The Hamilton Review of Books' Independently Published Bestsellers List: April 2025
Take a look at which independently published books Canadians are purchasing from independent bookstores.
May 26, 2025
Fiction
Dandelion by Jamie Chai Yun Liew, Arsenal Pulp Press
She’s a Lamb! by Meredith Hambrock, ECW Press
Myth by Terese Mason Pierre, House of Anansi
Devouring Tomorrow: Fiction from the Future of Food by Jeff Dupuis (ed), A.G. Pasquella (ed), Dundurn Press
How I Bend Into More by Tea Gerbeza, Anstruther Books
Skin by Catherine Bush, Goose Lane Editions
The World So Wide by Zilla Jones, Cormorant Books
I Cut My Tongue on a Broken Country by Kyo Lee, Arsenal Pulp Press
Zegaajimo: Indigenous Horror Fiction by Nathan Niigan Noodin Adler (ed), Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm (ed), Kegedonce Press
I Used to Live Here by Amy LeBlanc, Porcupine’s Quill
Nonfiction
A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder by Ma-Nee Chacaby (Author), Mary Louisa Plummer, University of Manitoba Press
On Book Banning: Or, How the New Censorship Consensus Trivializes Art and Undermines Democracy by Ira Wells, Biblioasis
Ally is a Verb: A Guide to Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples by Rose LeMay, Page Two
Dangerous Memory: Coming of Age in the Decade of Greed by Charlie Angus, House of Anansi Press
Grandfather of the Treaties: Finding our Future Through the Wampum Covenant by Daniel Coleman, Wolsak and Wynn
Restaurant Kid: A Memoir of Family and Belonging by Rachel Phan, Douglas & McIntyre
Ripper: The Making of Pierre Poilievre by Mark Bourrie, Biblioasis
Corporate Control by Nora Loreto, Dundurn Press
What I Mean to Say: Remaking Conversation in Our Time by Ian Williams, House of Anansi
Tommy Douglas and the Quest for Medicare in Canada by Gregory Marchildon, University of Toronto Press
Kids
Bog Myrtle by Sid Sharp, Annick Press
The Mango Monster by Derek Mascarenhas (author) Meneka Repka (illustrator), Owlkids Books
Maya Plays the Part by Calyssa Erb, Annick Press
SkySisters by Jan Bourdeau Waboose (author), Brian Deines (illustrator), Kids Can Press
What to Bring by Lorna Schultz Nicholson (author), Ellen Rooney (illustrator), Owlkids Books
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, 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 April we’ve seen a strong impact on the fiction list from National Poetry Month, and several new titles from the spring season have debuted.
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