research of this period, exploring how this moment in history resonates with experiences in the diaspora today. Vinh Nguyen is a Toronto writer and educator whose work has appeared in Brick, Literary Hub, The Malahat Review, PRISM international, Grain, Queen's Quarterly, The Criterion Collection's Current, and MUBI's Notebook. He is a nonfiction editor at The New Quarterly, where he curates an ongoing series on refugee, migrant, and diasporic writing. His writing has been short-isted for a National Magazine Award and has received the John Charles Polanyi Prize in Literature. In 2022, he was a Lambda Literary Fellow in Nonfiction for emerging LGBTQ writers. We Speak Through the Mountain by Premee Mohamed We Speak Through the Mountain is a sequel novella to the post-apocalyptic Albertan book The Annual Migration of Clouds. Reid Graham is 19 years old and fighting against both the climate crisis-affected Rocky Mountains and her own chronic illness to make her way to Howse University, a supposed safe haven. When she arrives, she finds it more and more difficult to forge connections and leave behind the guilt she has of leaving her community. When she is sent word from home, Reid is faced with an impossible decision and a crumbling reality. Premee Mohamed is an Indo-Caribbean scientist and speculative fiction writer based in Edmonton. Her series Beneath the Rising received nominations for the Crawford Award, British Fantasy Awards, Locus Awards and Aurora Awards. Her book The Annual Migration of Clouds won the 2022 Aurora Award for best novella. Her other books include The Butcher of the Forest and No One Will Come Back for Us. Land of No Regrets by Sadi Muktadir Nabil is the new transfer student at Al Haque Islamic Academy, where he struggles with new rigid rules and religious studies, longing for his regular teen life back in Scarborough. Land of No Regrets sees Nabil fall into the company of two other boys he catches doing something illicit. He and class clown Farid complete the foursome, who together discover the diary of a student back from when the school was an all-girls Catholic institution. Inspired to escape their madrasa, the boys' path toward freedom ultimately changes their lives forever. Sadi Muktadir is a Toronto based writer and editor at Joyland Magazine. Land of No Regrets is his debut novel. Catfish Rolling by Clara Kumagai Catfish Rolling is a debut coming-of-age YA novel by Clara Kumagai with magical realism elements. There is a catfish that lives under Japan, and when it rolls the land rises and falls. Sora is 17 years old and living with her father after losing her mother to a powerful earthquake, which she blames on the catfish. The catfish doesn't just affect the land — it also affects time, leaving Japan divided into zones, with some moving fast and some moving slow. When Sora's father disappears, Sora must head into the abandoned time zones to find him. Catfish Rolling is for ages 14 and up. Clara Kumagai is from Vancouver and has lived in Japan and Ireland. Her writing has appeared in publications such as The Kyoto Journal, Cicada, Room and The Irish Times. Catfish Rolling is her debut novel. Shadow Price by Farah Ghafoor Shadow Price borrows its title from the finance term — "the estimated price of a good or service for which no market price exists." It's a poetry collection that explores what holds value in a capitalistic world. Farah Ghafoor is a poet whose work has appeared in The Walrus, Prism International, Room, Ninth Letter and Hobart. Her poems have been taught at Iowa State University and have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best New Poets and Best of the Net. She won the E.J. Pratt Medal and Prize in Poetry and was longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize in 2022. Born in New York and raised in New Brunswick and Ontario, she currently works as a financial analyst in Toronto. I Never Said That I Was Brave by Tasneem Jamal I Never Said That I Was Brave recounts the lifelong friendship of two women who immigrated from Uganda to Canada as children. As adults, their dynamics are constantly shifting as they grow yet feel stifled by expectations of their South Asian community.
CBC
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
35 great Canadian books to read this spring
Looking for a good read? Check out this CBC Books list of the buzzworthy Canadian and fiction, nonfiction and poetry books out right now. She's a Lamb! 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. 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. The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue The Paris Express takes readers aboard a suspenseful train journey from the Normandy coast to Paris. Inspired by a real-life photo of a train hanging off the side of Montparnasse station, The Paris Express unravels over the course of one fateful day, featuring the fascinating stories of the passengers, from a young boy traveling solo to a pregnant woman on the run, the devoted railway workers and a young anarchist on a mission. Donoghue is an Irish Canadian writer whose books include the novels Landing, Room, Frog Music, The Wonder, The Pull of the Stars, Learned by Heart and the children's book The Lotterys Plus One. Room was an international bestseller and was adapted into a critically acclaimed film starring Brie Larson. The Pull of the Stars was longlisted for the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize and Canada Reads 2025, and shortlisted for the Trillium Book Award. The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight In The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus, Pen arrives at the University of Edinburgh, set on uncovering what her divorced parents in Canada have hid from her. Not only does she start to uncover the truth about them during a weekend visit to a famous writer, an old friend of her father's, Pen also experiences the many pangs of adulthood for the first time — including falling in love. 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. 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 and Interesting Facts About Space, and the poetry collection Gay Girl Prayers. We Are Dreams in the Eternal Machine by Deni Béchard Initially programmed to never harm humans, an experimental AI machine in the novel We Are Dreams in the Eternal Machine decides to take a different turn of its own accord. It thinks that the best way to fulfill its mission is to isolate and immerse the Earth's remaining population in imagined worlds where all their desires are fulfilled. Under the machine's mandate, a group of characters is forced to confront the traumatic memories of their past. Deni Ellis Béchard is a Canadian American journalist and the author of nine books. His novels include Vandal Love, which won the Commonwealth Writers Prize, and Into the Sun, which won the Midwest Book Award for literary fiction. He has also received the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for best first book and the Nautilus Book Award for Investigative Journalism. His work has appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Paris Review and Foreign Policy. In The River Has Roots, a mysterious family known as the Hawthorns live in an enchanted world. The family care for enchanted willows and honour an ancient and magical compact. But when a daughter of the family decides to seek her own path to find love and happiness, the fate of the entire world just might be at risk. Amal El-Mohtar is a Ottawa-based author, editor and critic. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, NPR Books, among others. El-Mohtar's short stories Seasons of Glass and Iron won Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards. Her novella This Is How You Lose the Time War co-written with Max Gladstone has been translated into over ten languages. In the novel The Immortal Woman, Lemei's daughter, Lin, struggles with distancing herself from her Chinese heritage while studying in America. At the same time, she is taken aback by her mother's increasing nationalism toward China — this shift is especially surprising considering her mother had once been a student Red Guard leader who had witnessed the atrocities of the Tiananmen Square protests. Su Chang is a Chinese Canadian writer born and raised in Shanghai. The Immortal Woman is her debut novel. Her writing has been recognized in numerous contests, including Prairie Fire's Short Fiction Contest, the Master Review's Novel Excerpt Contest and the Canadian Authors Association Toronto National Writing Contest, among the others. In Nobody Asked for This, 23-year-old Virginia juggles the challenges of grief, supporting her depressed friend, and caring for her bereaved stepdad, all while dreaming of a successful comedy career. But when her stepdad decides to sell the family home and a date goes horribly wrong, she faces experiences so painstaking, that even coping with humour doesn't help. Georgia Toews is a Toronto-based film, television and fiction writer. Toews' previous work includes her debut novel Hey, Good Luck Out There. 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. Deep Cuts by Holly Brickley In Deep Cuts, aspiring musician Percy Marks meets songwriter Joe Morrow at a bar, leading to a partnership that lasts for years. Their relationship, though passionate, also brings ego-crushing challenges, leaving Percy to wonder if Joe is worth holding onto. Holly Brickley, a writer originally from Hope, B.C., currently lives in Portland, Ore. She studied English at UC Berkeley and holds an MFA in fiction from Columbia University. Deep Cuts is her debut novel. It has been optioned to be adapted to a film; actors Saoirse Ronan and Austin Butler have been cast as the film's leads. 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. 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. The Last Exile by Sam Wiebe In The Last Exile, private investigator Dave Wakeland returns to the streets of Vancouver to solve his most dangerous case yet. Maggie Zito, a single mother, stands accused of killing the retired leader of the notorious Exiles motorcycle gang and his wife. Wakeland digs into the case, facing off against the gang, and their bloodthirsty leader to figure out why Maggie was framed. Sam Wiebe is the award-winning author of the Wakeland detective series, including Invisible Dead, Cut You Down, Hell and Gone and Sunset and Jericho. His debut novel, Last of the Independents, won the Arthur Ellis Award for best unpublished first novel and the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. His work has been shortlisted for the Edgar Awards, Hammett Prize, Shamus Awards and City of Vancouver Book Awards, and has won the Crime Writers of Canada Award and a silver medal from the Independent Publisher Book Awards. He lives in New Westminster, B.C. Flesh by David Szalay In Flesh, 15-year-old István has a relationship with a married woman, causing his life to spiral out of control. As he grows older, he continues to live a life of recklessness, achieving all his desires for a time — until they threaten to undo him completely. David Szalay was born in Montreal, but grew up in London and now lives in Vienna. Some of Szalay's other titles include the novel London and the South-East, which won the Betty Trask Prize and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, and All That Man Is, which was shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize and won the 2016 Gordon Burn Prize. He received the Edge Hill Short Story Prize and the Reader's Choice Award in October 2019. 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. Kyle Edwards is an award-winning 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. He has won two National Magazine Awards in Canada, and he was recognized as an Emerging Indigenous Journalist by the Canadian Association of Journalists. A graduate of Ryerson University, he is currently a Provost Fellow at the University of Southern California, where he is pursuing a PhD in creative writing and literature. The Maid's Secret by Nita Prose The latest by bestselling author Nita Prose is the 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. Prose is a Toronto author and editor. She was formerly the Canadian vice president and editorial director for publishing company Simon & Schuster. Her books include The Maid, and The Mistletoe Mystery. Two different worlds collide in Spiral, when Elias Westbrook, a famous hockey player always in the spotlight, agrees to fake date Sage Beaumont, an aspiring, less assuming ballerina hoping to join the Aurora Ballet Theatre. As they spend more time together, the two opposites begin to realize that their feelings for each other are more than just for show. Bal Khabra is a Vancouver-based writer. Her debut novel is Collide. Picks and Shovels by Cory Doctorow In Picks and Shovels, San Francisco-based Martin Hench is an MIT dropout who picks up odd jobs in a world where a revolutionary new technology promises to change everything about crime forever. When Marty gets a gig investigating a group of disgruntled ex-employees who've founded a competitor startup, he quickly realizes he might be on the wrong side of things. Martin's life might be in danger and he has to quickly solve a corporate mystery. Cory Doctorow is a Toronto-born author, activist and journalist living in Los Angeles. His work, spanning non-fiction, fiction, and adult, YA and childhood audiences, has seen him inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame and earned him the Sir Arthur Clarke Imagination in Service to Society Award for lifetime achievement. His book Radicalized was a 2020 Canada Reads contender, defended by Akil Augustine Chasing Shadows by Ronald J. Deibert. Chasing Shadows is a nonfiction work that delves into the dark underworld of digital espionage, disinformation and subversion. The work explores how today's digital age has enabled a world where activists, opposition figures and journalists who dare to advocate for basic political rights and freedoms are targeted by autocratic regimes. Ronald Deibert is the founder and director of Citizen Lab, a research centre based at the University of Toronto, which studies technology, surveillance and censorship. Deibert delivered the 2020 Massey series of lectures, titled Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society. Reset won the 2021 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing and was also nominated for the 2021 Donner Prize for best Canadian public policy book. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This marks Egyptian Canadian journalist and writer Omar El Akkad's nonfiction debut. In the fall of 2023, shortly after the bombardment of Gaza, he posted on social media a statement: "One day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it's too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this." One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This expands on his powerful social media message and chronicles his thoughts on the fragile nature of truth, justice, privilege and morality. El Akkad is a Canadian journalist and author who currently lives in Portland, Ore. His novel American War, which was defended on Canada Reads 2018 by actor Tahmoh Penikett., and his novel What Strange Paradise won the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize and was defended on Canada Reads 2022 by Tareq Hadhad. 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. Searches by Vauhini Vara 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. It Must Be Beautiful to Be Finished by Kate Gies When Kate Gies was born without her right ear, plastic surgeons vowed to make her "whole" and craft the appearance of an outer ear. The Toronto author underwent 14 surgeries before the age of 13, many of which failed, leaving permanent scars — both physically and mentally. Gies shares her harrowing experiences and path to accepting her body through poignant vignettes that form her debut memoir, It Must Be Beautiful to Be Finished. Gies is a Toronto-based writer and educator. She teaches at George Brown College. Her writing has been published in The Malahat Review, The Humber Literary Review, Hobart, Minola Review and The Conium Review. She was also longlisted for the 2018 CBC Nonfiction Prize. It Must Be Beautiful to Be Finished is her first book and her essay F oreign Bodies will be included in the forthcoming Best Canadian Essays anthology. 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. Bonny Reichert is a journalist and chef based in Toronto. She was formerly an editor at Today's Parent and Chatelaine and has written for The Globe and Mail. She won a National Magazine Award and was on the longlist for the 2020 CBC Short Story Prize. She teaches writing at the University of Toronto. For the Love of a Son is a memoir that explores a father's unconditional love for a son struggling with drugs, addiction and violence. When Canadian broadcaster Scott Oake first held his infant son, Bruce, in his arms, he never imagined that Bruce would become a statistic in the losing battle to opioid abuse. Oake explores the life of his late son and the lasting impact of loving and supporting someone battling substance use disorder. Oake is a 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. No Fault by Haley Mlotek At the age of ten, Haley Mlotek told her mother to get a divorce. In No Fault, Mlotek shares how divorce was a constant presence in her life, with her mother running a mediation and marriage counseling practice, and Mlotek spending her preteen years handling calls and drafting parenting plans for couples splitting up. However, her understanding on divorce would completely change when she went through the experience of divorcing her own husband after twelve years. Mlotek is a Montreal-based writer and editor whose work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker and ELLE, among others. A founding member of the Freelance Solidarity Project, Mlotek also teaches in the English and journalism departments at Concordia University. She previously worked as deputy editor at SSENSE, style editor at MTV News, editor at The Hairpin and publisher of WORN Fashion Journal. Sucker Punch by Scaachi Koul In Sucker Punch, Scaachi Koul candidly recounts the painful events that turned her life upside down, from her marriage falling apart to her mother's cancer diagnosis, and everything in between. With her signature humour, Koul reflects on navigating struggle — shifting from her belief that fighting is the only way out — to exploring when to fight and when to let go in the face of life's unexpected challenges. Koul is a writer from Calgary who currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. Her debut book, One Day We'll All Be Dead And None Of This Will Matter, was a New York Times Editors' Choice and a finalist for the Leacock Medal for Humor and the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. She is currently a Senior Writer at Slate and co-hosts the Ambie Award-winning podcast Scamfluencers. Koul also co-hosted the Emmy-nominated Netflix series Follow This, and her work has been published in The New Yorker, This American Life, New York Magazine and The Cut. She has also appeared in documentaries such as Quiet On Set and Pretty Baby. Baldwin, Styron, and Me is about the unexpected literary friendship between James Baldwin and William Styron, which began when they wrote together at Styron's guest house in 1961. Their discussions often focused on race in America, and Baldwin is said to have encouraged Styron to write the controversial The Confessions of Nat Turner, a novel that later won the Pulitzer Prize. Decades later, Mélikah Abdelmoumen, a racialized woman, reflects on their bond and examines the ongoing relevance of questions related to identity, race and equity. Mélikah Abdelmoumen is the author of several short stories, essays and books. Her previous works include Les désastrées and Douze ans en France. Her essay Baldwin, Styron et moi won the 2022 Pierre-Vadeboncoeur Essay Prize. She is the former editor-in-chief of the literary magazine Lettres québécoises. She holds a PhD in literature from the University of Montreal. Catherine Khordoc is a translator based in Ottawa. She is a professor at Carleton University in the department of French and the School of Indigenous and Canadian studies. Field Work by Andrew Forbes Field Work 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. 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. How to Survive a Bear Attack by Claire Cameron In How to Survive a Bear Attack, Cameron investigates a 1991 bear attack that killed a couple camping in Ontario's Algonquin Provincial Park, an unusual event that's haunted her since her time working at a nearby summer camp. The idea to explore the attack came while she was recovering from cancer surgery. The book blends her personal journey, vivid descriptions of Algonquin Park, and the true crime elements of the mysterious case. Claire Cameron is a Toronto-based writer and journalist. She's known for her novels The Line Painter, which won the Northern Lit Award, The Bear, which was longlisted for the 2014 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction, and The Last Neanderthal, which was a finalist for the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Globe and Mail, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Salon and The Millions, where she is a staff writer. The late Peter Goddard was a highly respected music critic and journalist. In the summer of 2020, he began working on a book reflecting on his more than fifty-year career, but died in 2022 before finishing the manuscript. One Foot on the Platform includes new essays by Goddard, featuring pieces on artists like Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, k.d. lang and David Bowie, along with some of the classics of his career, celebrating and honouring his legendary work. Goddard was a prominent Canadian cultural critic who covered a wide range of topics, including rock 'n' roll, fashion, movies and classical music. He contributed to publications such as the Globe and Mail, Maclean's and the Toronto Star where he worked for over 30 years. In 1982, he became the first Canadian critic of popular culture to win a National Newspaper Award for criticism. His previous works include Frank Sinatra: The Man, the Myth and the Music and The Great Gould. J.A. Wainwright is a writer and McCulloch emeritus professor in English at Dalhousie University, where he taught for 30 years. He is the author of six novels, two critical biographies, five poetry books and an opera libretto. i cut my tongue on a broken country by Kyo Lee Through the poet's reflections on growing up queer and Korean Canadian, i cut my tongue on a broken country explores a coming-of-age marked with beauty, pain and a quest for love. Kyo Lee is a queer high school student from Waterloo, Ont. Her work is featured in PRISM International, Nimrod, The Forge Literary Magazine and This Magazine, among others. She is the youngest winner of the CBC Poetry Prize, for her poem lotus flower blooming into breasts, and the youngest finalist for the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award. The poems in No One Knows Us There show two portraits of early womanhood. The first, a devoted granddaughter responding to needs in hospital hallways, the second, the same woman ten years older, looking at her younger self with compassion and hopes for healing. Jessica Bebenek is a queer interdisciplinary poet, bookmaker and educator living between Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) and an off-grid shack on unceded Anishinaabeg territory. Bebenek's writing has been nominated for the Journey Prize, twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and in 2021 she was a finalist for the Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers in Poetry. In Autopsy (of an Ex-Teen Heartthrob), Avan Jogia, who played Beck in Victorious, shares what it was like to grow up as a teen idol through a collection of poems. Using vivid imagery, he's strikingly honest as he reveals the nature of fame, ego and cravings for love. Jogia is a Canadian actor, writer and musician. He is also the author of Mixed Feelings, where he takes a look at what it means to be a mixed race person through a series of poems, drawings, short stories and interviews. All Wrong Horses on Fire that Go Away in the Rain is a collection of poems that searches through family history and sheds light on intergenerational trauma and how it impacts Indigenous voices. Bringing together fragmented memories, All Wrong Horses on Fire that Go Away in the Rain invites strength, beauty and intensity. Sarain Frank Soonias is a Cree/Ojibwe writer and artist. His work has appeared in ARC Poetry Magazine, Canadian Literature Review, Carousel, Carte Blanche and Filling Station, among others. All Wrong Horses on Fire that Go Away in the Rain is Soonias's debut poetry book. He currently lives in Red Deer, Alta. A Different Hurricane by H. Nigel Thomas In A Different Hurricane, teenage best friends Gordon and Allen are in love with each other, but they're forced apart by the fear of how their community with traditional views will react. After returning home from studying abroad, they must do all they can to hide their relationship when Gordon's wife exposes his affair, putting their lives in danger. Black Canadian writers share the power — and burden — of making art with language H. Nigel Thomas is a Vincentian Canadian writer. He is the author of 13 books that span the genres of fiction, poetry and literary criticism. He has won many awards, including the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize in 2022, the Jackie Robinson Professional of the Year Award and the Black Theatre Workshop's Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award. He currently lives in Montreal.
CBC
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Halifax writer Dorian McNamara wins 2025 CBC Short Story Prize for story about trans man on Toronto streetcar
Social Sharing Halifax writer Dorian McNamara has won the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize for his story You (Streetcar at Night). He will receive $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts and a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. McNamara's story was published on CBC Books. McNamara will also be interviewed by Mattea Roach on an upcoming episode of Bookends. You can read You (Streetcar at Night) here. If you're interested in other writing competitions, the 2025 CBC Poetry Prize is currently accepting submissions. You can submit an original, unpublished poem or collection of poems from April 1-June 1. Dorian McNamara is a queer transgender writer currently living in Halifax. Originally from Toronto, he graduated with a BA in psychology from Dalhousie University. He is currently working on his first novel as well as publishing the creative newsletter Dear You. This year's winner and finalists were selected by a jury composed of Conor Kerr, Kudakwashe Rutendo and Michael Christie. "From its opening lines, we were captivated by the deft and corporeal imagery of You (Streetcar at Night), with its lush descriptions of travelling via streetcar, and all the rhythm and music that one becomes enmeshed in along the way. But beyond its flowing narrative and lyrical writing, lay the story, and that is what called to us. You (Streetcar at Night) follows a trans man's recollection of his first relationship, the narrative establishing itself as an address to his former partner, taking a novel route through aspects of transition," the jury said in a statement. "Highlighting the nuanced duality of a Before and After, connected through a frank and vulnerable interiority. It is a requiem of sorts, a call to the past, that simultaneously grounds itself in a present of acceptance and true belonging. Where one can look at a stranger on a streetcar and see a whole history in their eyes. This story resoundingly illustrates — at a time when it could not be more needed — that within everyone, outside of all our external features and presentations, is a prevailing interiority and humanity, and that trans people are not a threat. "This story resoundingly illustrates — at a time when it could not be more needed — that within everyone, outside of all our external features and presentations, is a prevailing interiority and humanity, and that trans people are not a threat." You (Streetcar at Night) tells the story of the before and after of a trans person. The protagonist reflects on his first relationship as he and his fellow riders roll through the Toronto streets at night. "Growing up in Toronto, I've always loved the streetcars. When I come home to visit my family, I find I am often on the streetcar. There's always a lot of memories tied to them, but after coming out, I got anxious that people who knew me before would recognize me then. Part of me wanted them to remember me and see me now, but another part of me was afraid of how people I used to know would react," McNamara said. McNamara joins a long list of writers who have won CBC Literary Prizes, such as David Bergen, Michael Ondaatje, Carol Shields and Michael Winter. The CBC Literary Prizes have been recognizing Canadian writers since 1979. To be given the opportunity to share my writing with others and to be understood and to even perhaps have my writing understand others is an incredible gift. "Winning the CBC Short Story Prize is a monumental honour, one that still feels beyond me. Getting the news, I felt all the joy in my body well up in my throat and I did not know whether I was laughing or crying. Writing for me is a practice of trying to understand and often making peace with my inability to do so, be it regarding myself or others," said McNamara. "To be given the opportunity to share my writing with others and to be understood and to even perhaps have my writing understand others is an incredible gift. I am so grateful for being given the chance to further my process and dedicate myself to my practice." The other four finalists are Vincent Anioke of Waterloo, Ont. for Love is the Enemy; Trent Lewin of Waterloo, Ont. for Ghostworlds; Emi Sasagawa of Vancouver for Lessons from a peach and Zeina Sleiman of Edmonton for My Father's Soil. They will each receive $1,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts. The longlist was compiled by a group of qualified editors and writers from across Canada from more than 2,300 submissions. The readers come up with a preliminary list of approximately 100 submissions that are then forwarded to a second reading committee. It is this committee who will decide upon the 30ish entries that comprise the longlist that is forwarded to the jury. The jury selects the shortlist and the eventual winner from the readers' longlisted selections.
CBC
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
5 Canadian emerging writers named 2025 Writers' Trust rising stars
Social Sharing Allison Graves, Zilla Jones, Dilan Qadir, Liz Stewart and Isabella Wang have been named the 2025 Writers' Trust of Canada's Rising Stars. Launched in 2019, the Writers' Trust Rising Stars program is an initiative supporting Canadian writers early in their careers. Each year, five talented emerging writers are chosen and mentored by prominent Canadian authors. The recipients also receive $5,000 and attend a two-week self-directed writing residency at Gibraltar Point Centre for the Arts on the Toronto Islands. Graves is a Newfoundland-based writer and musician. Soft Serve, her debut fiction collection, was shortlisted for an Atlantic Book Award. Her work has appeared in The Antigonish Review, Riddle Fence Magazine and Room Magazine. Her fiction has been longlisted for prizes in Prism, The Fiddlehead and The Newfoundland Quarterly. She is completing her PhD in Irish Literature and teaches at Memorial University. Graves will be mentored by Michael Crummey. Crummey is the Newfoundland-based author of The Adversary, which is nominated for the 2025 Dublin Literary Award, The Innocents, Sweetland, Galore and Arguments with Gravity and Passengers. Three of Crummey's novels have been shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction — Sweetland, Galore and The Innocents. "Allison Graves' writing is generous even when it bites, and it's hilarious as often as it is sobering, which makes her a joy to read," said Crummey in a press statement. 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. Her debut novel, The World So Wide, was released in March 2025. Jones made the 2020 CBC Short Story Prize long list 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. Zilla Jones' debut novel explores a mixed-race woman's search for identity and belonging The CBC Poetry Prize is open now until June 1. The winner receives $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and their work will be published on CBC Books. You can learn more here. Jones will be mentored by Charlotte Gill, a B.C.-based writer of Indian and English descent. She is the author of memoirs Almost Brown and Eating Dirt, which won the B.C. National Award for Canadian Nonfiction. Her short story collection, Ladykiller, was nominated for a Governor General's Literary Award. She currently teaches writing at the University of King's College. She lives in British Columbia. "Zilla Jones' scenes are ingeniously imagined and beautifully written with rewards that endure long after the last page has turned," said Gill a press statement. Qadir is a Kurdish-Canadian writer based in Vancouver. His work, which spans poetry, fiction and nonfiction, has been published in Wax Poetry and Art, Quae Nocent Docent Anthology and The Fiddlehead. He was longlisted for the Vera Manuel Award for Poetry and received the PEN Canada-Humber College Writers-in-Exile Scholarship. Quadir will be mentored by Rabindranath Mahara, the author of several novels and short story collections. His latest is the short story collection A Quiet Disappearance. His novel The Amazing Absorbing Boy won both the Toronto Book Award and the Trillium Book Award. He has previously been nominated for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, The Chapters First Novel Award and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. In January 2013, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. His work has also appeared in The Washington Post, The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star. "Dilan Qadir's keen observational eye, his ability to blend humour and trauma, his understanding of the historical forces that shape our world, and the authenticity of his writing all evoke admiration," said Qadir in a press statement. Stewart is a writer from Manitoba who currently lives in B.C. She won the This Side of West 2021 Prose and Poetry Contest and has been published in Best Canadian Stories 2025, Plenitude Magazine, carte blanche and Camas Magazine. Stewart will be mentored by Casey Plett, the author of A Dream of a Woman, Little Fish, 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. "Liz Stewart's work is honest and beautiful — real, singular, and urgent," said Plett in a press statement. "Stewart is making something intimate that anyone can believe and see." Wang is the writer of chapbook On Forgetting a Language and Pebble Swing, which was a finalist for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. She was shortlisted for Arc's Poem of the year Content, The Malahat Review's Far Horizons Awards for Poetry and Long Poem Contest, Minola Review's Inaugural Poetry Contest and twice for the New Quarterly's Edna Staebler Personal Essay Contest. She lives in B.C. and directs Revise-Revision Street, a nonprofit editing and mentorship program. Wang will be mentored by Joseph Dandurand, a poet from the Kwantlen First Nation. His collections include The East Side of It All, which was a finalist for the Griffin Poetry Prize, The Rumour, SH:LAM (The Doctor) and I Will Be Corrupted. He is the director of the Kwantlen Cultural Centre and the artistic director of the Vancouver Poetry House. In 2019, he won the Latner Writers' Trust Poetry Prize. "Isabella Wang demonstrates immense promise as she constructs more of herself," said Dandurand in a press statement. "There will be great poetry created by such creativity and resourcefulness." The Writers' Trust of Canada is an organization that supports Canadian writers through literary awards, fellowships, financial grants, mentorships and more. It gives out 11 prizes in recognition of the year's best in fiction, nonfiction and short story, as well as mid-career and lifetime achievement awards. The Writers' Trust Rising Stars program is supported by presenting sponsor BMO Financial Group, Clair Duff in memory of Catherine Shepard, Deb MacLeod and Ward Sellers, as well as John Terry and Lisa Rochon and the T.R. Meighen Family Foundation.
