27 Canadian books we can't wait to read in September
A new month means new books! Here are some of the most anticipated Canadian titles for September 2022.
Rosa's Very Own Personal Revolution by Eric Dupont, translated by Peter McCambridge
Rosa Ost grows up in a tiny village where boredom and the paper industry reign supreme. When Rosa decides to leave her home for Montreal on a quest to summon the westerly wind that is essential to the local economy, a tale of long journeys, prophecies and death unravels. Rosa's Very Own Personal Revolution is a story about stories, storytellers and revolution in Quebec.
When you can read it: Sept. 1, 2022
Eric Dupont is an award-winning author from Quebec. His fourth novel, Songs for the Cold of Heart, was a finalist for the 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize. The original French version of the novel, La Fiancée Américaine, won Quebec's top two literary prizes: the Prix des libraires and Prix des collégiens.
Witness Back at Me by Weyman Chan
In Witness Back at Me, Calgary poet Weyman Chan explores themes of dislocation and belonging, looking back at the childhood loss of his mother to breast cancer and through poems that intertwine in a larger narrative and work toward understanding and healing.
When you can read it: Sept. 1, 2022
Weyman Chan is the author of five previous books of poetry. His work has been shortlisted for the Acorn-Plantos Award for Peoples Poetry, the W.O. Mitchell Book Prize, and the Governor General's Literary Awards. He is the 2021 recipient of the Latner Writers' Trust Poetry Prize.
Another Way To Split Water by Alycia Pirmohamed
2019 CBC Poetry Prize winner Alycia Pirmohamed's debut collection, Another Way to Split Water, is a lyrical exploration of how ancestral memory transforms across generations, through stories told and retold. Her poems touch on womanhood, belonging, faith, intimacy and the natural world.
When you can read it: Sept. 1, 2022
Alycia Pirmohamed is a Canadian-born poet based in Scotland. She is the co-founder of the Scottish BPOC Writers Network, a co-organizer of the Ledbury Poetry Critics Program, and currently teaches creative writing at the University of Cambridge. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2019 CBC Poetry Prize and the 2020 Edwin Morgan Poetry Award.
Surface Tension by Derek Beaulieu
Surface Tension is visual poetry for the post-pandemic age, asking the reader to imagine letters as images instead of text and find meaning in their shapes as Derek Beaulieu molds them into Dali-style collages.
When you can read it: Sept. 6, 2022
Derek Beaulieu is the author/editor of more than 25 books of poetry, prose and criticism. He has exhibited his visual work across Canada, the United States and Europe and has won multiple local and national awards for his teaching and dedication to students. Beaulieu is currently the director of literary arts at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and Banff's 2022-2024 Poet Laureate.
A Blanket of Butterflies by Richard Van Camp & Scott B. Henderson
When a mysterious stranger named Shinobu appears in Fort Smith, N.W.T. to claim a samurai sword and suit of armour from the museum, a young Tlicho Dene boy named Sonny is eager to help. The only problem is that the sword now belongs to a man known as Benny the Bank, who won it in a poker game. Now Shinobu, with some help from Sonny, his grandmother and a visitor from the spirit world, must face off against Benny and his men and reclaim his family's honour in the process.
When you can read it: Sept. 6, 2022
Richard Van Camp is a Tlicho Dene writer from Fort Smith, N.W.T. who has written over 20 books across multiple genres. His graphic novel A Blanket of Butterflies was nominated for an Eisner Award and his children's book Little You, illustrated by Julie Flett, was translated into Bush Cree, Plains Cree, South Slavey and Chipewyan. His other books include Angel Wing Splash Pattern, Night Moves and We Sang You Home.
Scott B. Henderson is an author and illustrator based in Winnipeg. His other books include Breakdown and Pemmican Wars. He was also a contributor to the graphic anthology This Place: 150 years Retold, which is now a CBC Books podcast.
The Long Road Home by Debra Thompson
In The Long Road Home, Debra Thompson traces the roots of Black identities in North America and the routes they took across the Canada-U.S. border — the world's longest undefended border — in search of freedom and belonging. She starts in Shrewsbury, Ont, then revisits the four places she lived in the U.S., and settles at last in Montreal. The places Thompson visits each reveals something about racism, democracy and the myth of multiculturalism.
When you can read it: Sept. 6, 2022
Debra Thompson is an associate professor of political science at McGill University and one of only five Black women in a political science department in Canada. She's the author of The Schematic State: Race, Transnationalism, and the Politics of the Census, which received three awards from the American Political Science Association. She's also the Canada Research Chair in Racial Inequality in Democratic Societies and a leading scholar of comparative politics of race.
Namwayut by Chief Robert Joseph
Namwayut follows Chief Robert Joseph — the Hereditary Chief of the Gwawaenuk and a globally recognized peace-builder — as he takes readers on a journey, starting with his childhood surviving residential school to his current role as a leader. Chief Joseph teaches readers about honour and respect for the truth of stories, so they can discover how to dismantle the walls of discrimination, hatred and racism.
When you can read it: Sept. 13, 2022
Robert Joseph is a Hereditary Chief of the Gwawaenuk People, an Ambassador for Reconciliation Canada and the Chair of the Native American Leadership Alliance for Peace and Reconciliation. He received the 2016 Indspire Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté and Daniel Maté
In The Myth of Normal, Gabor Maté examines why chronic illness and general health problems are on the rise in Western countries with good healthcare systems. Maté explains how Western medicine, while technologically advanced, fails to treat the whole person and ignores cultural stressors. With his son Daniel, Maté untangles common myths about what makes us sick and offers a guide on health and healing.
When you can read it: Sept. 13, 2022
Gabor Maté is a doctor and an expert on topics such as addiction, stress and childhood development. He's the author of several books, including In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, When the Body Says and The Cost of Hidden Stress.
Daniel Maté is a composer and lyricist whose musicals include The Longing and the Short of It, Hansel & Gretl & Heidi & Gunter and Middle School Mysteries. He's received the Kleban Prize for Lyrics and the ASCAP Foundation Cole Porter Award.
Sasha Strong by Kim Edgar
Sasha Strong follows a peppy young woman named Sasha who is suffering from a mystery illness. Though she is outwardly muscular and strong, using her strength causes her great fatigue, pain and discomfort — even though doctors tell her that she's perfectly healthy on paper.
When you can read it: Sept. 13, 2022
Kim Edgar is an award-winning comic and visual artist from Dawson City, Yukon. Their other work includes The Purpose and The Space in Between.
Ducks by Kate Beaton
Ducks is an autobiographical graphic novel that recounts author Kate Beaton's time spent working in the Alberta oil sands. With the goal of paying off her student loans, Katie leaves her tight-knit seaside Nova Scotia community and heads west, where she encounters harsh realities, including the everyday trauma that no one discusses.
When you can read it: Sept. 13, 2022
Kate Beaton is a cartoonist from Nova Scotia who launched her career by publishing the comic strip Hark! A Vagrant online. The sassy historical webcomic gained a following of 500,000 monthly visitors and was eventually turned into a bestselling book. Beaton's success continued with the comic book Step Aside, Pops!, which landed on the New York Times bestseller list and garnered Beaton the 2016 Eisner Award for best humour publication. Beaton has also published two children's books, King Baby and The Princess and the Pony.
A Minor Chorus by Billy-Ray Belcourt
A Minor Chorus is the debut novel from Griffin Poetry Prize-winning poet and author Billy-Ray Belcourt. A Minor Chorus follows an unnamed narrator who abandons his thesis and goes back to his hometown, where he has a series of intimate encounters bringing the modern queer and Indigenous experience into focus.
A Minor Chorus is on the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist.
When you can read it: Sept. 13, 2022
Belcourt is a writer and academic from Driftpile Cree Nation in Alberta. In 2016, he became the first Indigenous person from Canada to be a Rhodes Scholar. Belcourt won the 2018 Griffin Poetry Prize for This Wound is a World. The debut collection also won the 2018 Indigenous Voices Award for most significant work of poetry in English and was a finalist for the 2018 Governor General's Literary Award for poetry.
His second book, NDN Coping Mechanisms, uses poetry, prose and textual art to explore how Indigenous and queer communities are left out of mainstream media. It was on the Canada Reads 2020 longlist and was shortlisted for the 2020 Lambda Literary Awards.
Jade Is a Twisted Green by Tanya Turton
After the mysterious death of her twin sister, 24-year-old Jade is grappling with grief and seeking solace in lovers and friends. Holding tight to old pals and her ex-girlfriend, Jade finally realizes that she belongs to herself and goes on a journey to reclaiming that self. Through a series of hilarious and heartbreaking adventures, Jade relinquishes the weight of her trauma as she fully comes into her own as a young Black woman and writer.
When you can read it: Sept. 13, 2022
Tanya Turton is a Toronto-based author, educator and mental health advocate from Jamaica. Jade Is a Twisted Green is her debut novel.
Junie by Chelene Knight
Junie, a creative and observant child, moves to Hogan's Alley in the 1930s with her mother. Hogan's Alley is a thriving Black immigrant community in Vancouver's east end and Junie quickly makes meaningful relationships. As she moves into adulthood, Junie explores her artistic talents and sexuality, but her mother sinks further into alcoholism and the thriving neighbourhood once filled with potential begins to change.
When you can read it: Sept. 13, 2022
Chelene Knight is a writer and poet from Vancouver. She is the author of Braided Skin and the memoir Dear Current Occupant, which won the 2018 Vancouver Book Award. Her work has appeared in literary magazines in Canada and the U.S. and she has been a judge for literary awards, including the B.C. Book Prizes.
The Theory of Crows by David A. Robertson
The Theory of Crows is about a disconnected and distant relationship between a man named Matthew and his teenage daughter Holly. Following a tragic event, Matthew and Holly head out onto the land in search of a long-lost cabin on the family trapline, miles from the Cree community they once called home. When things go wrong during the journey, the father and daughter must rely on each other and the challenges they face eventually heal them in ways they never thought possible.
When you can read it: Sept. 13, 2022
David A. Robertson is an author and graphic novelist of Swampy Cree heritage. Based in Winnipeg, he has published 28 books across a variety of genres, including picture books On the Trapline and When We Were Alone, the graphic novel Breakdown, and his memoir Black Water, which won two 2021 Manitoba Book Awards. Robertson was the winner of the 2021 Freedom to Read Award.
Jennie's Boy by Wayne Johnston
The latest book from storyteller and novelist Wayne Johnston is a sad, tender and funny memoir of his childhood in Newfoundland. At seven years old, Johnston was sick and too skinny. He had insomnia and a cough that wouldn't go away, despite the doctors removing his tonsils, adenoids and appendix in an effort to cure him. Jennie's Boy, named after Johnston's mother, is his tribute to his family and a community that were incredibly protective, but also tired of making allowances for him.
When you can read it: Sept. 20, 2022
Wayne Johnston is a writer from Newfoundland. His novels include The Divine Ryans, A World Elsewhere, The Custodian of Paradise, The Navigator of New York and The Colony of Unrequited Dreams. His 1999 memoir Baltimore's Mansion won him the RBC Taylor Prize. The Colony of Unrequited Dreams was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and was a 2003 Canada Reads finalist, when it was defended by now Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. His most recent novel is The Mystery of Right and Wrong.
A Is for Acholi by Otoniya J. Okot Bitek
A is for Acholi Is a lyrical collection that plays with language to explore diaspora and the marginalization of the Acholi people of northeast Africa. In her poems, Otoniya J. Okot Bitek traces a route from history's past to a more hopeful present.
When you can read it: Sept. 20, 2022
Otoniya J. Okot Bitek is a poet and scholar. Her collection of poetry, 100 Days (University of Alberta 2016), was nominated for several writing prizes, including the 2017 BC Book Prize, the Pat Lowther Award and the 2017 Alberta Book Awards. It won the 2017 IndieFab Book of the Year Award for poetry and the 2017 Glenna Lushei Prize for African Poetry. She was also longlisted for the 2018 CBC Poetry Prize. She is an assistant professor of Black Creativity at Queen's University.
Nether Regions by Randal Graham
The third book of the Beforelife series unravels what happens when two of the afterlife's best-known residents have a baby. This baby holds a secret that sets off a humorous adventure featuring Socrates, Albert Einstein, Nostradamus, Elizabeth I, Sigmund Freud, Neferneferuaten and at least 200 Napoleons, all doing their best to keep the afterlife from turning into hell.
When you can read it: Sept. 20, 2022
Randal Graham is an author and law professor based in London, Ont. His first novel, Beforelife, won the IPPY gold medal for fantasy fiction. Both Beforelife and its sequel, Afterlife Crisis, were finalists for the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour.
The Most Charming Creatures by Gary Barwin
A follow-up to Gary Barwin's collection of selected poetry, The Most Charming Creatures continues his examination of the possibilities of what a poem can be. Barwin harkens back to 1860s scientific illustrator Ernst Haeckel's concept of the "most charming creatures," turning his lens on how language, culture and the self can be perhaps just as mysterious.
When you can read it: Sept. 20, 2022
The bestselling author of 26 books of fiction and poetry, Gary Barwin has won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour, the Canadian Jewish Literary Award, and has been a finalist for the Governor General's Award and the Scotiabank Giller Prize. His 2017 novel Yiddish for Pirates was on the Canada Reads 2021 longlist. He lives in Hamilton, Ont.
Is There Bacon in Heaven? by Ali Hassan
In this comedic memoir, Canadian comedian Ali Hassan looks back at growing up as a chameleon. He had friends from multiple different countries and religions, but also played hockey and knew Neil Young songs. He could blend in everywhere. But the world — and his Muslim Pakistani family and community — has a funny way of reminding you who you are. In Is There Bacon in Heaven?, Hassan shares his life-long journey to becoming a cultural Muslim, learning to embrace his heritage while following his passions.
When you can read it: Sept. 27, 2022
Ali Hassan is an Canadian actor, comedian, host of CBC Radio's Laugh Out Loud and frequent guest host of Q and As It Happens. He is also the host of Canada Reads. He has recurring roles on the television series Run the Burbs, Odd Squad and Working Moms. He's performed at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal and Toronto and his solo show, Muslim, Interrupted, was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Laughing with the Trickster by Tomson Highway
Laughing with the Trickster is the book version of writer Tomson Highway's 2022 CBC Massey Lecture series, which will be broadcast on CBC Radio's Ideas in November. In Laughing with the Trickster, Highway explores some of the fundamental questions of human existence through the lens of Indigenous mythologies, in contrast with the ideas from ancient Greece and Christianity.
When you can read it: Sept. 27, 2022
Tomson Highway is an acclaimed Cree novelist, children's author, playwright and musician. Highway's work includes Canadian theatre classics The Rez Sisters and Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, the novel Kiss of the Fur Queen and children's novels Caribou Song, Dragon Fly Kites and Fox on the Ice. He was recently appointed as an officer of the Order of Canada at the end of 2021 for his contribution to theatre and Canadian culture. His memoir Permanent Astonishment won the 2021 Writers' Trust Hilary Weston Prize and is a finalist for the 2022 Evergreen Award.
A Little Bit Broken by Roz Weston
Roz Weston's had a rough life. From getting lost and drunk in New York while interning for the Howard Stern Show to kicking an opioid addiction to dealing with a broken marriage, to navigating the grief and guilt following the loss of his father, he's been through it all. A Little Bit Broken is a memoir about self-forgiveness, redemption and recovering from bad choices.
When you can read it: Sept. 27, 2022
Roz Weston is an entertainer and storyteller. He hosts The Roz & Mocha Show, ET Canada Live and Entertainment Tonight Canada. He's received a Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Award, a New York Festival of Radio Award and a Canadian Screen Award. Weston lives in Toronto.
The Future Is Now by Bob McDonald
The Future Is Now explores the incredible modern technologies that humans can use to fix the climate. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the absence of regular human activity helped return the environment to a better state. Quirks and Quarks host Bob McDonald shows us how global lockdowns might have helped us realise that a greener future is achievable.
When you can read it: Sept. 27, 2022
Bob McDonald is the host of CBC Radio's Quirks and Quarks and a science reporter at CBC. He's written two books based on the program, Wonderstruck and Wonderstruck II. He also authored the memoir Measuring the Earth with a Stick: Science As I've Seen It.
I'm the Girl by Courtney Summers
When Georgia stumbles across the dead body of 13-year-old Ashley James, she teams up with Ashley's older sister Nora to find the killer before he strikes again. Georgia's investigation launches her into a world of unimaginable wealth and privilege, something she has always dreamed about. But as Georgia and Nora close in on the killer, they discover that when money, power and beauty rule, it's not always a matter of who is guilty, but who is guiltiest.
When you can read it: Sept. 27, 2022
Courtney Summers is a YA novelist from Ontario. She made her debut in 2008 with Cracked Up to Be. Her other books include Fall for Anything, Some Girls Are and Sadie, which won the John Spray Mystery Award and an Edgar Allan Poe Award in 2019.
Healing Through Words by Rupi Kaur
Bestselling poet Rupi Kaur returns with a book of guided poetry writing exercises that encourages others to explore trauma, loss, heartache, love and healing through writing that taps into the same vulnerability that has made her poems resonate with so many readers.
When you can read it: Sept. 27, 2022
Ontario poet, artist and performer Rupi Kaur first garnered attention on Instagram, where she continues to share her poems and simple line drawings with millions of followers. At 21, Kaur wrote, illustrated and self-published her first poetry collection, milk and honey. Next came its artistic sibling, the sun and her flowers. These collections have sold over 10 million copies and have been translated into over 40 languages. Her 2020 collection, home body, debuted at number one on bestseller lists across the world. Kaur's work touches on love, loss, trauma, healing, femininity and migration.
We Spread by Iain Reid
Penny, an artist, finds herself in a long-term care residence after she's had one too many incidents. Initially surrounded by peers, conversing and painting, Penny begins to lose her grip on time and her place in the world. We Spread explores questions of conformity, art, productivity and what it means to grow old.
When you can read it: Sept. 27, 2022
Iain Reid is an Ottawa-born author. His debut novel, the 2016 psychological thriller I'm Thinking of Ending Things, was adapted into a film by American writer and director Charlie Kaufman for Netflix.
The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr
The Sleeping Car Porter tells the story of Baxter, a Black man in 1929 who works as a sleeping-car porter on a train that travels across the country. He smiles and tries to be invisible to the passengers, but what he really wants is to save up and go to dentistry school. On one particular trip out west, the train is stalled and Baxter finds a naughty postcard of two gay men. The postcard reawakens his memories and longings and puts his job in jeopardy.
When you can read it: Sept. 27, 2022
Suzette Mayr is a poet and novelist based in Calgary. She is the author of the novels Dr. Edith Vane and the Hares of Crawley Hall, Monoceros, Moon Honey, The Widows and Venous Hum. Monoceros won the ReLit Award, the City of Calgary W. O. Mitchell Book Prize and made the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist.
The Polished Hoe by Austin Clarke, 20th anniversary edition
First published in 2002, The Polished Hoe won the Giller Prize, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Trillium Book Award. The new 20th anniversary edition features a foreword by writer and professor Rinaldo Walcott, as well as a new cover commissioned from Toronto visual artist Shawn Skeir. Set on the post-colonial West Indian island of Bimshire in 1952, the novel follows the murder confession of Mary Mathilda, who claims to have killed the plantation owner for whom she has worked for more than 30 years — and whose mistress she has been for most of that time, including becoming the mother of his only son.
When you can read it: Sept. 27, 2022
Austin Clark, who died in 2016, was one of Canada's foremost authors. His work included 11 novels, several short story collections, two collections of poetry and multiple memoirs, including 'Membering, published a year before his death.
