CBC Books · Posted: Feb 04, 2026 4:00 AM EST
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February is Black History Month in Canada.
To mark the occasion, CBC Books has put together this list of buzzworthy titles by Black Canadian authors, both fiction and nonfiction.
Only Because It’s You by Rebecca Fisseha
In Only Because It’s You, Miz panics when her best friend, Kal, faces the possibility of being forced to return to Ethiopia, as she can’t imagine life without him. She comes up with a plan to marry him so he can stay — with the idea of quickly getting a divorce afterward — believing nothing will change between them, right?
Rebecca Fisseha is an Ethiopian Canadian writer based in Toronto. Her previous works include the novel Daughters of Silenceand short stories and essays that have appeared in the anthologies Addis Ababa Noir and Tongues: On Longing and Belonging Through Language. She is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers, the Vancouver Film School and an alumnus of the TIFF Writers’ Studio.
The Snag by Tessa McWatt
In her second memoir The Snag, Tessa McWatt’s mother’s dementia progresses to the point she can no longer live independently. Forced to experience and confront grief, McWatt finds herself in a forest. There she discovers that from the youngest seedling to the oldest snag in the forest, every stage of a tree’s life holds meaning, and finds solace in the natural world as a source of healing and understanding.
McWatt is the author of several novels and two books for young readers. Her previous works include Dragons Cry, Vital Signs and Higher Ed. She wrote the memoir Shame on Me, which won the 2020 Bocas Prize for Non-Fiction and was shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Prize and the Governor General’s Award. Her fiction has been nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award, the City of Toronto Book Awards, the OCM Bocas Prize and the Society of Authors’ Volcano Prize. McWatt is a creative writing professor at the University of East Anglia. Originally from Guyana, she grew up in Canada and now lives in London.
We, the Kindling by Otoniya J. Okot Bitek
In We, the Kindling, three women who survived the horrors of war in Uganda as children continue to experience the trauma of their past, even when they’ve started families of their own.
Otoniya J. Okot Bitek, a poet, fiction writer and scholar born in Kenya to Ugandan parents, currently lives in Kingston, Ont. Her first collection of poetry, 100 Days, won the 2017 IndieFab Book of the Year Award for poetry and the 2017 Glenna Lushei Prize for African Poetry. Her second poetry collection, A is for Acholi, won the 2023 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. She was also longlisted for the 2018 CBC Poetry Prize. We, the Kindling is her debut novel.
The World So Wide by Zilla Jones
The World So Widetells the story of Felicity Alexander, a mixed-race opera star, who spends her life chasing love and validation. It is a story of betrayal, revolution — set within the context of the United States’ invasion of Grenada — and the healing power of music.
Zilla Jones is an author based in Winnipeg. She’s won many literary awards including the Journey Prize, the Malahat Review Open Season Award, the Jacob Zilber Prize for Short Fiction and the FreeFall short fiction award.
Jones made the 2020 CBC Short Story Prize longlist for Our Father and has longlisted twice for her story How to Make a Friend, in 2022 and 2023; in 2024, Jones was included on the CBC Short Story Prize shortlist. The same year, Jones made the long list for the CBC Nonfiction Prize. She was also named a writer to watch by CBC Books in 2024.
Everything Is Fine Here by Iryn Tushabe
In Everything Is Fine Here, a younger sister navigates the challenges of family and societal pressures while offering love and support to her older sister, who is gay, in a country with strict anti-homosexuality laws.
Iryn Tushabe is a Ugandan Canadian writer and journalist based in Regina. Her writing has appeared in Briarpatch Magazine, Adda, Grain Magazine, The Walrus and CBC Saskatchewan, among others. Everything Is Fine Here was on this year’s Canada Reads longlist. She won the City of Regina writing award in both 2020 and 2024, and was a finalist for the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2021. In 2023, she won the Writers’ Trust McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize. Tushabe was longlisted for the CBC Nonfiction Prize in 2016.
You’ve Changed by Ian Williams
In You’ve Changed, middle-aged couple Beckett and Princess are having marital issues. They’re sent into parallel mid-life crises after their friends come to visit for the weekend. While Princess is concerned that their problems stem from her physical attributes and turns to surgery, Beckett decides to relaunch his contracting business in the hope that his accomplishments will revive their relationship. They’re changing for each other but also discovering new things about themselves. Will their marriage survive?
Ian Williams is the author of several books of fiction, nonfiction and poetry. His debut novel, Reproduction, won the Scotiabank Giller Prize. You’ve Changed was longlisted for the 2025 Giller Prize. He also gave the 2024 Massey Lecture on his nonfiction book What I Mean to Say. Williams is a professor of English at the University of Toronto and director of the creative writing program. He is based in Toronto.
The Singles Tax: No-Nonsense Financial Advice for Solo Earners by Renée Sylvestre-Williams
The Singles Tax is a book by Renée Sylvestre-Williams, which gives advice to single people trying to build financial security in a time when it seems like all cards are stacked against their success, with the cost of living quickly rising and the breaks afforded couples and families hard to come by.
Sylvestre-Williams is a journalist for Globe Advisor who lives in Toronto. She has written for outlets such as The Globe and Mail, The Walrus and Canadian Business.
Black Public Joy by Jay Pitter
In Black Public Joy, Jay Pitter delves into belonging, pleasure, and community, exploring the ways that factors such as urban planning, history and culture intersect to impact people’s lives.
Pitter is the author of Black Public Joy and an adjunct urban planning professor who has lectured at MIT, Princeton and Cornell. Her focus is how to best foster enjoyment and cultural identity in urban spaces.
Fela: Music is the Weapon by Jibola Fagbamiye and Conor McCreery
Fela: Music is the Weapon, a graphic novel by Jibola Fagbamiye and Conor McCreery, is based on the life of Nigerian superstar musician Fela Kuti. The book follows Kuti’s journey after he joins the Black Power movement and risks his career — and his life — fighting against his country’s corrupt military government.
Fagbamiye is a Toronto-based visual artist. His work exploring African history and North American pop culture has been exhibited in galleries in Los Angeles, Lagos and Toronto.
McCreery is a Toronto-based comic book artist. He has done work for BOOM!, Dark Horse and DC, among many other publishers.
LISTEN | “Fela: Music is the Weapon” is a new graphic novel by Jibola Fagbamiye and Conor McCreery:
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Other Worlds by Andre Alexis
Spanning from 19th-century Trinidad and Tobago to a small town in Ontario, from Amherst, Massachusetts to modern-day Toronto, Other Worlds is a short story collection that explores characters encountering moments of profound puzzlement in these diverse settings. Other Worlds was shortlisted for the Toronto Book Awards in 2025.
André Alexis was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, and raised in Ottawa. His debut novel, Childhood, won the Books in Canada First Novel Award (now known as the Amazon.ca First Novel Award) and the Trillium Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. His other books include Pastoral, Asylum, The Hidden Keys, Despair and Other Stories of Ottawa and Days by Moonlight, which won the 2019 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and was on the 2019 Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist.
As the Earth Dreams edited by Terese Mason Pierre
As the Earth Dreams is a short story anthology of speculative fiction by Black Canadian authors. From teenagers flying on a magic carpet to a masseuse attending her mother’s fourth funeral, the stories span time, space and our understanding of the world, while envisioning stunning Black futures.
Terese Mason Pierre is a Toronto writer and editor at Augur magazine. Her work has appeared in The Walrus, Room, Brick, Quill & Quire, Uncanny Magazine and Fantasy Magazine. She won the Writers’ Trust Journey Prize and was named a Writers’ Trust Writing Star in 2023. Her debut poetry collection, Myth, was published in spring 2025.
Black Cherokee by Antonio Michael Downing
Of course we couldn’t resist including Black Cherokee by Antonio Michael Downing, who currently hosts CBC Radio’s The Next Chapter. Ophelia Blue Rivers is raised by Grandma Blue, a descendant of the Black Cherokee Freedmen. When she’s taken away to live with Auntie Oba, Ophelia begins a journey to find home and identity in a 1990s South Carolina Cherokee community that rejects her mixed-race heritage.
Downing is a Trinidadian Canadian musician, activist and writer. His previous works include the memoir Saga Boy and the children’s book Stars in My Crown. Black Cherokee is Downing’s debut novel.