Black History Month (Adult)

Each February, people across Canada participate in Black History Month events and celebrations that honour the legacy and contributions of Black people in Canada and their communities.

Updated December 30, 2025
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Other Worlds : Stories
Alexis, Andre.
Paper Book
Winner of The Story Prize * Longlisted for the 2025 Giller Prize * Shortlisted for the 2025 Toronto Book Award * A Globe and Mail Best Book of 2025 The award-winning author of Fifteen Dogs conjures up worlds - real, invented, uncanny - in this ingenious,...
Dream count
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * GLOBE AND MAIL BESTSELLER * LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER * FINALIST FOR THE 2025 ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION * LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION * LONGLISTED FOR THE 2026 DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD * A...
James : a novel
Everett, Percival.
Paper Book
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER * #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER * A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, both harrowing and darkly humorous, told from the enslaved Jim's point of view * In development as a feature film to be...
The skin we're in : a year of resistance and power
Cole, Desmond
Paper Book
In the tradition of Ta-Nehisi Coates, a bracing, provocative and perspective-shifting book from one of Canada's most celebrated and uncompromising writers, Desmond Cole. The Skin We're In will spark a national conversation, influence policy and inspire activists.
Disorientation : being Black in the world
Williams, Ian
Paper Book
A FINALIST FOR THE 2021 HILARY WESTON WRITERS' TRUST PRIZE FOR NONFICTION   Bestselling, Scotiabank Giller Award-winning writer Ian Williams brings fresh eyes and new insights to today's urgent conversation on race and racism in startling, illuminating essays that grow out...
I've been meaning to tell you A Letter to My Daughter
Chariandy, David.
Ebook
In the tradition of Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, acclaimed novelist David Chariandy's latest is an intimate and profoundly beautiful meditation on the politics of race today....
Where beauty survived : an Africadian memoir
Clarke, George Elliott.
Paper Book
A vibrant, revealing memoir about the cultural and familial pressures that shaped George Elliott Clarke's early life in the Black Canadian community that he calls Africadia, centred in Halifax, Nova Scotia. As a boy, George Elliott Clarke knew that a great deal was expected from...
The long road home : on blackness and belonging
Thompson, Debra
Paper Book
INSTANT BESTSELLER FINALIST FOR THE HILARY WESTON WRITERS' TRUST PRIZE FOR NONFICTION From a leading scholar on the politics of race comes a work of family history, memoir, and insight gained from a unique journey across the continent, on what it is to be Black in...
Finding Edward : a novel
Murray, Sheila (Documentary filmmaker)
Paper Book
Shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award Longlisted for the Toronto Book Award Longlisted for Canada Reads 2023 A Globe and Mail Best Book Cyril Rowntree migrates to Toronto from Jamaica in 2012. Managing a precarious balance of...
Saga boy My life of blackness and becoming
Downing, Antonio Michael.
Audiobook
SHORTLISTED for the 2021 Speaker's Book Award   LONGLISTED for the 2021 Toronto Book Award The triumph of Saga Boy is the triumph of Blackness everywhere--the irrepressible instinct for survival in a world where Blacks are prey." --Ian Williams, Giller...
Black boys like me : confrontations with race, identity, and belonging
Morris, Matthew R.
Paper Book
'This is an examination of the parts that construct my Black character; from how public schooling shapes our ideas about ourselves to how hip-hop and sports are simultaneously the conduit for both Black abundance and Black boundaries. This book is a meditation on the influences that have shaped...
We rip the world apart : a novel
Carr, Charlene.
Paper Book
A sweeping multi-generational story about motherhood, race and secrets in the lives of three women, perfect for readers of Brit Bennett's The Vanishing Half and David Chariandy's Brother When 24-year-old Kareela discovers she's pregnant with a child she isn't sure she wants, it amplifies...
Unlike the rest : a doctor's story
Oriuwa, Chika Stacy.
Paper Book
In this personal story of becoming, belonging and being seen, a psychiatry resident pulls back the curtain on the journey to becoming a doctor. From childhood, Chika Oriuwa dreamed of being a doctor. She knew that she was destined to wear the white coat one day, no matter what it took. The...
My fighting family : borders and bloodlines and the battles that made us
Campbell, Morgan.
Paper Book
Finalist for the 2025 Trillium Book Award, the 2025 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize, and the Balcones Prize * Named a National Association of Black Journalists Outstanding Book of 2025 The debut memoir from award-winning journalist Morgan Campbell: an incredible history of a family's...
Frying plantain : stories
Reid-Benta, Zalika.
Paper Book
Set in the neighbourhood of "Little Jamaica," Frying Plantain follows a girl from elementary school to high school graduation as she navigates the tensions between mothers and daughters, second-generation immigrants experiencing first-generation cultural expectations, and Black identity in...
Such a fun age : a novel
Reid, Kiley.
Paper Book
A Best Book of the Year: The Washington Post * Chicago Tribune * NPR * Vogue * Elle * Real Simple * InStyle * Good Housekeeping * Parade * Slate...
In the Upper Country
Thomas, Kai.
Paper Book
*NATIONAL BESTSELLER* *WINNER OF THE 2023 WRITER'S TRUST ATWOOD GIBSON PRIZE* SHORTLISTED FOR THE GOVERNER GENERAL'S AWARD FOR FICTION SHORTLISTED FOR THE AMAZON CANADA FIRST NOVEL AWARD SHORTLISTED FOR THE RAKUTEN KOBO EMERGING WRITER PRIZE ...
They call me George : the untold story of black train porters and the birth of modern Canada
Foster, Cecil
Paper Book
A CBC BOOKS MUST-READ NONFICTION BOOK FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH Nominated for the Toronto Book Award Smartly dressed and smiling, Canada's black train porters were a familiar sight to the average passenger--yet their minority status rendered them politically invisible, second-class in...
Africaville
Colvin, Jeffrey
Paper Book
For readers of Lawrence Hill and George Elliott Clarke, a ferociously talented writer makes his stunning debut with this richly woven tapestry. Set in the small Nova Scotia town of Africville, settled by former slaves, Jeffrey Colvin depicts several generations of one family bound together and...
The race to be myself : a memoir
Semenya, Caster
Paper Book
Olympian and World Champion Caster Semenya is finally ready to share the vivid and heartbreaking story of how the world came to know her name. Thrust into the spotlight at just eighteen years old after winning the Berlin World Championships in 2009, Semenya's win was quickly overshadowed by...
Fire Sword and Sea : A Novel
Riley, Vanessa.
Paper Book
"In her latest, Riley provides a fresh take on high seas adventure through the eyes of the courageous, swashbuckling, based-on-a-real-life female pirate Jacquotte Delahaye. The research Riley has done on this 1600s saga is truly remarkable, second only to her depictions of the lush Caribbean...

Vanessa Riley will be featured in a Virtual Author Talk on February 5, 2026 and 7pm. Register here.


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