35 great Canadian books to read this spring
Looking for a new read this season? Check out the CBC Books Spring Reading List
Looking for a good read? Check out this CBC Books list of the buzzworthy Canadian and fiction, nonfiction and poetry books out this spring.
She's a Lamb! by Meredith Hambrock
Jessamyn St. Germain is convinced that she's destined to be a big star. While others might see her dreams as delusional, She's a Lamb! follows Jessamyn's relentless quest — revealing the oppressive weight of patriarchy and the depths she will sink to, for a chance to make her dreams a reality.
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 Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead 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.
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.
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.
Nobody Asked for This by Georgia Toews
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, The Mystery Guest and The Mistletoe Mystery.
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.
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 by Omar El Akkad
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 Foreign Bodies will be included in the forthcoming Best Canadian Essays anthology.
How to Share an Egg by Bonny Reichert
When Toronto-based journalist Bonny Reichert turned 40, she quit her job and enrolled in culinary school — a life-changing decision that pushed her to explore her relationship with food in writing. This exploration, along with a critical bowl of borscht in Warsaw, led Reichert to writing her memoir, How to Share an Egg, which dives into how food shapes her history as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor.
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 by Scott Oake
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 by Mélikah Abdelmoumen, translated by Catherine Khordoc
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.
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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.
LISTEN | Claire Cameron reflects on her new memoir:
One Foot on the Platform by Peter Goddard, edited by J.A. Wainwright
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.
No One Knows Us There by Jessica Bebenek
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
