POWERFUL READS

To mark International Women’s Day, Canadian writers recommend books they think we need to read.

Amy Jones

Monoceros, by Suzette Mayr. Mayr’s 2011 novel about the aftermath of the suicide of a bullied gay teen gives a stark snapshot of the lives of teenagers in the early 2010s, and unicorn-obsessed Faraday is one of the most memorable and compelling teenage girl characters I have ever encountered.

Her Body and Other Parties, by Carmen Maria Machado. At some point last year almost every writer I know was reading this book, and for good reason. Machado’s stories are part fairy tale, part horror, and entirely exquisite; they thrum with eroticism and violence and magic.

Give Me Your Hand, by Megan Abbott. Megan Abbott is known for her ability to subvert feminine noir tropes, and her latest novel does exactly that — flipping the conceit of woman as victim and giving her female characters both agency and urgency. Amy Jones is the author of We’re All In This Together. Her latest book, Every Little Piece of Me, is out this June.

Chelene Knight

How She Read, by Chantal Gibson. This book speaks not only to Black girls, but skillfully gives voice to those who have been left to stew in silence. An important retelling of history.

Holy Wild, by Gwen Benaway. A groundbreaking suite of poems that I go back to often as it explores the various intersections of being a marginalized woman.

An Honest Woman, by Jónína Kirton. One of those books that will shake you to your core. Marriage, sex, love, being a mixed race woman … this collection peels back these complex layers with expertise. Chelene Knight is the author Dear Current Occupant, managing editor of Room and the programming director of the Growing Room festival.

Susan Swan

Spare and powerful, Surfacing is the second novel by Margaret Atwood, Canada’s resident feminist genius and story teller. The declaration near the end of the book has never been more prescient: ‘This above all, to refuse to be a victim. Unless I can do that I can do nothing. I have to … give up the old belief that I am powerless and because of it nothing I can do will ever hurt anyone.’

Heat Wave, just out this month, is a charming new thriller set in Toronto in 1936 by crime writer Maureen Jennings, author/creator of the phenomenally successful Murdoch mysteries and TV series shown in 110 countries and territories. In Jennings’ new book, a female detective works with Murdoch’s son. A giant box of non-caloric chocolates.

Dear Current Occupant, the prizewinning 2018 memoir by Chelene Knight who wrote about her nomadic childhood in Vancouver. The author’s single mom moved her family countless times and Knight tells the current occupants of her old homes what it was like living there. Inspiring for its non-judgmental honesty, this memoir evokes Michael Ondaatje’s Running in the Family. Susan Swan’s new novel The Dead Celebrities Club will be out in April.

Tanya Talaga

Heart Berries: A Memoir by Terese Marie Mailhot. Memory isn’t exact but it is all that we have. Terese is not an ornamental writer, she speaks plainly, beautifully, from the heart and by doing so you see exactly what she does. Her words move you. They show power and strength.

Everyone Needs to Read, by Lee Maracle. Full stop. She is the grand dame of Indigenous literature, story, of words. For International Women’s Day, read “I Am Woman: A Native Perspective on Sociology and Feminism.” This book is on her personal struggle with womanhood, culture, traditional, spiritual beliefs and political sovereignty. Lee’s voice is always now. Read anything she writes.

The Break, by Katherena Vermette. This is a fictional book based on a family of women living in Winnipeg’s north end. It is spellbinding, it shows our strength our women, our communities and how love transcends time and space. Katherena is a poet and storyteller. You won’t be able to put it down. Guarantee it. Tanya Talaga is the author of Seven Fallen Feathers and All Our Relations: Finding the Path Forward (The 2018 Massey Lectures)

Zoe Whittall

Whatever Gets You Through: Twelve Survivors on Life After Sexual Assault, edited by Jen Sookfong Lee and Stacey May Fowles. Anthologies tend to be hit and miss, but this one is excellent all the way through, with a stand-out segment by novelist Heather O’Neill. Not out until April but worth it to pre-order!

Heartbreaker by Claudia Dey. This novel is so imaginative it’s difficult to put into words without dumbing it down. I pick this one purely for its command of language, humour and imagery, but I suppose it’s appropriate for women’s day since it’s a daughter, Pony Lee Fontaine, looking for her mother who has escaped their cult like town.

A Mind Spread Out on the Ground, by Alicia Elliot. Out this month from Penguin, it’s a book of very moving personal essays that stays with you long after the last page. She’s also one of the authors being sued by former UBC Steven Galloway right now. I think it’s important to celebrate her continued bravery in writing and speaking out on issues of violence against women and the rights of Indigenous people. Zoe Whittall is the Giller-nominated author of The Best Kind of People.