A Dance of Self-Isolation
Regular price $18.95In this collection, Windsor’s Poet Laureate Emeritus Marty Gervais, Poet Laureate Mary Ann Mulhern, Youth Poet Laureate Samantha Badaoa, and Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens reflect and respond to the COVID-19 global pandemic through poetry. The poems included capture the impact of the pandemic, as well as the hopes, dreams, challenges, triumphs and fears of an entire community navigating lockdown and recovery in truly unprecedented times.
Suck & Spit
Regular price $18.95An ancestry enthusiast,Laurie Smith has traced her roots to Emperor Charlemagne, as well as Lady Godiva, which explains her hair and love for horses. This collection of poetry is based on this exploration, yet another spinoff of her interest in Darwin and his influence.
Thimbles
Regular price $18.95
In this heart-wrenching collection, Vanessa Shields chronicles the life of her Nonna, Maria, from her origins as a seamstress in Italy to her eventual death from dementia. These raw, prosaic poems thread together grief, memory, loss, and love into a conversation that speaks across pages, years, and oceans. Shields bravely interrogates her own feelings of guilt, grief, and curiosity with unflinching precision. As she attempts to navigate and accept Nonna’s decline, Shields takes on the role of witness as she excavates the larger narrative that is her Nonna’s legacy. Thimbles is a courageous celebration of the transformative power of love across generations.
Praise for Thimbles
Shields has an ear for the ocean, the fugitive word, insect symphonies and the luscious unsaid. Thimbles is a beautiful blaze of a book, a paean to generations of gently brave women, but, most of all, an unforgettable tribute to the gospel of Nonna.—Kyo Maclear
A Dream Of A Woman
Regular price $21.95Longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize
Award-winning novelist Casey Plett (Little Fish) returns with a poignant suite of stories that center transgender women.
Casey Plett's 2018 novel Little Fish won a Lambda Literary Award, the Firecracker Award for Fiction, and the Amazon First Novel Award. Her latest work, A Dream of a Woman, is her first book of short stories since her seminal 2014 collection A Safe Girl to Love. Centering transgender women seeking stable, adult lives, A Dream of a Woman finds quiet truths in prairie high-rises and New York warehouses, in freezing Canadian winters and drizzly Oregon days.
In "Hazel and Christopher," two childhood friends reconnect as adults after one of them has transitioned. In "Perfect Places," a woman grapples with undesirability as she navigates fetish play with a man. In "Couldn't Hear You Talk Anymore," the narrator reflects on her tumultuous life and what might have been as she recalls tender moments with another trans woman.
An ethereal meditation on partnership, sex, addiction, romance, groundedness, and love, the stories in A Dream of a Woman buzz with quiet intensity and the intimate complexities of being human.
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Casey Plett is the author of the novel Little Fish and the short story collections A Dream of a Woman and A Safe Girl to Love; co-editor of the anthology Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy from Transgender Writers; and the publisher at LittlePuss Press. She wrote a column on transitioning for McSweeney's Internet Tendency and her essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Maclean's, The Walrus, Plenitude, the Winnipeg Free Press, and other publications. She is the winner of two Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction, winner of the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, and she received an Honour of Distinction from The Writers' Trust of Canada's Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Emerging Writers. She lives in Windsor, Ontario.
Little Fish
Regular price $19.95WINNER, Amazon Canada First Novel Award; Lambda Literary Award; Firecracker Award for Fiction
Finalist, Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award
A Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year
It's the dead of winter in Winnipeg and Wendy Reimer, a thirty-year-old trans woman, feels like her life is frozen in place. When her Oma passes away Wendy receives an unexpected phone call from a distant family friend with a startling secret: Wendy's Opa (grandfather) -- a devout Mennonite farmer -- might have been transgender himself. At first she dismisses this revelation, but as Wendy's life grows increasingly volatile, she finds herself aching for the lost pieces of her Opa's truth. Can Wendy unravel the mystery of her grandfather's world and reckon with the culture that both shaped and rejected her? She's determined to try.
Alternately warm-hearted and dark-spirited, desperate and mirthful, Little Fish explores the winter of discontent in the life of one transgender woman as her past and future become irrevocably entwined.
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Casey Plett is the author of the novel Little Fish and the short story collections A Dream of a Woman and A Safe Girl to Love; co-editor of the anthology Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy from Transgender Writers; and the publisher at LittlePuss Press. She wrote a column on transitioning for McSweeney's Internet Tendency and her essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Maclean's, The Walrus, Plenitude, the Winnipeg Free Press, and other publications. She is the winner of two Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction, winner of the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, and she received an Honour of Distinction from The Writers' Trust of Canada's Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Emerging Writers. She lives in Windsor, Ontario.
Best Canadian Stories 2025
Regular price $23.95Selected by editor Steven W. Beattie, the 2025 edition of Best Canadian Stories showcases the best Canadian fiction writing published in 2023.
Featuring:
Chris Bailey • Christine Birbalsingh • Cody Caetano • Kate Cayley • Lynn Coady • Caitlin Galway • Marcel Goh • Beth Goobie • Mark Anthony Jarman • Saad Omar Khan • Chelsea Peters • Kawai Shen • Liz Stewart • Glenna Turnbull • Catriona Wright • Clea Young
Praise for Best Canadian Stories
“One of the best things about the end of the year is having a chance to look back. The three Best Canadian volumes . . . are a snapshot of some of the finest in Canadian writing this year.”
—Robert J. Wiersema, Toronto Star
“Each of the sixteen stories carries a distinctive voice . . . Biblioasis’s Best just keeps getting better.”
—Michael Greenstein, The Miramichi Reader
“A wide-ranging … interesting collection.”
—The BC Review
“The legacy for Canadian literature in the Best Canadian Stories series can’t be overstated. For years the collection has been the place to discover Canadian writers.”
—Winnipeg Free Press
“Best Canadian Stories … combines both emerging and established voices for a fascinating glimpse at the most exciting short fiction coming out of this country.”
—Open Book
“The arrival, late in the fall each year, of [this] collection is always cause for fanfare.”
—Quill & Quire
Best Canadian Poetry 2025
Regular price $23.95Selected by editor Aislinn Hunter, the 2025 edition of Best Canadian Poetry showcases the best Canadian poetry writing published in 2023.
Featuring:
Hollie Adams • George Amabile • Erin Bedford • Billy-Ray Belcourt • Bertrand Bickersteth • Elisabeth Blair • Ronna Bloom • Alison Braid-Fernandez • Robert Bringhurst • Emily Cann • Anne Carson • Molly Cross-Blanchard • Lorna Crozier • Kayla Czaga • Evelyna Ekoko-Kay • Kate Genevieve • Susan Gillis • Sue Goyette • Catherine Graham • Henry Heavyshield • Gerald Hill • Alexander Hollenberg • Kim June Johnson • Eve Joseph • Evelyn Lau • Y. S. Lee • D. A. Lockhart • Fareh Malik • David Martin • Domenica Martinello • Cassidy McFadzean • Carmelita McGrath • Erín Moure • Tolu Oloruntoba • Catherine Owen • Molly Peacock • Miranda Pearson • Pauline Peters • Amanda Proctor • Shannon Quinn • Armand Garnet Ruffo • Anne Simpson • Carolyn Smart • Karen Solie • Catherine St. Denis • Owen Torrey • Michael Trussler • Sara Truuvert • Rob Winger • Jaeyun Yoo
Praise for Best Canadian Poetry
“The wide range of writers, forms and themes represented here make it a great jumping-off point for readers who might be interested in Canadian poetry but are unsure about where to start.”
—Globe and Mail
“One of the best things about the end of the year is having a chance to look back. The three Best Canadian volumes—Stories, edited by Lisa Moore; Essays, edited by Marcello Di Cintio; and Poetry, edited by Bardia Sinaee—are a snapshot of some of the finest in Canadian writing this year.”
—Robert J. Wiersema, Toronto Star
“A testament to the importance of literature in Canada … it is a powerful body that celebrates the creative and literary spirit of Canadians from coast to coast to coast.”
—Christina Barber, Miramichi Reader
“The curated anthology of Canadian poetry hand selected by Aislinn Hunter displays the human soul through its collection of diverse poets . . . Best Canadian Poetry 2025 does not let down in terms of its promised quality and more importantly, the heart put into each work. The authors in this book all compliment the series by incorporating their unique literary styles and techniques, ensuring an enticing read for seasoned poetry readers and casual ones alike.”
—Ciara Richardson, Arthur Newspaper
“[These] books are must-haves for libraries, schools, and intellectually well-intentioned bedside nightstands across the country.”
—Quill & Quire
“Buy it, or borrow it, but do read it.”
—Arc Poetry Magazine
“A magnet, I think, for the many people who would like to know contemporary poetry.”
—A.F. Moritz, Griffin Poetry Prize winner
“An eclectic and diverse collection of Canadian poetry … a wonderful addition to anyone’s bookshelf.”
—Toronto Quarterly
Best Canadian Essays 2025
Regular price $23.95Selected by editor Emily Urquhart, the 2025 edition of Best Canadian Essays showcases the best Canadian nonfiction writing published in 2023.
Featuring:
Katherine Ashenburg • James Cairns • Mitchell Consky • Michelle Cyca • Sadiqa de Meijer • Ariel Gordon • Lana Hall • Helen Humphreys • Rebecca Kempe • Jiin Kim • Christine Lai • Jessica Moore • Tom Rachman • Leanne Betasamosake Simpson • Vance Wright
Praise for the Best Canadian Series
“The wide range of writers, forms and themes represented here make it a great jumping-off point for readers who might be interested in Canadian poetry but are unsure about where to start.”
—Globe and Mail
“One of the best things about the end of the year is having a chance to look back. The three Best Canadian volumes—Stories, edited by Lisa Moore; Essays, edited by Marcello Di Cintio; and Poetry, edited by Bardia Sinaee—are a snapshot of some of the finest in Canadian writing this year.”
—Robert J. Wiersema, Toronto Star
“A thought-provoking collection of essays that present diverse perspectives and very human experiences that will resonate with readers across the country.”
—Christina Barber, Miramichi Reader
“A superb collection of national thinkers, crackling with insight on the issues of the age.”
—Chatelaine
“Each of the authors in Best Canadian Essays 2024 offers a particular style and perspective, but the essays work together to provide a picture of some of the issues Canadians have been facing. Many readers are likely to find something to interest them in this short collection of essays.”
—Susan Huebert, Winnipeg Free Press
“The arrival, late in the fall each year, of [this] collection is always cause for fanfare.”
—Quill & Quire
“Best Canadian Stories … combines both emerging and established voices for a fascinating glimpse at the most exciting short fiction coming out of this country.”
—Open Book
The Elevator
Regular price $21.95Aria Ramdeen is learning to love herself — and her favourite foods — again. No guilt, no toxic boyfriend. Full of newfound confidence, she subscribes to LoveinTO, a Toronto-based dating website, where she’s matched with a crush she’s had for years: the attractive light-haired man who lives in her building. Aria messages him on the app, but there’s no response, leaving her quite embarrassed.
Rob Anderson, who’s recently divorced, secretly admires Aria. He just lacks the confidence to approach her. And since he’s let his LoveinTO subscription lapse, he doesn’t see Aria’s message. Suddenly, Aria seems guarded when they run into one another, and the pair endure months of long, awkward silences together in the elevator. Until one day, Rob decides to give the app another chance and subscribes again.
A fresh and entertaining modern story of two people from different backgrounds who find each other despite the pitfalls of dating technology, opinions from friends and family, and their own personal trauma. The Elevator will leave readers feeling hopeful about love, food and life in a big city.
Praise for The Elevator
Aria and Rob share a look and an attraction, but their lives are complicated, and connection doesn’t come easy. The world doesn’t pause for a look, though they-and we-wish it would. The Elevator is a warm, thoughtful, realistic novel of all the things that hold us back from love, from trauma and tough parents to bad timing, but also the kind friends, humour, and hamburgers that sustain us in the search for a partner. Love comes for Rob and Aria the way it does for most of us-in the middle of everything else.— Rebecca Rosenblum, These Days are Numbered, So Much Love
In The Elevator, Ramsingh crafts a poignant portrayal of the weariness of the modern dating world, steeped with missed opportunities, misguided intimacy, and a complex relationship with food. Brimming with vivid sensory details, Ramsingh centers a cast of characters both earnest and vulnerable in this engaging, compulsively readable story.—Deepa Rajagopalan, Peacocks of Instagram
Priya Ramsingh’s superpower as a novelist is the ability to create authentic and empathetic characters. She did it with Brown Girl in the Room and now with The Elevator. I found myself rooting for Aria and Rob. I cringed as they tried to navigate the world of dating apps, agonized over bad dates and self doubt and then I eagerly awaited the next chance encounter. — Scott Colby, best-selling author and opinion page editor at the Toronto Star
The Siren In The Twelfth House
Regular price $21.95“Truthfully I can only tell you what’s missing” writes the heartbroken protagonist at the beginning of Victoria Mbabazi’s The Siren in the Twelfth House. But this isn’t a book that succumbs to grief. Mbabazi’s poems are siren songs, reclaiming love from pain, and rediscovering joy through the destruction and eventual rebuilding of astrological houses. Prepare to slow dance through this profound and powerful debut.
Praise for The Siren in the Twelfth House:
The Siren in the Twelfth House combines meta-allegory with a strident exploration of the vicissitudes of love and companionship. Its anthropomorphic signs bring the astrological into the quotidian, a logic to randomness of experience, and a symphony from the 12 orchestral sections of the skies. As we trace the transformation of the titular siren, we cannot help but have our own gazes and capacities for orphic interpretation sharpened as well.—Tolu Oloruntoba, The Junta of Happenstance, and Each One a Furnace
With a sweeping grace and theatrical, cinematic flare, Victoria Mbabazi writes us into the delicious tropes and archetypes of astrology—from the signs to the houses to the transits—with the careful, precise eye of a poet. Siren in the Twelfth House is bright with a familiar ancient fascination—what we have with the stars, with the sky and, most of all, with each other.—Sanna Wani, author of My Grief, the Sun
Finding Edward
Regular price $24.95
Cyril Rowntree migrates to Toronto from Jamaica in 2012. Managing a precarious balance of work and university he begins to navigate his way through the implications of being racialized in his challenging new land.
A chance encounter with a panhandler named Patricia leads Cyril to a suitcase full of photographs and letters dating back to the early 1920s. Cyril is drawn into the letters and their story of a white mother’s struggle with the need to give up her mixed race baby, Edward. Abandoned by his own white father as a small child, Cyril’s keen intuition triggers a strong connection and he begins to look for the rest of Edward’s story.
As he searches, Cyril unearths fragments of Edward’s itinerant life as he crisscrossed the country. Along the way, he discovers hidden pieces of Canada’s Black history and gains the confidence to take on his new world.
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Casey Plett is the author of the novel Little Fish and the short story collections A Dream of a Woman and A Safe Girl to Love; co-editor of the anthology Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy from Transgender Writers; and the publisher at LittlePuss Press. She wrote a column on transitioning for McSweeney's Internet Tendency and her essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Maclean's, The Walrus, Plenitude, the Winnipeg Free Press, and other publications. She is the winner of two Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction, winner of the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, and she received an Honour of Distinction from The Writers' Trust of Canada's Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Emerging Writers. She lives in Windsor, Ontario.
Home Waltz
Regular price $18.95
Finalist for 2021 Governor General Award for Fiction
Longlist 2021 First Nation Communities Read Award
In 1973, fifteen-year old Qʷóqʷésk̓iʔ, or “Squito” Bob, is a mixed-blood Nłeʔkepmx boy trying to find his place in a small, mostly Native town. His closest friends are three nłeʔkepmx boys and a white kid, an obnoxious runt who thinks himself superior to his friends. Accepted as neither Native nor white, Squito often feels like the stray dog of the group and envisions a short, disastrous life for himself. Home Waltz follows the boys over thirty-six hours on what should be one of the best weekends of their lives. With a senior girls volleyball tournament in town, Squito’s favourite band performing, and enough alcohol for ten people, the boys dream of girls, dancing, and possibly romance. A story of love, heartbreak, and tragedy, Home Waltz delves into suicide, alcohol abuse, body image, and systemic racism. A coming of age story like no other, Home Waltz speaks to one Indigenous teenager’s experience of growing up in a world that doesn’t want or trust him.
Praise for Home Waltz
In Squito Bob, Gordon Grisenthwaite has given us a latter-day Holden Caufield, fighting hormones, toxic friendships, and the general stupidity of others in the fleeting hope of his own brief shot at transcendence. Home Waltz is a tour de force, full of compassion and insight and humour and utterly unflinching in its look at the hard truths of life on the res.—Nino Ricci, author of Lives of the Saints, and Testament
Grisenthwaite weaves the classic coming-of-age tale into a story of deep grief and longing for place, the unfair treatment of First Nations people, but also the heart and kinship of First Nation’s communities—Crystal Mackenzie, Freefall Magazine
At the End, Beginnings
Regular price $18.95In this first book by Christopher Lawrence Menard, the poet paints a picture of what it means to be a son, a brother, a husband and a father, even as his own father begins to succumb to the diseases he has battled for years. John B. Lee, the renowned Canadian poet, describes Menard’s tribute to family life as “a love story,” and says. “the love of life is life itself.” In this collection of poems, Menard reflects both on the man who shaped him and the man he became, as well as the boy he is helping to guide.
Jay Versus the Saxophone of Doom
Regular price $11.99Who knew grade six music could be so scary? For kids who love The Diary of a Wimpy Kid and The Dork Diaries comes a hilarious new entry into funny middle-grade novels.
Jay Roberts loves hockey. He's good at it. He also loves his hockey hero, Bobby Orr, considered a legend by Jay's grandfather. In fact, even though they may bicker, when it comes to the Bruins, the whole family agrees that they are the team to root for.
When it comes to hockey, Jay's a team player, but there's one person who seems determined to make life hard for Jay: his classmate and fellow team member, Mick Bartlet. It's a good thing Jay can usually stickhandle his way out of his bullying. But something else is determined to make Jay's life difficult, something far harder for Jay to play: the saxophone.
Sixth grade just became a whole lot more challenging .
The Boy in Number Four
Regular price $21.99“The Boy in Number Four had a passion and a dream … to one day be a player on a big league hockey team.” It takes hard work and dedication to make it to the big league, but those aren’t the only things that are important. Respect, determination and the sheer thrill of the game brought Bobby Orr from a small northern town in Canada to one of the best teams in the NHL. Using Bobby Orr and his journey as a model, The Boy in Number Four celebrates the game of hockey—from backyard rinks to the big leagues. A book for hockey enthusiasts of all ages!
