You have to help me out, please. I have an embarrassing admission. I know almost nothing about Canadian literature.
When I say “almost nothing,” I mean that literally. How is that possible? Growing up, in English classes, we were exposed to mountains of English literature, meaning from England. And scores of American writers in American Lit classes. In college, I took many English courses including a Shakespearean class.
But I have never even seen a Canadian Lit class here. And I live in the state of New York. We border Canada, for heaven’s sake.
It’s possible, of course, that in the course of my life I have read novels by Canadian authors and didn’t realize that they were Canadian. Which means there were no embedded clues. I would have picked up on those.
So what do I know? I know and love Louise Penny and her Armand Gamache series. I love crime fiction and her books go way beyond that. They capture your heart, tear at your heart, beg you to solve the crime and empathize with the fallout. I check my Barnes & Noble list frequently, hoping the next novel will be published soon. 
I also have read a bunch of Kathy Reich’s books. I don’t know if those count because while they are set both in the US and in Canada, she is an American author.
My first introduction to Canada and books featuring Canadian life and people, boy do I sound stuffy was in 2nd grade when I read the biography of “Lydia Longley, The First American Nun.” American as in from North America. She was born in the US but eventually went to Canada and became a nun. I immediately wanted to be a nun and spent 2nd grade, which was also the year of my First Holy Communion, trying to act nun-like. Unfortunately, or fortunately (I think my kids would vote for fortunately), it didn’t stick. I still love the book.
On one of my trips to Canada with my husband, we went to a fort and heard about a battle from the Canadian point of view. I looked down to be sure I didn’t have on a shirt with the American flag, and considered slinking away unnoticed or screaming I’M SORRY. I thought this would be a good opportunity to have my high school students read about history from two points of view, so I bought “Laura Secord, The Heroic Adventures of a Candian Legend” by Cheryl MacDonald.
And that, ladies and gentlemen and my LGTB friends, is the extent of my knowledge of Canadian literature and authors. Please give me recommendations of any genre and any author you enjoy. Thank you!
saneteachers 
I’m not much help here, I’m afraid. I’ve enjoyed Louise Penny’s books too and I love Kathy Reichs’s series. I also finally read a Margaret Atwood book. She’s Canadian, isn’t she? Like you, I’ve probably read more Canadian authors, but I just didn’t realize it. 🙂
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Of course I’ve heard of Margaret Atwood, but have not read anything she’s written nor do I know if she’s Canadian. I’ll check her out. Thanks!
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Yeah to be quite honest I don’t think we make a big deal out of Canadian literature here. Or maybe that’s just my perspective. I know we read a book called “Lost in the Barrens” by Farley Mowat in elementary school. That was Canadian. Don’t know what else to mention/suggest.
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Are your fellow citizens cringing at you saying that? You don’t have a year of Canadian Lit like we do for American Lit? I want Chris to weigh in, lol.
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A year?? We have English class every year until the end of high school if that counts.
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Usually 11th grade English is American Literature, at least in NY.
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agreed, but my grade 11 teacher liked Michael Ondaatje and we read one of his novels and it was okay! (can’t remember which one lol) Some of his poetry is not bad either.
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Oh he wrote The English Patient! I didn’t know he’s Canadian.
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yup! I have never read that book but only remember they mentioned the movie in Seinfeld lol
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And I’m the one person on our continent who has never watched Seinfeld.
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nice to meet you! I’m the one person on our continent who has never watched Friends! lol
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Ha! If we were to have a conversation about tv shows we’d be saying ummmm a lot.
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I’ve never watched Friends either! Must be why we’re friends.
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Nice play on words 😃
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Ondaatje, as Christopher mentioned, is one. Also Stephen Leacock wrote many very amusing essays and parody stories, including one one detective fiction that I love.
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Ah, that should be “one ON detective fiction”.
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I’m literally making a list of these authors. Stephen Leacock is new to me. Thank you!
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I’m not Canadian, but here are a few: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/canadian-literature
I hadn’t realised that Margaret Atwood was Canadian. There are more there.
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Thanks…..goodreads is always a good source (no pun intended) but I usually don’t think to look there.
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Alice Munro is world-class: Nobel Prize for Literature, and a Man Booker too … Her short stories have interesting structures, but are often not “easy” reading. Years ago, I left a couple of books of hers half-way through…
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Sounds enticing, and I don’t know her work. But I’m not good at trying to push through something that is difficult (says a lot about my adhd). I’ll give it a shot. Thank you.
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Hi Barb! One of my favourite dad bloggers is Eric aka Stomper Dad. He lives in Canada and he is a teacher. He’s at https://allinadadswork.wordpress.com/. Let me also pop a tweet! 😀
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Thank you! Yes, he visited my blog and gave me some great ideas. I’m following him now. Thanks for your blog-matchmaking!
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Awesome! 😀
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Hi there! Thanks Ann for pointing me here. I know a little bit about Canadian lit. Though I’ve only been living here for 7 years. Probably the most famous that I know (Sorry if these were mentioned already, I didn’t read the comments, just your post) “Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, Sheree Fitch is amazing too (she was at my house one day!) or anything by Margaret Atwood, or Life of Pi by Yann Martel, “No Great Mischief” by Alistair MacLeod is great (highly(!) recommend that one. “The Wars” by Timothy Findley is good, too – about a young Canadian soldier in the trenches of WWI. Hope this helps and good luck.
p.s. If you are looking for children’s literature there is none higher upper than the great Sheree Fitch. While she does write adult novels, she is most famous for her children’s books.
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Welcome! I’m thrilled that you are visiting my blog and hope that you stay a while. 😃 These are all great suggestions. How could I have forgotten about Anne of Green Gables? I have two copies and have read it several times. I will follow this blog up with another when I have read a bunch of these and others suggested. Thank for helping to fill a gap in my literary knowledge. An embarrassing gap. How did you manage a visit from Sheree Fitch?
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There is a fundraiser here every November and at each one 2 authors are invited to speak. My wife works on the fundraiser and she got to escort Sheree around to a couple different schools she was presenting to. At the end of it Sheree she brought Sheree by to meet our two boys 🙂
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Very cool. Where do you live in Canada?
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L. M. Montgomery (Ann of Green Gables) is Canadian and quite apropos for the older young children.
Margaret Atwood was at FanExpo this year, selling/promoting her latest. Unfortunately finances said we couldn’t go :(.
Linda Blum is new on the scene and local to me.
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Thank you. I’ll check out Linda Blum.😃
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Welcome :). Surprising she’s in physical and eprint :).
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Don’t be embarrassed. I’m Canadian and am in the same boat. I even took some Canadian lit classes at McGill University but I don’t remember the names of the authors of the books I read. Should I be ashamed? 🙂
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No you should not! 🙂
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