10 Canadian books turning 10 in 2025
Books published in 2015 are celebrating their 10th anniversary this year!
Check out this list of 10 Canadian titles celebrating this milestone and see if your favourite classic is featured — or find a new read to add to your collection.
Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis
In Fifteen Dogs, the Greek gods Hermes and Apollo bet on the outcome of giving animals human consciousness. Their test cases: the 15 dogs spending the night in the back of a Toronto veterinary clinic. What unfolds is a powerful story about what it means to have consciousness, and the good and the bad that comes with it.
Fifteen Dogs, championed by Humble The Poet, won Canada Reads 2017 and the 2015 Giller Prize.
André Alexis was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, and raised in Ottawa. His debut novel, Childhood, won the Books in Canada First Novel Award (now known as the Amazon.ca First Novel Award) and the Trillium Book Award and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His other books include Pastoral, Asylum, The Hidden Keys, Despair and Other Stories of Ottawa and Days by Moonlight, which won the 2019 Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.
The Illegal by Lawrence Hill
The Illegal examines the plight of refugees who risk everything to start over in a country that doesn't want them. After his father is killed by a dictator's thugs, elite marathon runner Keita Ali flees his homeland and goes into hiding in a country known as Freedom State, where his presence is illegal and he must go underground to save his own life.
The Illegal won Canada Reads in 2016, when it was championed by Olympian Clara Hughes.
Lawrence Hill is the acclaimed author of novels such as The Book of Negroes, The Illegal, Some Great Thing and Any Known Blood and the memoir Black Berry, Sweet Juice. He also delivered the 2013 Massey Lectures, Blood: The Stuff of Life. The Book of Negroes won Canada Reads 2009 and was adapted into a six-part miniseries, which can be streamed on CBC Gem. Hill has also won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. He has a star on Canada's walk of fame and was named a member of the Order of Canada in 2015.
The Golden Son by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
In the novel The Golden Son, Anil, the eldest son from rural India, leaves for America to become a doctor, while his childhood friend Leena faces hardship after an arranged marriage. Their paths diverge, but fate brings them together again at a time when they need each other most.
Shilpi Somaya Gowda is a Toronto-born writer currently based in California. Her other novels include Secret Daughter and A Great Country.
The Vinyl Cafe Turns the Page by Stuart McLean
In The Vinyl Cafe Turns the Page, Dave and Morley navigate the changes of growing older and their children growing up, while Dave continues to find himself in amusing conundrums. Despite the shifts in their lives, some things remain constant for the beloved family.
Stuart McLean was a bestselling author, journalist, humorist and the host of CBC Radio's The Vinyl Cafe. McLean has earned numerous awards, including the Canadian Author's Association Jubilee Award in 2004, three Stephen Leacock Memorial Medals for Humour and the CBA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.
After the War is Over by Jennifer Robson
After the War is Over follows Charlotte Brown as she navigates her life after the First World War, balancing love, duty and personal growth in a shifting world. Faced with an opportunity to speak out for those in need and confronting her past with a former lover, Charlotte must find the courage to choose the future she truly desires.
Jennifer Robson is a Toronto-based historical fiction writer. She is the author of several novels, including The Gown, Somewhere in France and Goodnight From London. She holds a doctorate in British history from the University of Oxford.
The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood
In The Heart Goes Last, Margaret Atwood envisions a dystopian society where people rotate between roles as prisoners and guards in a social experiment. Seeking stability, Stan and Charmaine join the Positron Project in Consilience, but soon find themselves ensnared in a dangerous and unpredictable situation, especially after Charmaine's romantic involvement with another man sets off a series of events that put Stan's life in jeopardy.
Atwood is a Canadian writer who has published fiction, nonfiction, poetry and comics. She began her writing career with poetry, publishing The Circle Game and winning the Governor General's Literary Award for poetry in the late 1960s. She's since published more than a dozen poetry collections, including The Journals of Susanna Moodie in 1970, Power Politics in 1971 and Dearly in 2020.
She has won several awards for her work including the Governor General's Literary Award, the Giller Prize and the Booker Prize. She was named a companion to the Order of Canada in 1981. In 2024, she was the recipient of the Writer in the World Prize for her impact on literature, art and culture.
Open Heart, Open Mind by Clara Hughes
Clara Hughes bares her heart in the memoir Open Heart, Open Mind. Hughes, the only athlete to win multiple medals in both summer and winter Olympics, overcame a troubled childhood and battled depression throughout her career. After retiring from speed skating, she became a passionate humanitarian and mental health advocate, using her platform to promote forgiveness and awareness.
Hughes is a cyclist, speed skater, author and humanitarian.
Empire of Night by Kelley Armstrong
Moria and Ashyn are tasked by the emperor with rescuing the children of Edgewood in Empire of Night, but their mission becomes dangerously complicated by betrayal, treachery and mounting unrest in the empire. As they face deadly enemies and the threat of war, they must rely on their strength and power to survive.
Kelley Armstrong is the author of the Darkest Powers, Darkness Rising and Age of Legends trilogies for teens. She is also the author of numerous thriller and fantasy series for adults, three YA thrillers and the Royal Guide to Monster Slaying series.
The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands
In The Blackthorn Key, Christopher Rowe, an apprentice to Master Benedict Blackthorn, is thrust into danger when a mysterious cult targets London's apothecaries. As the murders close in on Blackthorn's shop, Christopher must use his skills to discover the key to a deadly secret with the power to tear the world apart.
The Blackthorn Key received the John Spray Mystery Award and was a finalist for the Arthur Ellis Best YA Crime Novel Award.
Kevin Sands is a Toronto-based author of numerous books including the Blackthorn Key series. Sands has also written Children of the Fox and Seekers of the Fox, which were the first two books of the middle-grade fantasy series Thieves of Shadow.
We Are All Made of Molecules by Susin Nielsen
In We Are All Made of Molecules, 13-year-old Stewart Inkster and 14-year-old Ashley Anderson, polar opposites in both personality and social status, are forced to live together when their parents move in together. Told in alternating voices, the story explores family dynamics, rivalry and the complexities of adolescence.
Susin Nielsen started her writing career by writing episodes for the classic Canadian teen drama Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High. In 2008, she published her first YA novel, Word Nerd, and has been writing steadily since. Her previous books include We Are All Made of Molecules which was longlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal and Optimists Die First. Nielsen lives in Vancouver.
