34 great Canadian books to check out in fall 2021

As the weather gets cooler, warm up with one of these great Canadian books.

Ring by Andr Alexis

Ringcompletes the quincunx of Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning writer Andr Alexis. When Helen Odhiambo Lloyd sensesthat her daughter Gwenhwyfar is in love, Helen gives her a ring that has been passed down forgenerations. The ring lets the bearer change three things about her beloved. It's a blessing, but also a curse.

The other titles in the quincunx arePastoral,Fifteen Dogs,The Hidden KeysandDays by Moonlight. The novels all represent different genres, but deal in the same themes: faith, place, love, power and hatred.Ringfocuses on love.

• Andr Alexis on what he values most, in art and friends

Alexis was born in Trinidad and grew up in Canada. His novelFifteen Dogsreceived the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and wonCanada Reads2017, when it was defended by Humble the Poet.His other books includeChildhoodandAsylum.

20:17Mona Awad on All's Well

Mona Awad talks to Shelagh Rogers about her latest novel, All's Well.

Return by Kamal Al-Solaylee

Kamal Al-Solaylee yearns to return to his homeland of Yemen, now wracked by war, starvation and daily violence, to reconnect with his family. His childhood homes call to him, even though he ran away from them in his youth and found peace and prosperity in Toronto. InReturn, Al-Solaylee interviews people who have returned to their homelands or long to return to them. This book is a chronicle of love and loss, a book for anyone who has ever wondered what it would be like to return to their roots.

• Kamal Al-Solaylee on the idea of home, and the desire to return

Al-Solaylee is a professor and author. His other books includeIntolerable: A Memoir of ExtremesandBrown: What Being Brown in the World Today Means (to Everyone).Intolerablewas defended by Kristin Kreuk onCanada Reads2015.Al-Solaylee holds a PhD in English and is the director of the University of British Columbia's school of journalism, writing and media.

Alayna Fender and Megan Gail Coles discuss Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club

4 years ago

Duration 5:24

YouTuber Alayna Fender will defend Megan Gail Coles's debut novel Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club on Canada Reads 2020.

All's Well by Mona Awad

In the novelAll's Well, the accident that ended Miranda Fitch's acting career has made her life a living nightmare. She has excruciating, chronic pain, a failed marriage, a dependence on painkillers and she's on the verge of losing her job as college theatre director. She's still determined to put on Shakespeare'sAll's Well That Ends Well, even though her cast wants Macbeth. She meets three strange benefactors who know a little too much about her past and are promising her the future she wants.

• Mona Awad's latest novel All's Well explores personal pain, suffering and self-doubt set to Shakespeare

Mona Awad is the author ofBunnyand13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, which won the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, the Colorado Book Awardand was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. She currently lives in Boston.

The Sunday Magazine22:32What the honesty of childhood reveals about the ugliness in our world

80 million people were displaced worldwide by mid-2020 and as novelist Omar El Akkad sees it, that number will grow as climate change worsens. He joins Piya Chattopadhyay to discuss his latest novel What Strange Paradise.

What Storm, What Thunder by Myriam J. A. Chancy

As markets and businesses begin to close for the evening at the end of a long, sweltering day, a huge earthquake shakes the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince.What Storm, What Thunderis a novel that follows 10survivors as they grapple with the permanent life-altering effects of the earthquake and shows the tenacity of the human spirit.

Myriam J. A. Chancy is theauthor of four novels and four books of literary criticism. Her novelThe Loneliness of Angelswon the Guyana Prize for Literature Caribbean Awardin 2011 and was shortlisted for the 2011 OCM Bocas Prize in Carribbean Literature for fiction. Chancy was raised in Haiti and Canada and now resides in the U.S.

Satched by Megan Gail Coles

Named after a local word meaning "soaked through" or "weighed down,"Satchedis a poetry collection that explores intergenerational trauma, ecological grief and late-stage capitalism from the perspective of a woman of rural-remote, Northern, working class and mixed ancestry.

• Megan Gail Coles wrote a novel to have a frank conversation on what ails the nation

Megan Gail Coles is an author and playwright originally from Savage Cove, N.L. and currently livingin Montreal, where she is a PhD candidate at Concordia University. She is also the author of the short story collectionEating Habits of the Chronically Lonesomeand the novelSmall Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club,whichwas a finalist for the 2019 Scotiabank Giller Prize and was defended by YouTuber Alayna Fender onCanada Reads2020.

13:29Brian Francis on Missed Connections

Brian Francis talks to Shelagh Rogers about his book, Missed Connections.

The Prairie Chicken Dance Tour by Dawn Dumont

The Prairie Chicken Dance Touris about the trials and tribulations of a touring dance group. Right before a 15-day tour through Europe, all the performers in The Prairie Chicken dance troupe come down with the flu. So, John Greyeyes, a retired cowboy who hasn't danced in 15 years, is thrust into leading a hastily assembled group of replacement dancers. As the gaggle of amateur dancers make its way from one stop to another, nothing goes as planned and the tour becomes a string of madcap adventures.

• Dawn Dumont wrote about the ups and downs of the modern Indigenous experience

Dawn Dumont is a Plains Cree writer, comedian and actor who lives in Saskatoon. She is the author ofRose's Run,Glass BeadsandNobody Cries at Bingo, which was shortlisted for the 2012 Alberta Readers Choice Awards, Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Award and First Nation Communities READ Award.

What Strange Paradiseby Omar El Akkad

What Strange Paradiseis a novel that tells the story of a global refugee crisis through the eyes of a child. Nine-year-old Amir is the only survivor from a ship full of refugees coming to a small island nation. He ends up with a teenage girl named Vanna, who lives on the island. Even though they don't share a common language or culture, Vanna becomes determined to keep Amir safe.What Strange Paradisetells both their stories and how they each reached this moment, while asking the questions, "How did we get here?" and "What are we going to do about it?"

What Strange Paradiseis on the shortlist for the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

• Omar El Akkad's best writing advice? Do nothing

Omar El Akkad is a Canadian journalist and author who currently lives in Portland. He is also the author of the novelAmerican War, which was defended onCanada Reads2018 by actor Tahmoh Penikett.

El Akkad is on the judging panelfor the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize.

Unreserved13:56Tomson Highway on love, music and story

Tomson Highway, is a playwright, novelist and music maker whose writing about life on the reserve brought him international fame, awards, and many accolades.

Library by Michael Dumontier & Neil Farber

In Michael Dumontier and Neil Farber'sLibrary,readers will discover brilliant new works of made-up literature, such asDon't Talk To Me For Too Long, You'll Fall In Love and I Liked Me, But Then I Did What I Did.The Winnipeg artists have been painting imagined books, with inscrutablyfunny, existential titles, as part of a series that's been on-going since 2009.

Dumontier and Farberare founding membersof the art collective The Royal Art Lodge. Their work has been exhibited in galleries throughout Canada and internationally. Their previous books includeConstructive AbandonmentandAnimals With Sharpies.

Swimming Back to Trout River by Linda Rui Feng

InSwimming Back to Trout River, Junie is a 10-year-old living in a village in China with her grandparents. Her parents left for America several years before. Her father has written her a letter sayingthat he will come back to get her before she turns 12. But Junie doesn't want to go and she doesn't know how much her parents have changed. They have broken up, and are dealing with trauma from their past. But Junie's father is determined to make things right, and make sure Junie's future is brighter than his ever was.

Swimming Back to Trout Riverwas on the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist.

• Linda Rui Feng explores music, history and immigration in novel Swimming Back to Trout River

Linda Rui Feng is an academic and writer, who is currently a professor of Chinese cultural history at the University of Toronto.Swimming Back to Trout Riveris her first novel.

Manikanetish by Naomi Fontaine

InManikanetish, a young Innu woman, Yammie, returns to her home in the Uashat nation on Quebec's North Shoreafter 15 years of exile. She plans to teach language and drama at the localschool, but finds a community steeped in despair. When she accepts a position directing the school play, she sees an opportunity for her students to take charge of themselves.

Naomi Fontaine is a member of the Innu Nation of Uashat. Her debut novel,Kuessipan, was made into a film that was featured at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. The French-language edition ofManikanetishwas a finalist for aGovernor General's Literary Awardand Radio Canada'sCombat des livres2019.

Missed Connections by Brian Francis

In 1992, Brian Francis, a 21-year-old university student, placed a personal ad in a local newspaper. He was still in the closet and looking for love. He received 25 responses, but only responded to half of them. There were 13 letters that went unanswered and spent years forgotten in a cardboard box. Now, almost three decades later, he has written replies to those letters.Missed Connectionsuses these letters as a starting point to reflect on everything that has changed for him as a gay man, exploring body image, aging, desire, the price of secrecy and the courage it takes to be unapologetically yourself.

Missed Connectionswas inspired by Francis's play,Box 4901.

• Brian Francis's nonfiction book Missed Connections explores body image, desire and the price of secrecy

Francis is the author of novelsFruit,Natural OrderandBreak in Case of Emergency. He is a columnist forThe Next Chapteron CBC Radio and lives in Toronto.

with/holding by Chantal Gibson

with/holdingis a collection of genre-blurring poems that examines the representation and reproduction of Blackness across communication media and popular culture. Drawing on icons from past and present, this collection imagines Black voices moving freely across time and space.

• Chantal Gibson wants to decolonize minds through poetry

Chantal Gibson is awriter, artist and educator based in Vancouver. Her visual art has been exhibited at the ROM and galleries across Canada. Her debut poetry collection,How She Read,was afinalist for the 2020 Griffin Poetry Prize. Gibson was also on the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize longlistfor her poemThree Body Problem.

Permanent Astonishment by Tomson Highway

Permanent Astonishmentis a memoir by playwright, composer and pianist Tomson Highway. The Cree artist was born the 11th of 12 children in a nomadic caribou-hunting family. Surrounded by his family's love and the vast landscape of his home, Highwayspent an idyllic childhood in the remote reaches of northern Manitoba. Herecounts his early life,includinghis years in residential school, in thismemoir aboutfamily, Cree lifeand northern adventures.

Permanent Astonishmentis on the shortlist for the 2021 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction.

• Tomson Highway's memoir, Permanent Astonishment, is written as 'a symphony to life'

Highway is a novelist, children's author, playwright and musician. He is a member of the Barren Lands First Nation. His work includes Canadian theatre classicsThe Rez SistersandDry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, the novelKiss of the Fur Queenand children's novelsCaribou Song,Dragon Fly KitesandFox on the Ice.

12:29In new graphic novel, Thomas King explores Indigenous nationhood through scenes at the border

Since its release nearly three decades ago, writer Thomas King's acclaimed short story Borders has gone through several permutations. The latest adaptation is a graphic novel, illustrated by Mtis artist Natasha Donovan. King and Donovan discuss the new adaptation and why it continues to resonate today.

The Mystery of Right and Wrong by Wayne Johnston

The Mystery of Right and Wrongis a novel about an aspiring writer and Newfoundlander namedWade Jackson. At the university library, Wade meets and falls in love witha South African woman namedRachel van Hout. Wade discovers that Rachel is one of four daughters, each a wounded soul in their own way. Thenovel, inspired by true events in the author's family, grapples with sexual abuse, male violence and madness.

• The dark family secret behind the book that took author Wayne Johnston 3 decades to write

Johnston is a writer from Newfoundland. His novels includeThe Divine Ryans,A World Elsewhere,The Custodian of Paradise,The Navigator of New YorkandThe Colony of Unrequited Dreams. His 1999 memoir,Baltimore's Mansion,won him the RBCTaylor Prize.The Colony of Unrequited Dreamswas shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and was a Canada Reads2003 finalist, when it was defended by PrimeMinister Justin Trudeau.

The Next Chapter12:47Sarah Raughley on 3 historical books that centre the experience of Black people

Canadian fantasy writer and The Next Chapter columnist Sarah Raughley shares three historical books that centre the experience of Black people outside of the U.S.

Walking in Two Worlds by Wab Kinew

Inthe YA novelWalking in Two Worlds, ashy Indigenous teen girl named Bugz finds comfort and belonging through multiplayer video games and virtual worlds. When a teen boy named Feng moves to the rez where Bugz lives, the two discover they have a lot in common, both in real life and online. Their virtual adventures draw them closer but events in the real world, including family challenges and community trauma, threaten to harm the friendship the two have built.

• Wab Kinew on his new YA fantasy novel Walking in Two Worlds

Wab Kinew is the leader of Manitoba's New Democratic Party. Prior to his career in politics, he was a hip-hop musician andbroadcaster. He was the winning panellist on Canada Reads 2014 and hosted the show in 2015.

Kinew is the author of two books:The Reason You Walk,a memoir about mending his relationship with his father before his death, andGo Show the World,a children's picture book about Indigenous heroes throughout history.Go Show the Worldwas a finalist for the2018 Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature illustrated books.Kinew lives in Winnipeg.

Jordan Tannahill was an acclaimed playwright but not a dancer. Then he met Christopher House

5 years ago

Duration 3:45

"He is at once my best friend, my brother, my queer father, my mentor, and my collaborator." Tannahill and House dance together on In the Making stream the full episode now on CBC Gem.

Borders by Thomas King, illustrated by Natasha Donovan

Bordersis based on a short story written by Thomas Kingin 1993, and was adapted as a graphic novel by illustrator Natasha Donovan. It's about a boy and his mother who try to take a road trip from Alberta to Salt Lake City. When they reach the American-Canadian border, they identify as Blackfoot causing problems and putting the pair in limbo between Canada and America. What unfolds is a powerful story about justice, identity and belonging.

• In new graphic novel, Thomas King explores Indigenous nationhood through scenes at the border

King is an influential Canadian American writer of Cherokee and Greek ancestry. His bestselling books includeTruth & Bright Water,The Inconvenient Indianand many more. His novelIndians on Vacationwon the 2021 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour.

Donovan is a Mtis illustrator originally from Vancouver. She has illustrated several graphic novels, including theSurviving the Cityseries by Tasha Spilletand Brett Huson's animal series, which includesThe Sockeye Mother,The Grizzly MotherandThe Eagle Mother. She also illustrated the cover forThe Ghost Collectorby Allison Mills and her work appears in the anthologyThis Place: 150 Years Retold.

The Sunday Magazine8:37Clayton Thomas-Mller reads from his memoir Life in the City of Dirty Water

In an adapted excerpt from his newly-released book Life in the City of Dirty Water: A Memoir of Healing, Cree author and activist Clayton Thomas-Mller reflects on his own family's history with residential schools, and the path forward.

Glorious Frazzled Beings by Anglique Lalonde

In the short story collectionGlorious Frazzled Beings,human and more-than-human worlds come together in places we call home. Among other tales, a ghost tends to the family garden, a shape-shifting mother deals with the complexities of love when one son is born with beautiful fox ears andanother is not and a daughter tries to make sense of her dating profile after her mom dies.

Glorious Frazzled Beingsis on the shortlist for the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

• Anglique Lalonde explores the complexities of love in short story collection Glorious Frazzled Beings

Anglique Lalonde is a B.C.writer whose work has been featured in PRISM International, the Journey Prize Anthology, Room and the Malahat Review, among other publications. She received the 2019 Writers' Trust Journey Prize and was nominated for a National Magazine Award. She was awarded an emerging writer's residency at the Banff Centre. She lives in Northern B.C. and holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Victoria.

This is How I Disappearby Mirion Malle, translated byAleshia Jensen &Bronwyn Haslam

This is How I Disappearoffers a glimpse into the ways milennials cope with mental health struggles. Clara's at a breaking point. She haswriter's block, her friends ask a lot without giving much, her psychologist is useless and she is burnedout from work. The book is a portrait of a young woman wrestling with psychological stress and the trauma following sexual assault.

Mirion Malle is a French cartoonist and illustrator who lives in Montreal. She has published three books.The League of Super Feministsis her first book translated into English and it was nominated for the 2020 Prix Jeunesse at the Angoulme International Comics Festival.

Velvet Was The Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

InVelvet Was The Night, it's the 1970s in Mexico City and Maite is a secretary who lives to read the latest issue of Secret Romance. She escapes into stories of passion and danger, ignoring the student protests and political unrest that consume the city. When her next-door neighbour, Leonora, a beautiful art student, disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite searches for her, uncovering Leonora's secret life of student radicals and dissidents. Eccentric criminal Elvis, at the request of his boss, is also looking for Leonora. As Maite and Elvis come closer to finding out the truth behind Leonora's disappearance, they can no longer escape the danger that threatens to consume their lives.

• Silvia Moreno-Garcia likes to write genre-bending novels

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a Canadian writer, who was born and raised in Mexico. She's the author of novelsMexican Gothic,Gods of Jade and Shadow,Signal to Noise,Certain Dark ThingsandThe Beautiful Ones. She has previously won the Goodreads Readers Choice Award and the Copper Cylinder Award.

16:26Miriam Toews on Fight Night

Miriam Toews talks to Shelagh Rogers about her latest novel, Fight Night.

The Son of the House byCheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia

The Son of the Houseis the story of two Nigerian women, the housemaid Nwabulu and the wealthy Julie. The two live very different lives, but when both are kidnapped and forced to spend days together in a dark, tiny room, Nwabulu and Julie keep hope alive by sharing storiesand discovering common ground.

The Son of the Houseis on the shortlist for the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

• Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia's debut novelThe Son of the Houseis a story about gender, trauma & patriarchy

Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia is a lawyer, academic and writer who divides her time between Lagos and Halifax.The Son of the Houseis her first novel. It won the SprinNG Women Authors Prize in 2020.

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

The Book of Form and Emptinessis about a young boy dealing with the aftermath of his father's death. A year after his musician father dies, 13-year-old Benny Oh begins to hear voices in the random household objects around him. Some are pleasant, while others are angry and full of pain. When his mother starts hoarding things, the voices grow more intense. To keep the voices from following him everywhere, he seeks refuge in a public library, where objects are well-behaved. Oh meets mesmerizing new faces, and he discovers his own book, who narrates his life and teaches him to listen to the things that truly matter.

• Ruth Ozeki, Chris Abani and Tash Aw on faces and identity

Ruth Ozeki is a novelist, filmmaker and Zen Buddhist priest. She is the author ofMy Year of Meats,All Over CreationandA Tale for the Time Being, which was shortlisted for the 2013 Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. Ozeki teaches creative writing at Smith College.

The Sunday Magazine19:49Guy Vanderhaeghe on the fragility of humanity in times of crisis

In his first novel in a decade, celebrated author Guy Vanderhaeghe zooms in on a small town in Saskatchewan in the lead up to the Second World War. August into Winter follows two brothers, veterans racked with their own guilt and trauma, who are enlisted to chase down a murder suspect after the town's only constable is killed. The three-time Governor General's Award winner speaks with Piya Chattopadhyay about how times of crisis can expose the worst in us but also provide an opportunity for immense kindness and humanity.

A Dream of a Woman by Casey Plett

A Dream of a Womanisa collection of short stories revolvingaround transgender women who are looking for stable, adult lives. Taking place in Prairie high-rises andNew York warehouses, during freezing Canadian winters and drizzly Oregon days, these stories explore partnership, sex, addiction, romance, groundedness and love.

A Dream of a Womanwas on the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist. Casey Plett is a juror for the 2022 CBC Short Story Prize.

• Casey Plett brings trans love to the forefront in short story collection A Dream of a Woman

Plett is a Windsor-based writer who was born in Manitoba and has lived in Oregon and New York. Her novelLittle Fishwon the Lambda Literary Award, Amazon First Novel Award and the Firecracker Award for Fiction. Her first collection of short stories,A Safe Girl to Love, was published in 2014.

The Bones of Ruin by Sarah Raughley

The Bones of Ruinis the latest fantasy YA novel by Sarah Raughley. It's a tale set in 1880s London, featuring an immortal African tightrope walker named Iris who's caught up in a secret society's deadly gladiatorial tournament. Iris must learn more about her past, her identity and her power in order to survive her circumstances. But when she learns of a potentially world-ending threat, Iris needs to decide if learning her identity is worth the cost involved.

• Sarah Raughley shares her secrets to writing a successful fantasy series

Raughley is a fantasy novelist from Southern Ontario. Her YA Effigies series, which includesFate of Flames,Siege of ShadowsandLegacy of Light, drops readers into a world where four young women are imbued with the powers of the four elements fire, water, air and earth and tasked with protecting the world from the evil Phantoms.

17:18Katherena Vermette on The Strangers

Katherena Vermette talks to Shelagh Rogers about her latest novel, The Strangers.

The Listeners by Jordan Tannahill

In the novelThe Listeners, Claire Devon is one of a disparate group of people who can hear a low hum. No one in her house can hear it, and this sound has no obvious source or medical cause, but it starts upsetting the balance of Claire's life. She strikes up a friendship with one of her students who can also hear the hum. Feeling more and more isolated from their families and colleagues, they join a neighbourhood self-help group of people who can also hear the hum, which gradually transforms into something much more extreme, with far-reaching anddevastating consequences.

The Listenersis on the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist.

• Jordan Tannahill's latest novel The Listeners traces one woman's destructive journey in search for truth

Jordan Tannahill is a playwright, filmmaker, author and theatre director.He has twice won theGovernor General's Literary Award for drama: in 2014 forAge of Minorityand in 2018 forBotticelli in the Fire & Sunday in Sodom. He is also the author of the novelLiminal.

Jesse Wente on reconciliation, racism and his new memoir

3 years ago

Duration 7:16

The National speaks with Jesse Wente, the first Indigenous chair of the Canada Council for the Arts, about his new book Unreconciled. Part memoir, part manifesto, Wente explores the flawed concept of reconciliation, digs into his family history and shares his own struggle with identity and racism.

Life in the City of Dirty Water by Clayton Thomas-Muller

Life in the City of Dirty Wateris a memoir by Cree activist Clayton Thomas-Muller. It covers his entire life: from playing with toy planes as a way to escapethe intergenerational pain of Canada's residential school systemto spending time in juvenile detentionand later becoming an activist in the fight against colonial racism and violence. Along thisrocky road, Thomas-Mullerremainstied to his Cree heritage and spirituality.

• Cree activist Clayton Thomas-Mller embarks on a storytelling journey through trauma, healing, and Indigenous uprisings

Thomas-Muller is a member of the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, located in Northern Manitoba. He's campaigned on behalf of Indigenous peoples around the world for more than 20 years, working with numerous organizations.Life in the City of Dirty Wateris his first book.

16:39Zoe Whittall on The Spectacular

Zoe Whittall talks to Shelagh Rogers about her new novel, The Spectacular

Em by Kim Thy, translated by Sheila Fischman

Emis abouta young boy left to live inthe streetsby his father, anAmerican soldier, during the Vietnam war.He finds a finds ababy abandoned in Saigon. The novel takes inspiration from historical eventsto sift through the layers of pain and traumarevealing the invincibility of the human spirit.

Emwas on the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist.

• Kim Thy revisits the horror and beauty of Vietnam's past in novel Em

Born in Saigon, Kim Thy left Vietnam in a boat at 10 years old and settled with her family in Quebec. Her other novels includeVi,ManandRu,whichwon the Governor General's Literary Award for French-language fiction and was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2002.Rualso wonCanada Reads2015, when it was championed by Cameron Bailey.Her books have been translated into 29 languages and are available in 40 countries and territories.

Sheila Fischman is thetranslator of over 150 works of Quebec contemporary novels from French to English. She is a member of the Order of Canada and a chevalier of the Ordre national du Qubec.

Fight Night by Miriam Toews

InFight Night, nine-year-old Swiv lives in Toronto with her pregnant mother, who is raising Swiv while caring for her own elderly mother. When Swiv is expelled from school, Grandma gives Swiv the task of writing to her absent father about what life is like in the house during her mother's final trimester. In turn, Swiv tells Grandma, who knows what it costs to survive the world, to write a letter to her unborn grandchild.

Fight Nightis on the shortlist for the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the 2021 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.

• Why a 9-year-old girl narrates Miriam Toews's new novel, Fight Night

Miriam Toews is the author of seven novels, includingWomen Talking,All My Puny Sorrows,A Complicated KindnessandThe Flying Troutmans.She has won the Governor General's Award for fiction, the Libris Award for Fiction Book of the Year, the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the Writers' Trust Engel Findley Award.A Complicated KindnesswonCanada Readsin 2006, when it was defended by John K. Samson. Toews lives in Toronto.

August into Winter by Guy Vanderhaeghe

August into Wintertakes place in 1939 in a world on the brink of global war. After Constable Hotchkiss confronts the spoiled, narcissistic Ernie Sickert about the disturbing pranks in their small Prairie town, Ernie commits an act of unspeakable violence. What follows is a course of events that will change many lives forever.

August into Winteris on the shortlist for the 2021 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.

• Guy Vanderhaeghe on the fragility of humanity in times of crisis

Guy Vanderhaegheis a novelist, short story writer and playwright. His debut short story collection,Man Descending, published in 1982, earned him the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction and laterFaber Prize in Britain. He would go on to win two more Governor General's Literary Awards: in 1996, for the novelThe Englishman's Boy,and in 2015, for the short story collectionDaddy Lenin and Other Stories.

The Strangers by Katherena Vermette

The Strangersis afollow-up novel to Katherena Vermette's debut novel,The Break. Readers are brought into the dynamic world of the Stranger family, the shared pain of their past and the light that shines from the horizon. After spending time in foster homes, Cedar goes to live with her estranged father. Being separated from her mother, Elsie, and her sister, Phoenix, is painful, but she's hoping for a new chapter in life. The three women diverge, reconnect and fight to survive in a system that expects them to fail.

The Strangersis on the shortlistfor the 2021 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prizeand was longlisted for the 2021 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

• Katherena Vermette's novel The Strangers is an intergenerational story about anger, pain and survival

Vermette is a Red River Mtis writer from Winnipeg. Her debut poetry collection,North End Love Songs, won the 2013 Governor General's Literary Award for poetry. Her first novel,The Break, won the Amazon First Novel Award, the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction, the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Prize and the McNally Robinson Book of the Year. Vermette's other works include the poetry collectionriver womanand the graphic novel seriesA Girl Called Echo.

Unreconciled by Jesse Wente

Unreconciledis a memoir from Anishinaabe writer, broadcaster and arts leader Jesse Wente. It weaves together Wente's personal story with a larger exploration of society and culture. He explores his family's history, including his grandmother's experience in residential school, and shares his own frequent incidents of racial profiling by police and argues thatthe notion of reconciliation between First Nations and Canada is not a realistic path forward.

• Watching Star Wars led Jesse Wente on a journey in search of Indigenous identity, truth and joy

Wente is an Anishinaabe writer, broadcaster and arts leader. He's best known for the more than two decades he's spent as a columnist for CBC Radio'sMetro Morning. He has also worked at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2018, he was named the first executive director of the Indigenous Screen Office and in 2020, he was appointed chair of the Canada Council for the Arts.

The Spectacular by Zoe Whittall

InThe Spectacular, it's 1997 and Missy's band is touring across America. Every night, she plays the song about her absent mother that made the band famous. As the only girl in the band, she wants to party just as hard as everyone else, but a forgotten party favour strands her at the border. Her mother, Carola, is just surfacing from a sex scandal when she sees Missy for the first time in 10 years, on the cover of a music magazine. Missy's grandmother, Ruth, plans on returning to the Turkish seaside, but is disruptedwhenMissy crashes at her house. Ruth decides it's time the women in her family try to understand each other again.

Zoe Whittall's three novels have won her a Lambda Literary Award, the Dayne Ogilvie Prize and was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.The Best Kind of Peopleis currently being adapted for a limited series by Sarah Polley. Her other novels areHolding Still for as Long as PossibleandBottle Rocket Hearts. She has also written forSchitt's Creekand theBaroness Von Sketch Show.

Disorientation by Ian Williams

InDisorientation, Ian Williams captures the impact of racial encounters on racialized people, especially when one's minding their own business. Sometimes, the consequences are only irritating, and other times, they are deadly. Driven by the police killings and street protests of 2020, Williams realized he could offer a Canadian perspective on race. A fewof the subjects he explores includethe moment a child realizes they're Black, the 10characteristics of institutional whiteness and how friendship helps protect against racism and blame culture.

Disorientationis on the shortlist for the 2021 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonficiton.

Williams is a poet, novelist and professor from Brampton, Ont., who is currently teaching at the University of British Columbia. His debut novel,Reproduction, won the 2019 Scotiabank Giller Prize. He is also the author of the poetry collectionPersonals, which was a finalist for the 2013 Griffin Poetry Prize.

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

Iron Widowis a YA fantasy novel featuring aliens, giant robots and a quest to battle evil. In the world of Huaxia, boys pair up with girls to operate transforming robots named Chrysalises, but the girls often die from the mental strain of it all. When a teen girl named Zetian takes on the mantle of an Iron Widow and is paired up with a male pilot named Li Shimin, the story becomes one of power, vengeance and gender equality.

Xiran Jay Zhao is a Vancouver-based science fiction and fantasy writer who is also training to become a biochemist. She is a first-generation Chinese immigrant, with an interest in Chinese history, cosplay and anime.

Letters to Amelia by Lindsay Zier-Vogel

Letters to Ameliais a novel about loss and grief. To deal with the grief and heartache brought by her partner of seven years unexpectedly leaving, 30-year-old library tech Grace Porter is tasked with reading newly discovered letters that Amelia Earhart wrote to her lover. Porter understands more about Earhart while puttingher own life back together. When Porter becomes pregnant, she starts writing her own letters to Earhart, and ends up going on a pilgrimage of her own.

Lindsay Zier-Vogel is a writer, arts educator and the creator of the Love Lettering Project. She holds a MA in creative writing from the University of Toronto.