39 Canadian poetry collections coming out in spring 2025
Check out these Canadian poetry collections we're excited about in spring 2025!
If you're interested in poetry, 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 You can submit an original, unpublished poem or collection of poems from April 1-June 1.
Unravel by Tolu Oloruntoba
In the poetry collection Unravel, Nigerian Canadian poet Tolu Oloruntoba reflects on themes of identity, belonging and agency by way of poems that fundamentally delve into what it means to be human in today's world.
Unravel is out now.
Oloruntoba is a writer from Nigeria who now lives in Alberta. He is the founder of the literary magazine Klorofyl. Oloruntoba won the 2021 Governor General's Literary Award for poetry for his debut collection The Junta of Happenstance.
Green by Paul Moorehead
Paul Moorehead's Green explores its titular namesake colour and reflects on how it represents change, growth and transformation. Riffing off of topics such as science, pop culture and parenting, the collection examines how change is a constant and how the world is filled with wonders.
Green is out now.
Moorehead is a pediatrician, writer and poet based in St. John's. His poems have appeared in Riddle Fence, Pinhole Poetry, and Turnstyle: The SABR Journal of Baseball Arts.
total by Aisha Sasha John
In total, Aisha Sasha John's fourth poetry collection looks at the intersection between language and meaning — and the many systems and beliefs that confine and constrain us. The work explores ways to resist conditioning and find true beauty in places and spaces often left unexamined.
total is out now.
John is a Canadian dancer, poet and author. Her book I have to live. was shortlisted for the 2018 Griffin Poetry Prize. John's sophomore collection, Thou, landed her on shortlists for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry and ReLit Poetry Award.
Forecast: Pretty Bleak by Chris Bailey
Forecast: Pretty Bleak is the latest poetry collection by P.E.I-based poet and writer Chris Bailey. The work uses the setting of rural P.E.I. to reflect on themes including climate change, work, family, love and the notion that hope is the platform for better tomorrows.
Forecast: Pretty Bleak is out now.
Bailey is a graphic designer and commercial fisherman based in P.E.I. His writing has appeared in Grain, Brick, The Fiddlehead, Best Canadian Stories 2021, Best Canadian Stories 2025.
antibody by Rebecca Salazar
antibody is a poetry collection that uses the concept of body horror as a platform for resistance. Looking at themes of sexual violence and trauma, the work is a raw and unflinching look at the stark reality of survival and challenging myths of "perfect" victimhood.
antibody is out now.
Rebecca Salazar is a writer, editor and community organizer from New Brunswick. They edit the publications The Fiddlehead and Plenitude. Her poetry collection sulphurtongue was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for poetry, the New Brunswick Book Awards, the Atlantic Book Awards and the League of Canadian Poets' Pat Lowther Memorial Award.
Autopsy (of an Ex-Teen Heartthrob) by Avan Jogia
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.
Autopsy (of an Ex-Teen Heartthrob) is out now.
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.
Revolutions by Hajer Mirwali
Revolutions is a poetry collection that examines Muslim daughterhood — and how themes of shame and pleasure are inextricably linked throughout. Drawing from poetics both Palestinian and Iraqi, feminist and Canadian, Revolutions looks at how young Arab women shift their identities.
Revolutions is out now.
Hajer Mirwali is a Toronto-based Palestinian and Iraqi writer. Her work has appeared in publications such as The Ex-Puritan, Brick Magazine, Room Magazine and Joyland.
The Seated Woman by Clémence Dumas-Côté, translated by E.S. Taillon
The Seated Woman is a collection of poems written from the perspective of a woman, silent, nailed to her chair. As she writes, the poems protest, but she commands them to share her voice.
The Seated Woman is out now.
Clémence Dumas-Côté is the author of the novel Glu and poetry books L'alphabet du don and La femme assise. She studied acting at the National Theatre School of Canada and holds a master's degree in creative writing. She was born in Montreal.
E.S. Taillon is a queer and neurodivergent writer whose writing has appeared in publications such as déraciné, Filling Station and Agur Magazine. Their first literary translation, Scenes from the Underground, was shortlisted for the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers. They are the former managing editor of Prism International magazine.
More Songs the Radio Won't Play by Stan Rogal
More Songs the Radio Won't Play reimagines and transforms once-popular songs to create a playlist for the modern audience. While resisting a message or a moral, More Songs the Radio Won't Play explores the contemporary world and the role that music and art plays in it.
More Songs the Radio Won't Play is out now.
Stan Rogal is the author of 27 books and a playwright. His work has appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies in Canada, the U.S., and Europe. He is based in Vancouver.
UNMET by stephanie roberts
UNMET is a poetry collection that brings together the real and the imagined from a Black-Latinx, Canadian and immigrant perspective. Musically-driven, UNMET interrogates timely issues such as a police brutality and ecological crisis with a sense of hope for the future.
UNMET is out now.
stephanie roberts was born in Panama, raised in Brooklyn and has lived most of her adult life in Quebec. Her poetry collection, rushes from the river disappointment, was a finalist for the 2020 Quebec Writers' Federation's literary award's A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry. She received the Sage Hill Writing award for Black Excellence and is a grantee of the Canada Council of the Arts.
Myth by Terese Mason Pierre
The poetry collection Myth shows how myths appear in daily life, from friends with benefits exploring Grenada to aliens visiting the Caribbean. In three moments and two interludes, Myth mixes speculative poetry with enraptured lyricism.
Myth is out now.
Terese Mason Pierre is a Toronto-based writer and editor. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Walrus, ROOM, Quill & Quire, Uncanny and Fantasy Magazine. She is a winner of the Writers' Trust Journey Prize and was named a 2023 Writers' Trust Rising Star. She is the author of the chapbooks Surface Area and Manifest, and her work has been a finalist for the bpNichol Chapbook Award, Best of the Net and the Ignyte Award.
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.
Shadow Price is out now.
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.
Wellwater by Karen Solie
Wellwater is a poetry collection that argues that the economic and climate crises are powerfully entwined. Celebrating persistence in the natural world, Wellwater offers a message that hope is the only way to address these issues.
Wellwater is out now.
Karen Solie is the author of several poetry collections, including Short Haul Engine, Modern and Normal, Pigeon, The Road In Is Not the Same Road Out and The Caiplie Caves. She has received many awards, such as the Trillium Poetry Prize and the Griffin Prize, and has been shortlisted for the Derek Walcott Prize and the T.S. Eliot Prize. She teaches half-time in Scotland at the University of St. Andrews and spends the remainder of the year in Canada.
Crowd Source by Cecily Nicholson
Crowd Source is a poetry collection that parallels the daily migration of crows around metro Vancouver. It examines their flight, interactions with humans and all forms of communication to ruminate on the contemporary climate crisis and social movements.
Crowd Source is out now.
Cecily Nicholson is an author and professor who has published five books, including From the Poplars, which won the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize, and Wayside Sang, which received the Governor General's Literary Award for poetry. Nicholson is an assistant professor in the School of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia and is the 2024/2025 Holloway Lecturer in Poetry and Poetics at the University of California, Berkeley.
All Wrong Horses on Fire that Go Away in the Rain by Sarain Frank Soonias
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.
All Wrong Horses on Fire that Go Away in the Rain is out now.
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.
The Beauty of Vultures by Wendy McGrath, illustrated by Danny Miles
Bringing together photography and poetry, The Beauty of Vultures takes readers into the vocal world of birds. At once funny and serious, the collection features conversations between all kinds of birds in a vast variety of situations.
The Beauty of Vultures is out now.
Wendy McGrath is a Métis writer and artist living in amiskwacîwâska-hikan (Edmonton) on Treaty 6 Territory. She won the inaugural Prairie Grindston Prize. She is the author of the Santa Rosa trilogy.
Danny Miles is a drummer from Ontario, best known for playing in the Canadian alternative rock band July Talk. He's also passionate about bird photography, which helps him enjoy some quiet time during tours.
The ONEIRONAUT Ø2 by Sheri-D Wilson
The ONEIRONAUT Ø2 is the follow-up to The Oneironaut ∅1 where outcast scientist Rain must use her wits and might to battle against The Bureau, a totalitarian regime that's wiping out everyone with the ability to dream.
The ONEIRONAUT Ø2 is out now.
Sheri-D Wilson is a Calgary-based writer and artist of 13 books, four short films and three words and music albums. She was appointed to The Order of Canada in 2019 and was the Poet Laureate Emeritus of Calgary from 2018 to 2020.
Speech Dries Here on the Tongue edited by Rasiqra Revulva, Amanda Shankland and Hollay Ghadery
Speech Dries Here on the Tongue is an anthology of poems written by an array of Canadian poets who explore the impact of the changing climate on our mental health — highlighting the fragility of both the environment and our minds.
Speech Dries Here on the Tongue is out now.
Rasiqra Revulva is a disabled queer femme writer, editor, multimedia artist, musician and performer. Her previous works include the poetry chapbooks If You Forget the Whipped Cream, You're No Good As A Woman and Sailor, C'est l'heure. Her debut full-length poetry collection Cephalopography 2.0 was longlisted for the 2021 Laurel Prize.
Amanda Shankland is a Ottawa-based poetry and short story writer. She is a PhD candidate in the political science department at Carleton University and holds a master's degree in public policy and administration as well as an honours bachelor's degree in arts and contemporary studies from Toronto Metropolitan University.
Hollay Ghadery is a writer and radio host from rural Ontario on Anishinaabe land. Her work has been featured in The Malahat Review, The Fiddlehead, The Antigonish Review and CBC Parents, among others. Ghadery's memoir Fuse won the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award, and the title poem of her poetry collection Rebellion Box won The New Quarterly's Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Prize.
I Used to Live Here by Amy LeBlanc
What does a body feel like when it doesn't feel like a home? What does it look like when a body self-destructs? In the collection of poems in I Used to Live Here, these questions are explored through a poetic lens to represent living with chronic illness, disability and autoimmunity.
I Used to Live Here is out now.
Amy LeBlanc is a Calgary-based writer. Her previous works include the poetry collection I know something you don't know, which was longlisted for the ReLit Award and a finalist for the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry, the novella Unlocking, which was a finalist for Trade Fiction Book of the Year and the short story collection Homebodies. Her writing has been featured in Room, Arc and Canadian Literature.
In a Cage of Sunlight by Joseph Maviglia
In a Cage of Sunlight features an engaging and energetic mix of poetry, prose and song from the three-decades long career of poet, singer-songwriter and essayist Joseph Maviglia. The blend of poetic and musical style features lyrics from his original compositions and the details of his music production.
In a Cage of Sunlight is out now.
Maviglia is a Toronto-based poet, singer-songwriter, essayist and arts teacher. His musical works include the albums Memory to Steel and Angel in the Rain, and he has performed and been published across Canada, the United States and Europe.
A Bouquet of Glass by Carol Krause
A Bouquet of Glass is a piercing collection of poetry, exploring altered realities through the eyes of a poet with a psychoactive mind and life-altering disability. It blends vivid and extraordinary experiences of love and loss.
A Bouquet of Glass is out now.
Carol Krause is a Toronto-based poet. Her work has been featured in The Fiddlehead, Arc Poetry and PRISM international, among others. Her debut poetry collection is A Bouquet of Glass.
Goalie by Ben von Jagow
From rookie to retirement, the collection of poems in Goalie vividly captures the highs, lows and everything in-between of a hockey career — exploring the glorious moments of ambitious pursuit and the vulnerable times of facing set-backs.
Goalie is out now.
Ben von Jagow is a Ottawa-based poet and writer. His work has been featured in Canadian Literature, Prairie Fire and The Antigonish Review, among others. His debut poetry collection is Goalie and includes the poems that longlisted to the CBC Poetry Prize in 2020.
Blood Root by Jessica Hiemstra
In Blood Root, the author reflects on her dual upbringing in Bobcaygeon (Canada/Turtle Island) and Badela (Sierra Leone). Through a blend of poetry, diary entries and drawings, she touches on themes of land, belonging and identity — meditating on the impact of colonialism in these places.
Blood Root is out now.
Jessica Hiemstra is a poet, artist and designer from Gunning Cove, Nova Scotia. Her previous works of poetry include the collections The Holy Nothing, Self Portrait without a Bicycle and Apologetic for Joy.
Born Sacred by Smokii Sumac
Through 100 poems, Born Sacred reflects on colonial violence past and present through honouring the shared histories of Indigenous peoples of North America and of the people in Palestine.
Born Sacred is out now.
Smokii Sumac is a Ktunaxa two-spirit poet and emerging playwright. Their debut poetry collection you are enough: love poems for the end of the world won the Indigenous Voices Award, and they hosted The ʔasqanaki Podcast, interviewing Indigenous musicians and writers. They reside in their home territories of ʔamakʔis Ktunaxa, near the Kootenay River in B.C.
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 poignantly details her coming-of-age that's marked with beauty, pain and a quest for love.
i cut my tongue on a broken country is out now.
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.
Buzzkill Clamshell by Amber Dawn
Packed with sharp, candid and sensual verses, Buzzkill Clamshell is a collection of poems that explore themes of sick and disabled queerness, aging and desire.
Buzzkill Clamshell is out now.
Amber Dawn is a Vancouver-based author, editor and creative facilitator. Her previous works include the novels Sub Rosa, which won the Lambda Literary Award, and Sodom Road Exit, as well as poetry collections Where the Words End and My Body Begins and My Art Is Killing Me and Other Poems.
a body more tolerable by jaye simpson
Ferocious and vulnerable, a body more tolerable examines Indigenous grief, trans identity and frustrated desires through visceral poems that pulsate with yearning and possibility.
a body more tolerable is out now.
jaye simpson is an Oji-Cree Saulteaux Indigiqueer writer and activist from the Sapotaweyak Cree Nation. Their debut poetry collection it was never going to be okay was shortlisted for the 2021 ReLit Award and the Writers' Trust of Canada Dayne Ogilvie Prize and won the 2021 Indigenous Voices Award for Published Poetry in English.
Familial Hungers by Christine Wu
Packed with vivid and mouthwatering imagery of food, Familial Hungers is a lyrical feast that reckons with both the grief and joy of growing up as the daughter of Chinese Canadian immigrants.
Familial Hungers is out now.
Christine Wu is a Chinese-Canadian poet based in Halifax. She won the 2023 RBC PEN Canada New Voices Award and was shortlisted for the RBC Writers' Trust Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers in 2022. Wu holds a BFA in creative writing from the University of Victoria, a master of library and information studies from Dalhousie University and an MA in English from the University of New Brunswick.
Devotional Forensics by Joseph Kidney
Devotional Forensics is a poetry collection that spans a wide range of topics and a huge length of time. Seamlessly intertwining everything from Renaissance literature to family dynamics, modern art to biological science, Joseph Kidney's poems are both timeless and urgent, exploring the small apocalypses that shape the progression of history.
Devotional Forensics is out now.
Kidney is a writer originally from B.C., now working as a lecturer at Stanford University. His previous works include the chapbook Terra Firma, Pharma Sea. Kidney's poems have been featured in Best Canadian Poetry 2024, Arc, Vallum, The Malahat Review, Oberon, The Fiddlehead and Periodicities, among others.
Walking Upstream by Lloyd Ratzlaff
The collection of poems Walking Upstream depicts one man's struggle to break free from the trauma inflicted by his harsh religious upbringing and how he turned to the natural world to seek comfort and solace.
Walking Upstream is out now.
Lloyd Ratzlaff is a former minister, counsellor and university lecturer from Saskatoon. He is the author of three nonfiction books and has edited both an anthology of seniors' writings and a children's book. He has won two Saskatchewan Writers Guild literary nonfiction awards and was a finalist for three Saskatchewan Book Awards. His debut poetry collection is Walking Upstream.
No One Knows Us There by Jessica Bebenek
The poems in No One Knows Us There shows 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.
No One Knows Us There is out now.
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.
Elegy for Opportunity by Natalie Lim
Through candid reflections on the issues and events that shape today's society — from climate anxiety to the cultural impact of Taylor Swift, Elegy for Opportunity explores the tension and beauty of a world marked both by grief and pockets of joy.
Elegy for Opportunity is out now.
Natalie Lim is a Chinese-Canadian poet based in Vancouver. Her work has been featured in Arc Poetry Magazine and Best Canadian Poetry 2020, among others. She is the author of the chapbook arrhythmia and has won the 2018 CBC Poetry Prize and Room magazine's 2020 Emerging Writer Award.
Ring of Dust by Louise Marois
In Ring of Dust, Louise Marois weaves an ambitious collection of poems that's a dialogue between many pluralities — then and now, family and entourage, lover and nature, mother and death, work-person and artist, fables and confidences, limits and new reaches, home and escape, city and field, queer life and a blood red world.
When you can read it: April 15, 2025.
Marois is a Montreal-based writer and artist. Her debut poetry collection La peau des yeux won the Jacqueline-Déry-Mochon prize and she has been a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award twice.
Bonememory by Anna Veprinska
Bonememory is a collection of poems that navigates the remaining pain from immigration, the Holocaust, Canadian settler-colonialism and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Throughout, Anna Veprinska also navigates her chronic illness and disability.
When you can read it: April 15, 2025
Veprinska, author of Empathy in Contemporary Poetry after Crisis, was a finalist in the Ralph Gustafson Poetry Contest, shortlisted for the Austin Clarke Prize in Literary Excellence and received an Honourable Mention from the Memory Studies Association First Book Award.
Re: Wild Her by Shannon Webb-Campbell
Re: Wild Her is a poetry collection that examines the concept of rewilding as a form of Indigenous resurgence and power. Exploring themes of ecology, traditional knowledge and sexuality, the poems tell of a journey to reclamation and offer a roadmap back to joy.
When you can read it: April 15, 2025
Shannon Webb-Campbell, of Mi'kmaq and settler heritage, is a writer based in Halifax, and a member of Flat Bay First Nation in Newfoundland and Labrador. She is also the author of Lunar Tides, I Am a Body of Land and Still No Word, which won Egale Canada's Out in Print Award.
Future Works by Jeff Derksen
Future Works is an angry-funny book about how to live in the present while also being attuned to what could happen in the future. It recognizes the challenges of life in the past decade and celebrates the little things we do to make it better.
When you can read it: April 15, 2025
Jeff Derksen is a poet, critic and professor at Simon Fraser University who divides his time between Vancouver and Vienna. He is the author of poetry books The Vestiges, Transnational Muscle Cars and Down Time, which won the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize, and the critical books After Euphoria, Annihilated Time: Poetry and Other Politics.
allostatic load by Junie Désil
The poems in allostatic load grapple with racial tensions, the pandemic and systemic injustice through both the intimate closeness of personal stories and the lens of news clippings. allostatic load invites readers to do the hard work of vulnerability to find healing in a world that doesnt always allow it.
When you can read it: April 15, 2025
Junie Désil is a writer of Haitian descent. Her work has appeared in publications such as Room, PRISM International, The Capilano Review and CV2. Her debut book is eat salt | gaze at the ocean. She lives on Lasqueti Island in B.C. and works in Vancouver.
Taslīm by Carolyn Ramzy
Taslīm: We are the Prophets dives into the effects of the Taslīm (Commandments) on Coptic girls as they grow up into womanhood. It reckons with the task of transmitting ancestral knowledge and traditions and the costs of this responsibility, even in diaspora communities.
When you can read it: April 22, 2025
Carolyn Ramzy is an Ottawa-based associate professor of ethnomusicology at Carleton University. She looks at Egyptian Coptic Christian music-making and themes of gender, sexuality and diaspora belonging.
Encrypted by Arleen Paré
Encrypted is a tender tribute to Arleen Paré's grandson. When he struggled with severe anxiety and depression, forcing him to drop out of college, Paré grappled with what it means to come of age in the "age of anxiety." Her grandson was able to return to his studies, and those vulnerable moments from that time are reflected upon in this emotional poetry collection.
When you can read it: May 9, 2025.
Paré is a poet based in Victoria and the author of nine poetry collections. She has received various awards, including the American Golden Crown Award for Poetry, the Victoria Butler Book Prize, a CBC Bookie Award and a Governor General's Award for Poetry. Paré was also shortlisted for the BC Dorothy Livesay BC Award for Poetry.
Corrections
- This post has been updated to reflect that Tolu Oloruntoba lives in Alberta.Apr 11, 2025 12:06 PM EDT
