- post-confederation (1867-) (32)
- canadian (25)
- literary (19)
- cultural heritage (17)
- friendship (14)
- personal memoirs (13)
- canada (12)
- mysteries & detective stories (12)
- western provinces (12)
- women (11)
- history (10)
- law & crime (10)
- political (10)
- pre-confederation (to 1867) (10)
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- anthologies (multiple authors) (7)
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Black Liquor
Dennis E. Bolen’s Black Liquor continues his exploration of modern disconnection and the disparate paths taken by those railing against the austere landscape of their lives.
Imbued with lyrical evocations of lost childhood, mature love and deep friendship contrasted against brutal depictions of grueling labour, industrial mishap, historical misfor …
The Legend of the Buffalo Stone
The Legend of the Buffalo Stone is based on the history of the Blackfoot people—specifically their dependence on the buffalo and how they hunted the great animals on foot before horses were brought to North America—and is retold with the permission and under the advisement of a First Nations scholar and member of the Blackfoot nation.
The story …
Wooden Stars: Innocent Gears
The Juno award-winning Wooden Stars both epitomized and transcended the sound of mid-90s indie rock. One of Canada’s greatest bands, they helped build a scene whose members would go on to be associated with some of the country’s most revered acts including Julie Doiron, Islands and Arcade Fire. With Wooden Stars: Innocent Gears, Malcolm Fraser …
Ted Grant
Ted Grant, the undisputed father of Canadian photojournalism, has made a career out of being in the right place at the right time. Over his sixty years in the business, he has immortalized some of the greatest events in history and caught some of the world’s most famous and elusive subjects in rare moments of unaffected humanity. From Pierre Trud …
Enemy Offshore!
On June 20, 1942, the lighthouse at Estevan Point on Vancouver Island was shelled by the Japanese submarine I-26. It was the first enemy attack on Canadian soil since the War of 1812. But this was only one incident in the incredible and little-known Japanese campaign to terrorize North America’s west coast and mount an invasion through the Aleuti …
The Laird of Fort William
High finance, wilderness adventures, violence, and questionable legal tactics all played important roles in the history of the North West Company. William McGillivray, head of the company from 1804 until 1821, was arguably the most powerful businessman in Canada in the early nineteenth century.
William McGillivray emigrated from the Scottish Highlan …
Sugar-Puss on Dorchester Street
One of the earliest Canadian noir novels, Sugar-Puss on Dorchester Street tells the story of Gisele Lepine, beautiful farmer’s daughter who leaves her sleepy faming community for the neon lights of Montreal. In the fast-paced city, dreams quickly turn to nightmares as the young ‘farmette’ finds herself surrounded by drug-dealers, newspapermen …
Last Witness
A mysterious letter has reached retired FBI agent Frank Malloy. A letter bearing a name from a lifetime ago, from a woman who claims she saw what really happened on the day John F. Kennedy died in Dallas. Many were there to film the president, but Helena Storozhenko snapped a photo on November 22, 1963, that would have changed everything. Then she …
Drugstore Cowgirl
In 1964, Patricia MacKay immigrated to Canada from England in search of the wild-open lands and cowboy culture that captivated her as a child. In the 1960s, the Wild West was still alive and kicking in the Cariboo-Chilcotin, although it had been tamed—a little. Old-time hospitality and helping anyone in need was the acknowledged way of life.
Pat l …
Big Air
Aboriginal snowboarder Jax has it made. He's in his last year at Podium Sports Academy and he's got a sponsorship from a big snowboarding company in the bag. But then his older brother, always the troublemaker in the family, shows up in Calgary unexpectedly. Suddenly Jax's sponsorship is threatened when the police come asking questions about a brea …
Projection
2013 Governor General’s Literary Award — Shortlisted, Non-Fiction
2013 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust — Shortlisted, Non-Fiction
Projection is the story of this mother-daughter meeting in Brazil, of how two strangers, connected by little more than blood, spent ten days together trying to build a relationship.
In 1977, Priscila Uppal’s fathe …
Keeping Things Whole
It's 1998 and Antony Williams is about to meet his match. A native of Windsor, Ontario, Antony is the child of a demanding single mother and an absconding Vietnam War resister who got too used to leaving home, country, and family. With a keen eye on the hybrid Windsor-Detroit landscape, backhanded affection for his hometown, and a growing understan …
Canadian Christmas Traditions
Included in this book are 28 traditional recipes by Chef Jeff O'Neill, showcasing Canada's multicultural heritage, plus a special section of 18 Christmas recipes from across the country, highlighting Canada's regional diversity. The origin of a Canadian Christmas is a fascinating blend of different traditions and festivities. The stories behind the …
In Love with Art
Nominated for a 2014 Saskatchewan Book Award
Françoise Mouly, an editor and publisher of uncommon taste and creativity, and an artist in her own right, has spent nearly four decades transforming comics. With her husband, Art Spiegelman, Mouly founded the landmark magazine RAW, which showcased artists such as Ben Katchor, Chris Ware, Charles Burns …
The Girls of Piazza d'Amore
A quintessential Calabrian love story. The Girls of Piazza d’Amore traces the lives of three village girls and the forces that lead them to leave home for a new life across the ocean. Set in southern Italy in the 1950s, Connie Guzzo-McParland’s short novel walks us through the piazza and the narrow alleys of her own childhood, imaginatively rec …
The Cage
“First published in 1975, The Cage was a graphic novel before the form had a name. Considered an early masterpiece of the medium, the Canadian cult comic has been out of print for decades. The new edition includes an introduction and appreciation by Canadian comics master and Lemony Snicket collaborator Seth (Palookaville; It’s a Good Life, If …
Guerrilla Nation
A celebrated journalist finds himself reporting on the savage war in Vietnam while in combat with his own network.
In September 1969, Michael Maclear, the first Western television journalist allowed inside North Vietnam, was in Hanoi for major Canadian and U.S. networks. He recounted in gripping detail how an entire population had been trained for …
The Reunion
Shannon is excited about spending a week at her friend Rina's house, but she's a little nervous too. Rina seems to be able to do everything better than she can and her home is chaotic compared to Shannon's own. When things fall apart, Rina's grandmother is there to tell them a story from her past, early in the Second World War. The story is about a …
Smuggler's Cave
Jake and his younger brother Tommy are visiting family at a beach house on the coast. Having already lost a race to his cousin Lexie, Jake can't resist a second chance at victory when she challenges him again. Only this time it's a boat race-to the legendary Smuggler's Cave and back. The ocean is deep and choppy, and the boat is harder to control t …
Secret of the Dance
In 1935, a nine-year-old boy's family held a forbidden Potlatch in faraway Kingcome Inlet. Watl'kina slipped from his bed to bear witness. In the Big House masked figures danced by firelight to the beat of the drum. And there, he saw a figure he knew. Aboriginal elder Alfred Scow and award-winning author Andrea Spalding collaborate to tell the stor …
Room Enough for Daisy
Daisy has more toys than she knows what to do with. In this story, inspired by an Eastern European folktale about a house that's too small, Daisy thinks she needs a bigger bedroom for all the gifts on her birthday list. Her clever mom helps her realize less is more, and Daisy decides to donate many of her things to a Mitzvah Day rummage sale. In th …
Uncle Wally's Old Brown Shoe
Uncle Wally's Old Brown Shoe, inspired by the familiar nursery rhyme The House That Jack Built, follows the course of one very unusual shoe as it travels through a fascinating, imaginative world to encounter an assortment of quirky characters. The imaginative text and cumulative story are sure to enthrall young readers, as will the detailed illustr …
Casey Little, Yo-Yo Queen
Casey will have to do a lot of pet-sitting to earn the money she needs to buy Lightning, a beloved horse. Her hopes of buying Lightning are dashed when she learns that his owner has found a buyer and must sell the horse immediately. Across the street from Casey's house a mystery unfolds as a seldom-seen woman who seems to be able to read minds prep …
Three Days
A new short story from 2012 Scotiabank-Giller Prize finalist Russell Wangersky.
In his first published short story since his critically acclaimed collection, Whirl Away, Russell Wangersky returns with a story about a lonely, ill old man, who is living alone in his house. Sick in bed for three days, Arthur Simmons ponders life, living and the sometim …
Gold Panning in British Columbia
“I want to gold pan; I want to strike rich. I’ve been searching for a stream of gold. It’s these fortunes I never win that keep me searching for a stream of gold. And I’m getting old. I keep searching for my stream of gold; and I’m getting close.”
If those words sound like a common refrain, don’t despair. With this newly compiled and e …
Red-Handed
The true stories that inspired Lisa Moore’s latest novel Caught.
When journalist Mike Landry called Lisa Moore for an interview, he began by listing four names, and asking, “What do these names mean to you?” The award-winning author of Alligator and February paused and took a deep breath. Not one of the names appears in Caught, but their stori …
Advent Awakenings
This book is a gift to help us step off the frenetic treadmill that the Advent season too often becomes. Its help comes by enabling us to listen deeply each day to the Advent scripture readings and John the Baptist's repeated Advent call to "prepare the way" for the holy babe who is coming.
Travels Through the Golden State
In this Anansi Digital Publication, James Laxer takes the pulse of America from the vantage point of Southern California at a time when the United States is riven with debates about immigration, guns, and how to tackle the economic crisis.
From his perch in a little cottage in wealthy La Jolla on the outskirts of San Diego, Laxer talked to local peo …
Cariboo Gold Rush
In 1858, some 30,000 gold seekers stampeded to the Fraser River. Scores perished during the gruelling journey, but some made their fortune and many pressed on northwards to the creeks of the Cariboo. Originally compiled by Art Downs, founder of Heritage House, this is a vivid and detailed account of the first gold strikes, the miners who made them …
Barkerville and the Cariboo Goldfields
The stories of the men and women who dug for gold on Williams Creek are told in this revised and updated edition of a Canadian bestseller.
The legendary town of Barkerville is flourishing today, just as it did more than 150 years ago, but this time under the care of professional and amateur historians. Richard Thomas Wright peels back the pages of h …
No Easy Ride
On July 3, 1961, Ian Parsons reported to RCMP Depot Division in Regina as a raw recruit. It was the beginning of a 33-year adventure that took him from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island and many points between. By the time he retired with the rank of inspector, Parsons had a policeman’s trunk full of colourful stories and insightful observations t …
Rum-runners and Renegades
On October 1, 1917, prohibition came into effect in the province of British Columbia. Washington and Oregon had gone dry the previous year. The ban on liquor sales led to deadly conflict and legal chaos in the Pacific Northwest, and the legacy of those “booze battles” continues into the 21st century.
Rich Mole introduced readers to West Coast pr …
Sam Steele and the Northwest Rebellion
In the spring of 1885, it appeared that war was about to set the Canadian West aflame. Louis Riel had established a Metis provisional government at Batoche, and the Cree, led by war chief Wandering Spirit, had killed settlers, taken hostages and forced the capitulation of Fort Pitt. Among the forces marshalled to quell the unrest was an elite scout …
A Dog for a Friend
Jessie lives with her parents on a farm a long way from anywhere. There are no other people for miles around. Often, she is lonely. More than anything, Jessie wants a dog; a friend who will play with her, come running when she calls and sleep with its head on her lap. Her mother and father can’t see any need for a dog on a wheat farm. Besides, th …
Voices of the Elders
There is a special place on the southeastern shores of Barkley Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. It is a magnificent landscape of rocky cliffs fronting onto the wild Pacific Ocean, sheltered beaches, lakes, mountains and forests. Since the beginning of time, it has been the ancestral home of the Huu-ay-aht First Nation.
Drawing directly …
The Legacy of Tiananmen Square
With the loosening of restrictions on the Chinese economy in the 1980s and 1990s and the rise of the middle class, many observers thought that Western-style democracy would soon follow. Instead, China has adopted its own version, with a market-driven economy where actions that might call into question the decisions of the governing party are strict …
Frontier Cowboys and the Great Divide
Despite being neighbouring provinces with long ranching histories, British Columbia and Alberta saw their ranching techniques develop quite differently. As most ranching styles were based on one of the two dominant styles in use south of the border, BC ranchers tended to adopt the California style whereas Alberta took its lead from Texas. But the d …
Hearts in the Wild
Every year, thousands of wild animals are injured or orphaned in Canada, while the habitat and very existence of others is threatened by human activity. Roxanne Willems Snopek tells the inspiring stories of some of these amazing creatures and the dedicated and compassionate people who care for them. Wildlife rescue centres help many of our urban an …
The Artist in the Cloister
Each year, visitors from all parts of the globe find their way to a sequestered Benedictine monastery in the hills of Mission, BC, and view the art and sculptures that beautify the abbey and its walls. But the man responsible for this work rarely ventures outside the monastery, never mind the province. He is an artist who has seen few of the master …
Home to the Nechako
The people of the Nechako region are not unfamiliar with hardship, environmental devastation and protecting what they hold dear. June Wood chronicles the history of the Nechako River and its region, covering the construction of the Kenney Dam, which changed forever the flow of the river and its tributaries; the controversial Kemano Completion Proje …
Birds of British Columbia
More species of birds breed in British Columbia annually than anywhere else in Canada. Additionally, hundreds of migratory birds spend a portion of the year here, making BC a birdwatcher’s paradise. It doesn’t matter if you’re a gung-ho, out-in-the-field birdwatcher or if you enjoy winged friends from the serenity of your back porch, Birds of …
Lauren Yanofsky Hates the Holocaust
Lauren Yanofsky doesn't want to be Jewish anymore. Her father, a noted Holocaust historian, keeps giving her Holocaust memoirs to read, and her mother doesn't understand why Lauren hates the idea of Jewish youth camps and family vacations to Holocaust memorials. But when Lauren sees some of her friends—including Jesse, a cute boy she likes—play …
Rewriting Marpole
This book examines prehistoric culture change in the Gulf of Georgia region of the northwest coast of North America during the Locarno Beach (3500–1100 BP) and Marpole (2000–1100 BP) periods. The Marpole culture has traditionally been seen to possess all the traits associated with complex hunter-gatherers on the northwest coast (hereditary ine …
Little Cat
Two novels, two young women at the frontiers of sex.
Like a series of Penthouse letters penned by Kathy Acker, Lie With Me recounts a woman's sexual escapades, picking up random men in bars for a series of increasingly extreme encounters, hoping to understand love from the far side of sluttiness.
In The Way of the Whore, Mira, an introverted Jewish g …
The Girl of the Wish Garden
This beautifully written story, loosely inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “Thumbelina,” was created in response to the gorgeous award-winning art of Nasrin Khosravi.
Author Uma Krishnaswami’s sensitive and poetic tale opens when Lina, a tiny girl no bigger than a thumb, is found in a flower by her mother. Because she is so tin …
Saying When
People often recognize that their drinking is causing problems in their lives long before they are ready to seek help. Knowing that there is a problem can be a good first step to cutting back or quitting drinking, but it can be hard to know what further steps to take to make changes and stick to them.
Saying When presents a step-by-step program to h …
C'est Assez!
p>Un grand nombre de personnes savent que leur consommation d’alcool est problématique bien avant d’être prêtes à demander de l’aide. Cette reconnaissance du problème peut être une première étape importante en vue d’arrêter de boire ou de réduire sa consommation d’alcool. Toutefois, il est parfois difficile de déterminer les au …
The Douglas Notebooks
An Amazon.ca Best Book of 2013
Romain was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. At 18, he leaves his family for a home in the forest, learning to live off the land rather than his family's wealth. Éléna flees a house of blood and mayhem, taking refuge in a monastery and later in the rustic village of Rivière-aux-Oies. One day, while walking in t …
The Deadly Snakes
The Deadly Snakes: Real Rock and Roll Tonight charts the rise and gentle fall of Canada’s greatest band. Unwilling to bow to industry demands, the Deadly Snakes instead made records they were proud of and played music by their own rules. From their chaotic teenage beginnings to the band’s exquisite final act, the story of the Deadly Snakes is b …
Journeywoman
Since women started working in the trades in the 1970s, very little has been published about their experiences. In this provocative and important book, Kate Braid tells the story of how she became a carpenter in the face of skepticism and discouragement.
In 1977 when Braid was broke and out of work, her male friends encouraged her to apply as a labo …