Bookends with Mattea Roach

Fran Lebowitz is a legendary writer and critic. She’s made a career of sharing hot takes without apology, and she didn’t hold back when she joined Mattea Roach for a special on-stage event in Toronto. You might know Fran from her books Metropolitan Life and Social Studies or her appearances in two Martin Scorsese documentaries. Fran is perhaps most famous for sharp social commentary — from airplan...

It’s easy to glamorize small town life … but Kevin Hardcastle’s new novel, County Road Six , is all about the darkness lurking in rural Canada. When Arthur O’Hare dies, his three daughters return to the family farm to sort through what he left behind. But what they inherit is more than land — it’s a shadowy history they never knew existed. County Road Six is a dramatic thriller about economic decl...

A glamorous life and career in New York’s fashion industry was everything Douglas Stuart worked for. So why did he walk away from it all? And how did he go from fashion designer to Booker Prize winning author? Douglas’s first two novels, Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo , were critically acclaimed hits. He continues the streak with John of John , a moving novel about a young man returning home to a re...

Anne Kim has it all. She’s a high-powered tax lawyer, lives in a beautiful apartment in New York and has the perfect boyfriend to boot. She’s the pride of her parents, Korean immigrants in small-town Alberta who worked day and night to keep the family afloat. But Jane Park’s debut novel, Inheritance , is all about the hidden costs of Anne’s immigrant success story — the hurt, trauma and stifling e...

A famous crime writer who gets her inspiration from years of working on real cases at the medical examiner’s office. That’s the story of Patricia Cornwell, the bestselling author of the Kay Scarpetta series. Her new memoir, True Crime, is all about the person behind the thrillers … and it proves that sometimes, life is stranger than fiction. From getting dropped off at the doorstep of one of Ameri...

The winner of the 2026 CBC Short Story Prize is the Vancouver-based writer Larah Luna. Larah’s story, A Season of Crows , is about a small town learning to live with a huge murder of crows that passes through the town. Born in the Philippines and raised in Manitoba, Larah grew up surrounded by prairie landscapes that shaped the emotional setting of her story. A Season of Crows explores the wonder...

Books can be revolutionary. That’s the message of Azar Nafisi’s celebrated memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran , which is about her experience teaching forbidden literature to young women in Iran. Although it was published nearly 23 years ago, Azar’s memoir continues to speak to issues around censorship, authoritarianism and resilience in Iran and across the world. Her 2022 book Read Dangerously follo...

Charity organizations are all about doing good. What could possibly go wrong? Sharon Bala’s new novel, Good Guys, is all about how philanthropy operates in a world that runs on money. The book stars a fictional charity called Children of the World. It’s an international aid organization founded by a former rock star with some questionable motives. Moving between its headquarters in Toronto and its...

If it feels like the years are going by faster and faster … you’re not the only one. Grant Ginder’s new novel, So Old, So Young , follows a group of college friends across 20 years. The story is told through five major parties that bring the group together as their lives change and criss-cross in unexpected ways. From housewarmings to weddings to birthdays, this book explores how our connections e...

Yann Martel didn’t think anybody would read Life of Pi when he first published it. 25 years later, his story of a teenage boy and a tiger adrift in the ocean still captivates readers, and Yann says his books are like his children — he loves them all equally. Yann’s new novel is called Son of Nobody . In the book, a Canadian scholar’s life changes when an Iliad-like epic poem is newly discovered. W...

When Mai Nguyen lost her daughter just days after she was born, writing about a similar character in a novel brought her comfort. Her new book, Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead , is a heartbreaking but humorous novel about a grieving mother who starts working at a funeral home. Cleo Dang’s world is shattered when she loses her newborn due to complications during labour. Drowning in grief and the dis...

The “wolf hour” is a term for the deep-night period between roughly three and four in the morning. The world is quiet, your guard is down … and if you’re anything like the thriller writer Jo Nesbø, it’s the perfect time to put some of your darkest thoughts to the page. Wolf Hour is the latest of Jo’s gritty crime novels. It’s an immersive story about a troubled detective and a Norwegian journalist...

In Caro Claire Burke’s debut novel, Yesteryear , a modern day tradwife influencer shares her picturesque farm life with 8 million followers … until one day, she wakes up in the 1800s and has to do it all for real. No running water, no electricity and no way out. But is she really in the past? How far will she go to get back to her perfect life? And how perfect was that life, really? Yesteryear is...

Ben Lerner’s new novel is all about how technology shapes memory and connection … and it kicks off when a guy breaks his phone. In Transcription , a man is conducting one final interview with his 90-year-old mentor and celebrated academic, Thomas. When the narrator accidentally breaks his phone before the interview, he can’t bring himself to admit it to Thomas. He does the interview anyway, preten...

Even if you’re living in a dystopia, life goes on. Carrianne Leung’s new novel, Wonderland Road , is about making it work and finding hope in a collapsing society. In a world where basic structures of society fall apart and a mega-corporation rules all, the people of a small suburban community must figure out how to move forward — even when they don’t quite know where “forward” leads. Much like Ca...

In Michael Redhill’s new novel, The Trial of Katterfelto , the titular Katterfelto is a traveling magician and scientist in the late 1700s. One day, Katterfelto and his partner Roger come across a mysterious horn that emits a woman’s voice … and that voice calls herself Siri. Siri is from the future, and she tells the two of climate disaster, social unrest and AI takeover. As Katterfelto and Roger...

What does it mean to love a place that is so complicated? Pulitzer prize finalist Daniyal Mueenuddin’s new novel, This Is Where the Serpent Lives , dives into class, corruption and the systems of power that dictate life in Pakistan. Over six decades, it follows the lives of both the wealthy elite and those that serve them … and it takes readers all across the country, from its opulent cityscapes t...

Julian Barnes says his new novel is his final. It’s called Departure(s) , and it’s about two people who fall in love when they’re young and then meet again decades later. The story is told through the perspective of a writer named Julian … who has a lot in common with the author himself. The book was released on Julian’s 80th birthday, and after four decades of writing and a Booker Prize win under...

For Michael V. Smith, the answer is a resounding yes … and he explores that in his new book, Soundtrack: A Lyric Memoir . It’s a collection of poems about snapshots in his life, each named after a different song or album. He dives into growing up gay during the AIDS crisis, finding his first love and coming of age on the dance floor. The book celebrates music and memory, and is a deeply personal l...

This week, Bookends is celebrating libraries with a special Canada Reads event at the Hamilton Public Library.  Morgann Book truly lives up to her name. As one of Canada’s biggest book influencers, she shares her love of literature with millions of followers … and she’s taking that to the next level as a contestant on this year’s Canada Reads. Morgann is championing It’s Different This Time ,...

In Tara Gereaux’s new novel, Wild People Quiet , a Métis woman works tirelessly to hide her identity for years … until everything starts to come crashing down. It’s the early 1900s when Florence realizes she can pass as white. Longing for a comfortable life free of discrimination, she decides to leave her entire family and culture behind. Decades later, her carefully constructed facade is challeng...

What does family mean to two motherless daughters? That question is at the centre of Kin , a new work of historical fiction by Tayari Jones. It’s about the bond between two girls in the American South as they end up on starkly different paths, and a deeply human look into life for Black Americans on the brink of the civil rights movement. You might know Tayari from her novel An American Marriage ,...

Toronto’s most infamous women’s prison was meant to rehabilitate women … but its real history tells a much darker story. Heather Marshall dives headfirst into the Mercer Reformatory in her latest novel, Liberty Street . The book follows Emily Radcliffe, a 1960s journalist who goes undercover to expose the prison’s harsh conditions and abuse of inmates. Over 30 years later, after the prison’s closi...

If you had to tell a story to stay alive … what story would you tell? Jeanette Winterson’s new book, One Aladdin Two Lamps , is a nonfiction exploration of storytelling, culture, politics and the things that make us human. It’s based on the One Thousand and One Nights , the famous collection of Middle Eastern folk tales home to characters like Aladdin, Sinbad and Ali Baba. At the centre of it all...

What does it mean to come of age in a place where violence is a daily fact of life? Ashraf Zaghal’s debut novel, Seven Heavens Away , is about a Palestinian teen named Aziz. Like any teen, he’s growing up, working part-time and learning how to navigate love and loss … but he’s also living through escalating violence and unrest in Jerusalem. When Aziz's friend is killed, he grapples with grief and...