The inaugural edition

2026
CANREADS
Awards.

CANREADS received over 400 submissions from across Canada and beyond in its inaugural year, bringing together an extraordinary range of voices and perspectives.

Meet the winners A night to remember

Guests applauding during the inaugural CANREADS Awards.

01 / The winners

2026 CANREADS Winners

18 award categories

The Light of Faded Stars

Francis-Adrien Morneault

Winner of Adult Nonfiction

Product of Italy, Made in Canada: An Immigrant's Love Letter to Food, Family, and Resilience

Rosanna Micelotta Battigelli

Winner of Women's Fiction

Coming of Age ... Again

Ramune Luminaire

Winner of Memoirs / Biography / Autobiography

I Finally Have the Smoking Hot Body I Have Always Wanted (Having Been Cremated)

Barb Drummond

Winner of Memoirs (Adversity, Resilience & Growth)

Born and Razed: Surviving the Cult was Only Half the Battle

Beth Granger

Winner of Poetry / Short Story Collections

Told Ya! Stories

Peta-Gaye Nash

Winner of YA and Middle Grade (Fiction & Nonfiction)

Dragonborn

Struan Murray

Winner of Children (Fiction & Nonfiction)

Stinky Sheldon Saves the Day

Nancy Parkhill

Winner of Business / Finance / Marketing

The Divided Brain: Understanding Human Behaviour in Branding and Business

Paul Larche

Winner of Thriller

Furtive Retribution

The Multima Saga, Book 9

Gary D. McGugan

Winner of Mystery / Suspense

Lost Village

The Conawalki Murder Mysteries, Book 1

Michael Saver

Winner of Science / Animals / Nature

The Honey Trap: How the Good Intentions of Urban Beekeepers Risk Ecological Disaster

Dana L. Church

Winner of Self-Help / Guide / Personal Development

Dynamic Balance: The Tao of Forging Individual and Social Transformation

Arthur Lockhart & Brad Hutchinson

Winner of Historical Fiction

Day of Epiphany

Jerome J Bourgault

Winner of Fantasy

Silversong

Rhonda Parrish

Winner of Sci-Fi / Speculative Fiction

Black Corrosion

Costi Gurgu

Winner of Romance

Lassoed by Fate

Douglas D. Ross

Winner of Best in Design

Gods in My Home: Chinese Ancestor Portraits and Popular Prints

Wen-Chien Cheng & Yanwen Jiang

02 / The finalists

2026 CANREADS Shortlist

36 shortlisted titles

Adult Fiction

Looking for Cornelius
Diana Hayes
Bracing for Impact
JC Kors

Adult Nonfiction

I am Saxon: A History of the Transylvanian Saxons
Karl Gagesch
Madness: The Rise and Ruin of Sports Media
Mark Hebscher

Women's Fiction

Thread Traveller
Annabel Youens
Again, Only More Like You
Catalina Margulis

Memoirs / Biography / Autobiography

Final Approach: A Test Pilot's Story of Caring for Loved Ones
Jonathan Knaul
Tiga’s Tale
Paul Harrietha

Memoirs (Adversity, Resilience & Growth)

The Village That Betrayed Its Children
Karen Lee
Kalman & Leopold: Surviving Mengele's Auschwitz
Richard Lowy

Poetry / Short Story Collections

Whispers Under the Silk Cotton Tree
Brian Sankarsingh
Twenty-One Ways to Die in Saskatchewan
R.E. Stansfield

YA and Middle Grade (Fiction & Nonfiction)

The Ninth Fox (Fox and Fairies, Book 1)
Natasha Ayton
Chinook
Richard Wambolt

Children (Fiction & Nonfiction)

A Friendship in a Box
Bonnie Lemaire
Pretty Please with Cheese
Amel Farag

Business / Finance / Marketing

AfterShock to 2030: A CEO's Guide to Reinvention in the Age of AI, Climate, and Societal Collapse
Caroline Stokes
Start Small, Think Big
Greg Barton

Thriller

Blowback
Eric Murphy
Carried Away: Surviving the Unimaginable
T.J. Derry

Mystery / Suspense

The Prophet of Frog's Hollow
Sean Patrick Dolan
Spy's Mate
Brad Buchanan

Science / Animals / Nature

A Field Guide to Birds of Ontario
Mark Peck & Emily Rondel
(Royal Ontario Museum)
Our Global Crisis
Brian D. McLean

Self-Help / Guide / Personal Development

Know Your Brain: Four Keys to a Bountiful Life
F. Benvenuti
Do It Yourself Dramaturgy: 1,001 Questions I Ask Myself Before I Submit My New Play
Caroline Russell-King

Historical Fiction

Mirrors & Smoke
Adrienne Stevenson
The Resistance Daughter
Joanne Kormylo

Fantasy

The Scald Crow, a Beyond the Faerie Rath Novel
Hanna Park
The King's Blade
Anya Rousselle

Sci-Fi / Speculative Fiction

World of She
G.W. Darcie
Autokrator
Emily A. Weedon

Romance

You and Me
Scott Godwin
Love Lies
Joelle Habbaki

Best in Design

Being and Belonging: Contemporary Women Artists from the Islamic World and Beyond
Edited by Fahmida Suleman
(Royal Ontario Museum)
Making History: Visual Arts & Blackness
Julie Crooks, Dominique Fontaine & Silvia Forni
(Royal Ontario Museum)

03 / Special acknowledgement

CANREADS Spotlight Recipients

Alongside the category winners and finalists, the Spotlight acknowledges works and authors who stood out to the judges in other ways.

Recognition may honour exceptional books that narrowly missed finalist selection, an author’s personal or professional milestone, entrepreneurial initiative, or a story shaped by significant experience or adversity. It considers the writer’s journey and contribution as well as the work itself.

01
Nothing But White Ash
by Boni Wagner-Stafford
02
Letters of Redemption
by Vince Santoro
03
Death & His Brother
by D.E. Ring
04
Callow (Ardenti Terra Series, Book 1)
by Nicole Scholl
05
Against the Machine: Luddites
by Brian Van Norman
06
Lessons in Philanthropy: The Legacy of Barb McInnes
as shared with Glenn McInnes
07
Those We Carry
by Scott Saxberg
08
The Principal Chronicles Two/Too/II/As Well
by David Garlick
09
Courage and a Castle: A Tribute to a Remarkable Woman
by Jeanne Martinson
10
Externalities
by D. McCall Johnston
11
The Wantrepreneur: Take the Decision
by Leonardo Vasquez
12
Morgan Moose Visits New Brunswick Provincial Parks!
by Kimothy Stewart
13
Blaze Peppergrove and the Web of Lies
by Lisa Adair
14
Mindy and the Rescue Crew: The Unwelcome Visitors
by Geri Storey
15
How I Learned to Pee in the Forest
by Sharon Neiss Arbess
16
The Chronicles of Paisley • Corners
by Cheryl van Daalen-Smith
17
Our Life Our Way A Memoir of Active Faith, Profound Love and Courageous Disability Rights
by Christine Robinson
18
Breaking Trail: From Complex Trauma to Command
by Lee-Ann F. O'Brien
19
Two Sides to a Face: My Journey with Sturge Weber Syndrome
by Chelsey Peat
20
Under His Divine Gaze: A Spiritual Memoir
by Monique Pilon-Fraschetti
21
Revenge is Not Enough
by Angela Van Breeman
22
Cultivating Career Growth: Navigating Transitions with Purpose
by Michelle Schafer
23
Abbot Lane
by Jim Layeux
24
Sanctity of Freedom
by Peter Pontas
25
Here Comes the Sun: A 1960s Story of Travel, Adventure, and Self-Discovery
by Alan Bryce
26
Living in the Land of Uprights: A Story About Thomas Voss Sorensen
by Kathy Sorensen
27
Quantum
by Irina Moga