Dive between the covers Fall book season offers a cornucopia of new titles
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Fall book season has kicked off in earnest, with new titles flooding bookstore shelves and a raft of authors prepping for (or recovering from) book launches.
Local authors working in a range of genres have produced a bumper crop of books that are making their way into the world this autumn. Here is a selection of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and children’s books by Manitoba authors to watch for in the coming weeks and months, many of which will be highlighted at forthcoming events.
Launches for authors noted below will take place at McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park location.
FICTION
Had a Great Fall
By Raye Anderson (Signature Editions, Aug. 28)
After the death of a former Winnipeg detective whose body was found in a sunflower field in the Interlake, RCMP Sgt. Roxanne Calloway returns early from mat leave to help solve the case. The fifth book in Anderson’s Roxanne Calloway series.
Seeing You Home: Stories
By Catherine Hunter (Signature Editions, Tuesday)
Hunter’s collection of linked stories follows a couple from their first meeting to their waning days together, as one battles cancer in St. Boniface Hospital. Launches Thursday, Sept. 18, at 7 p.m.
David Bergen’s latest is a literary thriller.
Days of Feasting and Rejoicing
By David Bergen (Goose Lane, Tuesday)
The Giller-winning Winnipeg novelist tries his hand at a literary thriller, following an expat American in Thailand whose roommate drowns and who then takes on the drowned woman’s identity as local authorities close in. Launches Monday, Sept. 22, at 7 p.m.
The Longest Night
By Lauren Carter (Freehand Books, Sept. 9)
The St. Andrew’s author’s new novel sees an 18-year-old rural Minnesota woman, locked out of her family home, spend the night at the house of neighbours she hasn’t yet met — and wake up to find herself in a world she doesn’t recognize. Launches Wednesday, Sept. 17, at 7 p.m.
NON-FICTION
Brittany Penner’s launching Children Like Us.
Children Like Us: A Métis Woman’s Memoir of Family, Identity and Walking Herself Home
By Brittany Penner (Doubleday Canada, July 29)
The Blumenort author ponders questions about identity, family and belonging in her story of growing up as a Métis adoptee in a Manitoba Mennonite household. Launches: Friday at 7 p.m.
Rock Star: My Life On and Off the Ice
By Jennifer Jones (HarperCollins, Aug. 25)
The St. Vital-raised two-time women’s curling world champion describes balancing life as a professional curler, lawyer, mother and wife while battling her introvert nature in the public eye.
Roger Turenne’s book about his life is titled Bit Player on Big Stages.
Bit Player on Big Stages: A Journey Through Diplomacy, Advocacy, and Cultural Survival
By Roger Turenne (Sutherland House, Tuesday)
The Winnipeg-based francophone public servant recalls navigating politics, diplomacy and language debates in his memoir, which he penned in both English and French (the latter published by Les Éditions du Blé). Launches Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Portage & Main: How an Iconic Intersection Shaped Winnipeg’s History, Politics, and Urban Life
By Sabrina Janke and Alex Judge (Great Plains, Nov. 18)
From the Winnipeg intersection’s closing to pedestrians 50 years ago to its reopening earlier this year, the One Great History podcast hosts explore the evolution of Portage and Main and the city itself. Launches Friday, Nov. 28, at 7 p.m.
POETRY
Only the Scent of You Remained
By Duncan Mercredi (At Bay Press, Sept. 25)
The former poet laureate of Winnipeg reflects on his life: the events that led him to the city, the people who have come and gone, what he has learned and who he has become. Launches Tuesday, Sept. 23, at 7 p.m.
Procession
By katherena vermette (House of Anansi, Sept. 30)
The Governor General’s Literary Award-winning poet and novelist offers a series of poems on ancestry, connections to those who have come before us and the notion of living life as a future ancestor. Launches Thursday, Oct. 2, at 7 p.m.
Seeing Things
By George Amabile (Signature Editions, Sept. 30
Amabile’s 13th collection, set in three movements, explores the ways everyday objects, the political climate and past experiences mysteriously shape the lives of both readers and the poet. Launches Wednesday, Oct. 1, at 7 p.m.
Goose
By Melanie Dennis Unrau (Assembly Press, Oct. 7)
Using details from S.C. Ells’ Northland Trails, Unrau connects the dots among humans, animals and the land, and the relation of the three to oil sands and extraction. Launches Saturday, Oct. 11, at 7 p.m.
YOUNG READERS
David A. Robertson is releasing the sixth and final book of his popular Misewa Saga.
The Misewa Saga: The World’s End
By David A. Robertson (Tundra, Aug. 12)
The sixth and final book of Robertson’s popular Misewa Saga for middle-grade readers sees Eli, Morgan and Emily, freed from captivity, needing to protect Misewa from the dangers of colonization. Launches Thursday, Sept. 11, at 7 p.m.
Blood Letters
By Ariel Gordon and GMB Chomichuk (Yellow Dog/Great Plains, Oct. 1)
Using letters, poems, drawings and computer reports, this graphic novel chronicles a family of siblings involved in a world war with robots who turn people into zombie-like creatures. Launches Friday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m.
Wavelength
By Cale Plett (Groundwood, Oct. 7)
The singer of an up-and-coming alt-rock band befriends and becomes infatuated with a nonbinary fellow teen who, unbeknownst to the singer and group, is a pop sensation operating under a cloak of anonymity. Launches Thursday, Oct. 9, at 7 p.m.
What Friends Are For
By Harriet Zaidman (Heritage House, Oct. 14)
A 15-year-old contends with an unplanned pregnancy and must decide what to do, while weighing whether to open up to friends and family and risk losing them all. Launches Thursday, Nov. 20, at 7 p.m.
books@freepress.mb.ca
Ben Sigurdson
Literary editor, drinks writer
Ben Sigurdson is the Free Press‘s literary editor and drinks writer. He graduated with a master of arts degree in English from the University of Manitoba in 2005, the same year he began writing Uncorked, the weekly Free Press drinks column. He joined the Free Press full time in 2013 as a copy editor before being appointed literary editor in 2014. Read more about Ben.
In addition to providing opinions and analysis on wine and drinks, Ben oversees a team of freelance book reviewers and produces content for the arts and life section, all of which is reviewed by the Free Press’s editing team before being posted online or published in print. It’s part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
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History
Updated on Tuesday, September 9, 2025 3:32 PM CDT: Updates date Catherine Hunter's book launch date to Sept. 18, 7 p.m. due to unforeseen circumstances.