You hear their voices on the airwaves day in and day out, but have you ever wondered what CBC Radio hosts are reading in their quiet time?
We asked hosts who often speak with authors for their most anticipated summer reads.
Elamin Abdelmahmoud is reading Once There Were Wolves
Once There Were Wolves is a novel by Charlotte McConaghy. (Flatiron Books, Em Daniels)
Commotion host Elamin Abdelmahmoud’s summer recommendation is for fans of Charlotte McConaghy’s Wild Dark Shore, which was one of the biggest books of summer 2025.
“If you love a mystery that blends survival, nature and the darkness that lurks within us all, then I recommend to Charlotte’s previous novel, Once There Were Wolves,” he said. “She’s incredible at writing tension.”
In Once There Were Wolves, biologists Inti and her sister move to a remote part of the Scottish Highlands to reintroduce 14 grey wolves into the ecosystem. To everyone’s surprise, it’s an success, but when a farmer is found dead, the wolves are believed to be the culprit. Inti knows it wasn’t them and realizes that the man she’s falling for might actually be responsible for the murder.
McConaghy is also the author of Migrations. She lives in Sydney, Australia.
Nahlah Ayed looks forward to reading We Inherit the Fire 
We Inherit The Fire is a novel by Kagiso Lesego Molope. (Rémi Thériault, McClelland & Stewart)
Ideas host Nahlah Ayed looks forward to reading Kagiso Lesego Molope’s novel We Inherit The Fire, which follows a mother and daughter at the end of apartheid in South Africa.
“I am drawn to the idea of looking at a pivotal chapter in global history through the experiences of a mother and daughter,” said Ayed.
In We Inherit The Fire, Kewame is a famous freedom fighter who is haunted by the trauma of apartheid and her time as a political prisoner. Her daughter Kelelo is a regular teenager who resists being defined by her mother’s heroics and is struggling to connect with her mother at home. The two voices intertwine to tell a story about memory, history and the ways we inherit resilience and pain.
Molope was born in South Africa and is now based in Ottawa. Her writing is often set in her native South Africa, but tackles social and political issues relevant to countries around the world. She is the author of Dancing in the Dust, The Mending Season, Such a Lonely, Lovely Road and This Book Betrays My Brother.
Whistler is next on Piya Chattopadhyay’s list
Whistler is a novel by Ann Patchett. (HarperCollins, Emily Dorio)
For The Sunday Magazine host Piya Chattopadhyay, Ann Patchett’s latest book is next on her TBR list.
The new novel, Whistler, is about two adults looking back at their life choices. When Daphne and her husband visit the Met in New York, they notice a man following them. He turns out to be Daphne’s former stepfather, who was briefly married to her mother when she was a child. It’s been years since they’ve seen each other, yet the impact they’ve had on one another has remained. They reflect on the strength of their connection and the choices they made in the past.
Patchett is the bestselling author of Bel Canto, The Dutch House, State of Wonder and many other novels. Patchett recently won the Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award, a major international peace prize. She also is the owner of the bookstore Parnassus in Nashville.
Antonio Michael Downing can’t wait to read Notes From A Wayward Son
Notes From A Wayward Son is a book by Adrian De Leon. (Dylan J. Locke, Bond Street Books)
The Next Chapter host Antonio Michael Downing is excited to read Adrian De Leon’s memoir Notes From a Wayward Son.
Notes From a Wayward Son is about De Leon’s relationship with his father, an archbishop, martial artist and former captain in the Philippines military, who emigrated to Scarborough and opened a dojo after struggling to find work. The dojo then became a community hub where the father and son bond.
“De Leon’s an acclaimed poet writing about immigrating from Manila to Scarborough as a boy,” said Downing. “Family love. Rebellious teens. Asian, African and Caribbean melting pot. Intergenerational clash. Can’t wait!”
De Leon is a writer and historian who teaches at New York University. He has written and edited five books, including barangay: an offshore poem. His work has appeared in The Puritan, Joyland Magazine and Catapult.
Matt Galloway plans to read Cool Machine
Cool Machine is a novel by Colson Whitehead. (Bond Street Books, Madeline Whitehead)
Matt Galloway’s summer read couldn’t be more current (pun intended). The host of The Current is looking forward to picking up Cool Machine, Colson Whitehead’s book which just came out this week.
It’s the final installment in Whitehead’s Harlem trilogy, which Galloway calls “a brilliant series about crime, race and how New York City has changed.”
Set in the 1980s, Cool Machine is about business owner Ray Carney, who often finds himself entangled in crime while striving to create a sense of security for his family.
Whitehead is the author of twelve books of both fiction and nonfiction. He won the Pulitzer Prize for The Nickel Boys and The Underground Railroad, which also won the National Book Award. He lives in New York City.
Tom Power is reading Inheritance
Inheritance is a novel by Jane Park. (House of Anansi Press, Juliana Cadavid Herrera)
Q host Tom Power said he took inspiration from Bookends when choosing his summer read: Inheritance by Jane Park.
In Inheritance, New York lawyer Anne Kim returns to Edmonton when her father dies. She is shocked to learn that he was actually from North Korea and left his brother behind when he moved to Canada. She discovers years of undelivered letters her father sent his brother and is forced to reckon with her own childhood memories and those of her own brother, whose rebellion from her father’s expectations had irrevocable consequences and have left her with unresolved guilt.
Park is a second-generation Korean Canadian writer, born in Edmonton, who now lives in Calgary. Inheritance is her first book.
Mattea Roach looks forward to Dogs on Dates
Dogs on Dates is a graphic novel by Luke Healy. (Drawn & Quarterly, lukehealy.info)
Last but not least, Bookends’ own Mattea Roach is looking forward to “getting a little silly with it” and reading Dogs on Dates by Luke Healy.
The graphic novel is about two dogs, Bernie and Brad, who both walk into the same glass door and hit it off on their visit to the hospital. From their absurd meet-cute to dating misadventures, Dogs on Dates blends humour and heart to tell their love story.
“I read Healy’s previous work Self-Esteem and the End of the World while I was in Banff two years ago and it got my gears turning about art, grief and what it means to live together,” Roach said. “I’m sure Dogs on Dates will also somehow get me going about that but, with a lighter touch, a digestif if you will.”
Healy is a cartoonist, comedian and screenwriter from Dublin. He’s also the author of the graphic novels The Con Artist and Americana.