These writers recently won Canada’s biggest literary awards

If you like to pick your next reads from among recent literary prize winners, you’re in luck.

CBC Books is taking a look back at some of the award-winning Canadian writing of the past year.

From Canada Reads to the Governor General’s Literary Awards, these are the authors who won some of Canada’s biggest literary prizes. 

LISTEN | The 2024 CBC Books Labour Day Special, hosted by Ali Hassan: 

CBC Books2025 CBC Books Labour Day Special

Ma-Nee Chacaby, left, recounts her life and the hardships she faced throughout in her autobiography, A Two-Spirit Journey, written with Mary Louisa Plummer. (Ruth-Kivilahti/University of Manitoba Press/Yasmin Kudrati-Plummer)

 A Two-Spirit Journey, championed by Shayla Stonechild, won Canada Reads 2025. 

In A Two-Spirit Journey, Ma-Nee Chacaby, an Ojibwa-Cree lesbian who grew up in a remote northern Ontario community, tells the story of how she overcame experiences with abuse and alcohol addiction to become a counsellor and lead Thunder Bay’s first gay pride parade. 

Chacaby is a two-spirit Ojibwa-Cree writer, artist, storyteller and activist. She lives in Thunder Bay, Ont., and was raised by her grandmother near Lake Nipigon, Ont. Chacaby won the Ontario Historical Society’s Alison Prentice Award and the Oral History Association’s Book Award for A Two-Spirit Journey. In 2021, Chacaby won the Community Hero Award from the mayor of Thunder Bay.

Her co-writer and close friend, Mary Louisa Plummer, is a social scientist whose work focuses on public health and children’s rights. She collaborated with Chacaby, who only learned English later in life and is visually impaired, to tell Chacaby’s story in the most authentic possible way, drawing on academic research about Indigenous storytelling and years of friendship and mutual trust.

LISTEN | Shayla Stonechild and Ma-Nee Chacaby on The Next Chapter: 

The Next ChapterShayla Stonechild shares an Ojibwa-Cree elder’s message of hope and healing with Canada Reads

Empty Spaces is a novel by Jordan Abel. (McClelland & Stewart, Sweetmoon Photography)

Empty Spaces won the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction.

Empty Spaces is a reimagining of James Fenimore Cooper’s 19th-century text The Last of the Mohicans from a modern urban perspective. Abel explores what it means to be Indigenous without access to familial territory and complicates popular understandings about Indigenous storytelling.

Abel is a Nisga’a writer from British Columbia. He is also the author of the poetry collections The Place of Scraps, Un/inhabited and Injun. In 2017, he won the Griffin Poetry Prize for Injun. Empty Spaces was also nominated for the 2024 Amazon First Novel Award. 

LISTEN | Jordan Abel on his debut novel Empty Spaces: 

The Next ChapterJordan Abel’s debut novel Empty Spaces is a trippy, genre-bending subversion of The Last of the Mohicans

Scientific Marvel is a poetry book by Chimwemwe Undi. (House of Anansi Press, Imalka Nilmalgoda)

Scientific Marvel won the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Award for poetry.

Scientific Marvel is a poetry collection that looks into the history of and current life in Winnipeg. With humour and surprise, it delves into deeper themes of racism, queerness and colonialism while keeping personal lived experiences close to the page. 

Chimwemwe Undi is a Winnipeg-based poet, editor and lawyer. She is the current parliamentary poet laureate and was the Winnipeg poet laureate for 2023 and 2024. Undi was longlisted for the 2020 CBC Poetry Prize. She won the 2022 John Hirsch Emerging Writer Award from the Manitoba Book Awards and her work can be found in Brick, Border Crossings, Canadian Literature and BBC World, among others. 

LISTEN | The Poetry of Why: Chimwemwe Undi: 

IdeasThe Poetry of Why: Chimwemwe Undi

Wînipêk is a book by Niigaan Sinclair. (McClelland & Stewart, University of Manitoba)

Wînipêk won the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Award for nonfiction.

Wînipêk: Visions of Canada from an Indigenous Centre is the story of Winnipeg, told in a series of essays through the lens of Indigenous resilience and reconciliation.

From the Indian Act and atrocities of colonialism to the creativity and ferocity of the Indigenous peoples preserving their heritage, Niigaan Sinclair illustrates the way a place — how we love, lose and fight for it — can help pave the way for the future of an entire country.

Sinclair is an Anishinaabe (St. Peter’s/Little Peguis) thinker and assistant professor of Native Studies at the University of Manitoba. He has written for The Exile Edition of Native Canadian Fiction and Drama, The Guardian and CBC Books and is a regular contributor on APTN, CTV and CBC News. Sinclair is also the editor of The Debwe Series and the author and co-editor of award-winning Manitowapow and Centering Anishinaabeg Studies. 

LISTEN | Niigaan Sinclair on The Sunday Magazine: 

The Sunday MagazineWhat does consultation with Indigenous communities really mean?

Crash Landing is a YA novel by Li Charmaine Anne. (Annick Press, Edward Chang)

Crash Landing won the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Award for young people’s literature — text. 

In the summer of 2010, Jay Wong is desperate to make some worthy memories before her senior year comes to close, whether that be landing a kickflip or meeting someone new. Enter Ash Chan with a skateboard, a secret and a competition they need Jay’s help filming a submission for. Crash Landing tells Jay’s story as she navigates her immigrant community in Vancouver and a newfound friendship that’s becoming something more.

Li Charmaine Anne is a writer with a BFA from the University of British Columbia in creative writing and English literature. Crash Landing is their debut novel. 

LISTEN | Li Charmaine Anne on North by Northwest: 

North by NorthwestBookstore Love Notes on Canadian Independent Bookstore Day

Skating Wild on an Inland Sea is a book by Jean E. Pendziwol, illustrated by Todd Stewart. (Groudwood Books, Owlkids)

Skating Wild on an Inland Sea won the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Award for young people’s literature — illustrated books and the 2024 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award.

Skating Wild on an Inland Sea is about two children discovering the magic of skating on wild ice.

Jean E. Pendziwol lives in Northwestern Ontario and is the author of eight children’s books including When I Listen to Silence, illustrated by Carmen Mok; I Found Hope in a Cherry Tree, illustrated by Nathalie Dion; and Once Upon a Northern Night, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault. 

Todd Stewart is a Montreal-based illustrator and printmaker. His picture book The Wind in the Trees (Quand le vent souffle), was a nominated for the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award and the Governor General’s Literary Award.

LISTEN | Jean E. Pendziwol on Superior Morning: 

Superior MorningJean E. Pendziwol: 2024 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award

There Is Violence and There Is Righteous Violence and There Is Death, or the Born-Again Crow is a play by Caleigh Crow. (Kelly Osgood, Playwrights Canada Press)

There Is Violence and There Is Righteous Violence and There Is Death, or the Born-Again Crow won the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Award for drama.

There Is Violence and There Is Righteous Violence and There Is Death, or the Born-Again Crow is a play that tells the story of Beth, a grocery store clerk who recently lost her job. Just when she’s beginning to spiral, she becomes friends with a talking crow and reconnects with her true power.

Caleigh Crow is a queer Métis theatre artist from northeast Calgary. She is the co-founder and artistic lead of Thumbs Up Good Work Theatre.

Nights Too Short to Dance is a novel by Marie-Claire Blais, left, and translated by Katia Grubisic. (Second Story Press)

Nights Too Short to Dance won the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Award for French to English translation.

René is finally feeling his age in the novel Nights Too Short to Dance. He wants nothing more but to continue to dress elegantly and be independent but those days are long gone. René is visited by old friends and together they reminisce about everything from past loves to tragedies and fights. The old friends find comfort and hope in each other’s presence as they fight to live on their own terms. 

Marie-Claire Blais was often lauded as one of Quebec’s greatest writers. Her last novel was The Acacia Gardens. She was the winner of numerous awards including the Médicis Prize, the W.O. Mitchell Literary Prize, four Governor General’s Literary Awards and two Guggenheim Fellowships. She died in 2021.

Katia Grubisic is a writer, editor and translator. She has been a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for translation and the A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry. Her collection of poems What if red ran out won the Gerald Lampert award for best first book.

Subterrane is a novel by Valérie Bah. (Rafael Alexandre, Véhicule Press)

Subterrane won the 2025 Amazon First Novel Award.

In Subterrane, a documentary filmmaker named Zeynab is working on a project about Cipher Falls, the last affordable area on the margins of New Stockholm, a major North American metropolis. Cipher Falls is a polluted, industrial wasteland where artists and anti-capitalists are forced to work dead-end jobs to survive.

Valérie Bah is an artist, filmmaker, documentarian, photographer and writer. Their collection The Rage Letters was translated from French by Kama La Mackerel. Subterrane is their first novel in English. 

Sheung-King is the pen name of author Aaron Tang. His latest book follows a millennial living in Hong Kong, as he struggles to make sense of his identity and beliefs. (Penguin Canada, Maari Sugawara)

Batshit Seven won the 2024 Writers’ Trust Fiction prize.

In Batshit Seven, Glen “Glue” Wu has a general apathy toward his return to Hong Kong from Toronto. As a lacklustre, weed smoking, hungover ESL teacher, Glue watches passively as Hong Kong falls into conflict around him. He cares only for his sister, who is trying to marry rich, and for both an on-and-off-again relationship and the memory of a Canadian connection now lost. Government control hardens, thrusting Glue into a journey that ultimately ends in violence. 

Sheung-King’s first novel, You Are Eating an Orange. You are Naked., was a finalist for multiple awards, including the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction and the Amazon Canada First Novel Award. It was also longlisted for Canada Reads 2021. Sheung-King splits his time between Canada and China. 

LISTEN | Sheung-King on The Next Chapter: 

The Next ChapterWriters’ Trust Fiction prize winner Sheung-King’s latest novel is an unexpected ode to modern life in Hong Kong

There Is No Blue By Martha Baillie (Coach House Books/Jonno Lightstone)

There Is No Blue won the 2024 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Award for Nonfiction. 

In There Is No Blue, the Martha Baillie writes three essays about significant losses she experienced. It’s a response to the death of her mother, father and sister along with ruminations on what made them so alive. 

Baillie’s novel The Incident Report was on the 2009 Giller Prize longlist and was adapted into a feature film called Darkest Miriam. Her other books include Sister Language and The Search for Heinrich Schlögel.

LISTEN | Martha Baillie on IDEAS: 

IdeasWhat it means to call your loved one a ‘corpse’

Held is a novel by Anne Michaels. (McClelland & Stewart, Marzena Pogorzaly)

Held won the 2024 Giller Prize and was on the shortlist for the 2024 Booker Prize. 

Weaving in historical figures and events, the mysterious, generations-spanning novel Held begins on a First World War battlefield near the River Aisne in 1917, where John lies in the falling snow, unable to move or feel his legs. It jumps in time and place to explore a fragmented picture of war and those who feel its reverberations.

Anne Michaels is the winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction, the Guardian Fiction Prize, the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, the Trillium Book Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She has been shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Giller Prize. 

LISTEN | Anne Michaels on Q: 

Anne Michaels: Held, how she knows she’s finished writing a book, and the unexpected reason she’s so private

Dorian McNamara is a writer who was born and raised in Toronto, but now lives in Halifax. (Submitted by Dorian McNamara)

Dorian McNamara won the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize for his story You (Streetcar at Night). You (Streetcar at Night) tells the story of a person riding the streetcar and wondering whether people from their past will recognize them now that they’ve come out as a trans man.

McNamara is a queer transgender writer currently living in Halifax. Originally from Toronto, he graduated with a BA in psychology from Dalhousie University. He is currently working on his first novel as well as publishing the creative newsletter Dear You. 

If you’re interested in writing fiction, the 2026 CBC Short Story Prize will be accepting submissions between Sept. 1 and Nov. 1. You can submit your original, unpublished short fiction for a chance to win $6,000 from the Canada Council for the Arts, a two-week writing residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and have your story published on CBC Books.

LISTEN | Dorian McNamara on Bookends with Mattea Roach: 

Bookends with Mattea RoachMeet the winner of the 2025 CBC Short Story Prize

Rachel Robb is the winner of the 2024 CBC Poetry Prize for her poem Palimpsest County. (Submitted by Rachel Robb)

Rachel Robb won the 2024 CBC Poetry Prize for her poem Palimpsest County. Palimpsest County explores what reconciliation means to non-Indigenous people.

Robb is a Toronto-based writer and educator of Jamaican, Irish and Canadian heritage. Her poetry has been featured as a finalist in the Bridport Prize anthology and shortlisted for The Fiddlehead’s Ralph Gustafson Poetry Prize, The Alpine Fellowship and most recently, the Montreal International Poetry Prize.

Her work has also appeared in anthologies for Hamilton’s gritLit Festival and The Alice Munro Festival of the Short Story, where she placed first and second, respectively. A graduate of the Humber School for Writers, she is currently working on her first collection of poetry.

LISTEN | Rachel Robb on Bookends with Mattea Roach: 

Bookends with Mattea RoachRachel Robb: Exploring reconciliation and the natural world

Aldona Dziedziejko is the winner of the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize for her essay Ice Safety Chart: Fragments. (Submitted by Aldona Dziedziejko)

Aldona Dziedziejko won the 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize for Ice Safety Chart: Fragments, an essay about moving from a metropolis to a remote fishing village.

Dziedziejko recently left her post as a guest and teacher in a Northern Canadian hamlet in the Tlicho region of the Dene. She has lived on Canada’s West Coast, and before that, on the northern coast of Poland. She is now based in Clearwater Country, Alta., and delights in spotting wild horses and being a mom. Her poetry and creative nonfiction have appeared in CV2, subTerrain, The Capilano Review, Fiction Southeast, PRISM international and the Globe and Mail. She recently won the Room magazine’s Short Forms Contest and the Arc Poetry magazine’s Award of Awesomeness. 

LISTEN | Aldona Dziedziejko on Bookends with Mattea Roach: 

Bookends with Mattea RoachAldona Dziedziejko: Poetic reflections on land and loss wins 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize