Canada and Its Authors

Since today is Canada Day, I decided to celebrate by highlighting some current Canadian authors and their work.

Yann Martel is best known for his book, Life of Pi, which won the Man Booker Prize in 2002. His newest work is Beatrice and Virgil: A Novel, which features a donkey and a howler monkey. 

Margaret Atwood has published numerous works of fiction and non-fiction, including 15 books of poetry. She has also been awarded more than 55 awards. I am most familiar with her speculative fiction book, The Handmaid's Tale (Everyman's Library), and her most recent work is The Year of the Flood, a dystopian masterpiece.

Robert J. Sawyer is a science fiction author with over 40 awards to his name and 20 novels in publication. He has also had a hand in producing several t.v. series, including the recent "FlashForward", based on his novel Flashforward. His most recent work is the WWW trilogy: WWW: Wake (WWW Trilogy), WWW: Watch (WWW Trilogy), and WWW: Wonder, about a blind girl outfitted with an implant that connects her to a consciousness that exists only in cyberspace. 

Guy Gavriel Kay is a fantasy fiction author who was lucky enough to assist Christopher Tolkien in editing J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion in 1974. He has won several awards for his work, as well as nominations. His most recent work is Under Heaven, a novel based on the 8th century Tang Dynasty and the events leading up to the An Shi Rebellion. 

Charles de Lint is a fantasy author who is credited as being one of a few authors to popularize the genres of urban fantasy and mythic fiction, as well as magical realism in mainstream fiction. He has received 13 nominations to date for his work and has an extensive list of titles to his name. I have only read one of his books, The Onion Girl, but I hope to change that. One of his newest releases is The Painted Boy about a boy that shape-shifts into a dragon. 

Michelle Sagara is a Japanese-Canadian fantasy fiction author who also happens to work at a bookstore. She has several book series to her name, including the Chronicles of Elantra series, of which I have read the novella Cast in Moonlight, which is found in the anthology Harvest Moon. Her most recent work is House Name: The House War: Book Three (House wars), published under her psuedonym Michelle West. 

Kelley Armstrong has numerous fantasy novels and two crime novels published to her name. She is most famous for her Women of the Otherworld series and the YA series, Darkest Powers. Her newest novel is The Gathering (Darkness Rising, Book 1). 

Lesley Livingston is a new author of the YA trilogy, Wondrous Strange, about an aspiring actress who discovers she is a Faerie princess. Her newest book, Once Every Never, is set to be released July 13th. 

The list goes on and on of Canadian authors of every genre, fiction and non-fiction. Check out a few of these and read something new!

Tanya Huff

R. Scott Bakker

Eileen Cook

Arthur Slade

Courtney Summers

Denise Jaden

Tish Cohen

Rachna Gilmore

Jo Treggiari

Michelle Rowen

Allison van Diepen

Leonard Cohen

William Shatner 

Mary Balogh

Susanna Kearsley

Barbara Kyle

Denise Jaden

L.M. Montgomery

Syndey Somers

Sara Gruen

Farley Mowat

Miriam Toews

Joseph Boyden

What other Canadian authors are you familiar with?