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Here are our No. 1 picks for the best Canadian fiction, nonfiction, poetry, comics, and children's books of the year.
Our top pick: Endling from Maria Reva
Endling tells the story of three women whose lives were changed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Eva, a scientist, is obsessed with breeding rare snails and finances her work by meeting Westerners who come to Ukraine on romantic tours. Sisters Nastya and Solomiya are also involved in the marriage business to find out what happened to their mother. When war breaks out, their plans are thwarted and the harsh truths of war are explored.
Maria Reva was born in Ukraine and raised in New Westminster, British Columbia, where she currently lives. Her story collection Good citizens need not be afraid won the 2022 Kobzar Literary Prize and was on shortlisted for the 2020 Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. Her debut novel Endling was longlisted Booker Prize 2025 and was shortlisted for the competition Atwood Gibson Award for Fiction. Reva 2026 CBC Short Story Prize judge.
Bookends with Mattea Roach27:48What happens to fiction during war?
Our top pick: The rain of migrants comes in reverse by Vinh Nguyen
In his memoirs The rain of migrants comes in reverseVinh Nguyen recalls his family's journey from post-war Vietnam to Canada and how this historical moment resonates with the experience of the modern diaspora. This work is a genre blend of real-life experiences, meticulous research, and an inventive story to explore the nature of family, immigration, and identity.
The rain of migrants comes in reverse was finalist for the 2025 Governor General's Literary Award for Nonfiction and was shortlisted for the competition 2025 Toronto Book Prize.
Nguyen is a Toronto-based writer, editor, and educator whose work has appeared in Brick, Literary Hub, and The Malahat Review. He is the nonfiction editor at The New Quarterly, where he oversees an ongoing series on writing from refugees, migrants, and the diaspora. He was shortlisted for the National Magazine Prize and won the John Charles Polanyi Prize for Literature. He was a 2022 Lambda Literature Fellow.
Sunday Magazine17:59Memories of Vietnam, 50 years after the war
Our top pick: Muybridge by Guy Delisle
In 1870s Sacramento, photographer Eadweard Muybridge accepts a challenge from railroad magnate Leland Stanford to prove whether a horse's hooves ever leave the ground while galloping. In doing so, Muybridge unknowingly became a pioneer of time-lapse photography, laying the foundation for motion pictures as we know them.
Despite his revolutionary discoveries, his life was marked by betrayal, intrigue and tragedy. Acclaimed cartoonist Guy Delisle captures the highs and lows of Muybridge's career, bringing his story to life with sharp detail and emotional depth.
Guy Delisle is a critically acclaimed cartoonist originally from Quebec. His books include Burmese Chronicles, Jerusalem: Chronicles of the Holy City, Pyongyang And Shenzhen.
Our top pick: Wellwater by Karen Solie
Wellwater is a collection of poetry that explores the intersection of cultural, economic, and personal values, as well as issues of aging, housing, environmental, and economic crises. Wellwater won Governor General's Literary Award for poetry, That 2025 T. C. Eliot Prize and was one of the winners of the competition 2025 Forward Prize for Poetry.
Celebrating perseverance in the natural world, Wellwater offers the message that hope is the only way to solve these problems.
Karen Solie is the author of several poetry collections, including Short-haul engine, Modern and normal, Pigeon, The road in is not the same as the road out And Kapley Caves. Soli teaches part-time in Scotland at the University of St. Andrews and spends the rest of the year in Canada.
Our top pick: The Episode of the Blackbird Melanie Florence and Matt James
IN The one oh Blackbird, Grandfather teaches a little boy to play the guitar. Years pass, the boy is already an adult, and his grandfather has dementia. The boy visits him and plays his favorite song on the guitar, “The One About the Blackbird.” A touching picture book showing the intergenerational bonds formed between a grandson and his grandfather through a love of music.
The Episode of the Blackbird designed for ages 4 to 8 years.
Melanie Florence is a writer of Cree and Scottish descent. Lives in Toronto and is an author Missing Nimama, which won the 2016 TD Canadian Literary Award and the 2017 Golden Oak Forest of Reading Award. Some of her other works include Stolen wordswinner of the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award. The one who dreams, Missing And Benjamin's Stormwhich was illustrated by Howley Pichette.
Matt James is an illustrator and writer living in Toronto. He illustrated picture books I know here And Stone Laurel Crozat, Yellow Moon, Apple Moon Pamela Porter and Stone thrower Jael Ealy Richardson. He also wrote and illustrated Tadpoles, Nice try, Charlie! And Funeral.
Our top pick: Bloodstone Thief by Sabina Khan
Mid-level fantasy inspired by Islamic mythology. Bloodstone Thief is an adventure story centered on a young girl. Laila Habib is struggling to come to terms with the fact that she and her family will remain in Houston, Texas, instead of returning to their old life in Mumbai. When she opens what she thinks is a birthday present, Layla accidentally releases an evil genie from an amulet her father once captured. When the genies capture Layla's father and bring him to a world called Kaf, Layla must save him. With her world turned upside down, Layla must find the magical Bloodstone that will give her the power to send them both back to their world.
Bloodstone Thief designed for ages 9-12 years.
Sabina Khan is a German-born British Columbia writer who has lived in many places such as Bangladesh and Texas. She writes about Muslim teenagers who move between cultures, and her other books include: What does a Desi girl want? And Zara Hossain here.
Our top pick: You started it Jackie Khalilie
You started it is a young adult novel about high school student Jamie Taher-Foster. After three years with her boyfriend Ben Cameron, Jamie makes a checklist of things to do before graduation. What she doesn't expect is for Ben to come home after the summer is over and break up with her, only to be seen with another girl the next day.
Now Jamie's new plan is to win him back by fake dating Axel, a laid back guy with whom she has nothing in common other than being Arab. As Jamie remembers all the surprises of her senior year and the anxiety that came with it, she begins to understand Axel and herself even better.
Jackie Khalilie is a Palestinian Canadian writer living near Toronto. Her first novel Something moreshortlisted for the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Award and named one of the best Canadian books for children and teens of 2023.
Need more inspiration? Check out our full lists of favorites fiction, non-fiction literature, poetry, comics And children books of the year.
