The Hamilton Review of Books' Independently Published Bestsellers List: February 2024
Take a look at which independently published books Canadians are purchasing from independent bookstores.
March 18, 2024
Fiction
The Future by Catherine Leroux (Author), Susan Ouriou (Translator), Biblioasis
Denison Avenue by Christina Wong (Author), Daniel Innes (Illustrator), ECW Press
Shut Up You’re Pretty by Téa Mutonji, Arsenal Pulp Press
Chrysalis: Stories by Anuja Varghese, House of Anansi Press
Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice, ECW Press
Secret Sex: An Anthology by Russell Smith (editor), Rare Machines (Dundurn Press)
The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt, House of Anansi Press
Love Novel by Ivana Sajko (Author), Mima Simić (Translator), Biblioasis
The Signs of No by Judith Pond, University of Calgary Press
Hold Your Tongue by Matthew Tétreault, NeWest Press
Nonfiction
On Community by Casey Plett, Biblioasis
The Tennant Class by Ricardo Tranjan, Between the Lines
Imagining Imagining: Essays on Language, Identity and Infinity by Gary Barwin, Wolsak & Wynn
Garden Inventories: Reflections on Land, Place and Belonging by Mariam Pirbhai, Wolsak & Wynn
Challenge to Civilization: Indigenous Wisdom and the Future by Blair A. Stonechild, University of Regina Press
Winnipeg 150: Stories Our Buildings Tell by Robert J Sweeney (Illustrator), Heritage Winnipeg
Sex in Canada: The Who, Why, When, and How of Getting Down Up North by Tina Fetner, UBC Press
An Autobiography of the Autobiography of Reading by Dionne Brand, University of Alberta Press
Pourin’ Down Rain: A Black Woman Claims Her Place in the Canadian West by Cheryl Foggo, Brush Education
Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy by Yves Engler (Author), Owen Schalk (Author), Baraka Books
Kids
We Need Everyone by Michael Redhead Champagne (Author), Tiff Bartel (Illustrator), Highwater Press
Be a Good Ancestor by Leona Prince (Author), Gabrielle Prince (Author), Carla Joseph (Illustrator), Orca Book Publishers
Maya Plays the Part by Calyssa Erb, Annick Press
Salma Makes a Home by Danny Ramadan (Author), Anna Bron (Illustrator), Annick Press
Waci! Dance! by Sage Speidel (Author), Leah Dorion (Illustrator), Red Deer Press
How I Built This List:
I am very grateful for all the bookstores who generously shared their sales data with me. The information used to create this list was drawn from the sales of Another Story Bookshop in Toronto, Biblioasis Bookshop in Windsor, The City and the City Books in Hamilton, Epic Books in Hamilton, McNally Robinson Booksellers (both the Grant Park and the Forks Locations in Winnipeg), McNally Robinson Saskatoon, Shelf Life Books in Calgary and Wordsworth Books in Waterloo. We’re covering a fair amount of Canada, but I hope to add more stores over time and create a more wide-ranging list. If you are a bookstore who would like to contribute to the list please get in touch with us, we’d love to have more information.
Many of the authors on this list will be new to readers, but what I’ve done here is create a bestseller list drawn only from those books published by Canadian-owned independent presses. Most of the books in the top half of both the fiction and the nonfiction bestseller lists sold well in several of the stores on the list and many of the other titles are books that sold well in only one or two stores who shared information. Sometimes these were strongly regional titles. This month we’re seeing the impact of the of Canada Reads, and the slower sales of February, which pushes very regional titles higher up the list.
I acknowledge that this list is not at all perfect. It is only a small sampling of the data out there, but it is a fascinating look at what independently published books Canadians are purchasing from independent bookstores across a reasonable amount of Canada.
My deep thanks to the Hamilton Review of Books for publishing this Independent Bestseller List. Please, if you’re looking for something wonderful to read, visit your nearest independent bookstore and ask them what they suggest. The people who work in these stores know an amazing amount about books and will find you your next best possible read.
Noelle Allen