Vegetable kebabs with a crisp exterior and juicy interior

Free Press literary editor picks noteworthy Canadian fiction and non-fiction titles to watch for this fall

For many book lovers, summer means relaxing at the beach, in the backyard or at the cottage with fun, warm-weather page-turners — easy-going romance novels, gripping thrillers or even a dishy biography.

And some may long for the summer months to slow down, fall books season always offers up some of the most compelling reads for bookworms.

Here are 10 works of fiction and 10 non-fiction titles from Canadian authors slated to be published in the coming months — from Olympians to separatists, draft dodgers, plutocrats, prime ministers, bird-men and beyond, the characters in these forthcoming titles run the gamut.

FICTIONEliza Sunshine

Manitoba beginning to produce ‘elite-level golfers’: Kuntz

It may not have ended the way everyone wanted, but make no mistake: this was a banner week for local golfers.

Let’s start with Braxton Kuntz, who managed to qualify his way into the Manitoba Open and then found himself lurking near the top of the leaderboard after an opening round five-under 65. Although he didn’t finish as strong as he started — rounds of 72, 70 and then 76 followed — the 22-year-old proved he can hang with the pros on PGA Tour Americas.

“I think over the last couple of years I’ve been continually getting better and that’s been great to see,” Kuntz told the Free Press.

“I’ve been fortunate to compete against some great players and hold my own. This was another good learning experience for me, and I’m just going to take it and run with it. I’m sure I’m one of the youngest, if not the youngest, in this field, so I’ve got a long road ahead of me.”

Frustration mounts as drug raids sweep problems out of downtown, into West End

West End business owners say their neighbourhood has been under siege for months, and some believe downtown police drug sweeps have made things worse by pushing more street disorder in their direction — and pushing customers away.

The trolls inside the Conservative tent

The Conservative Party of Canada has a troll problem. And it’s coming from inside the tent.

Once, trolls existed only in imagination. They were figures of mythical proportion, big and small. They lived solitary lives under bridges, in caves, or forests. They were considered dim-witted and mean. Best avoided.

Today, they are real, unavoidable, and ubiquitous on social media. They are anything but solitary. There are tribes of them out there and tribal is how they think and post. As for dim-witted and mean, others can opine but they are uniformly mean and dismissive.

Mean to anyone who disagrees with their views. Dismissive of any view but their own. They distribute questionable, at best, facts and opinions grounded in hostility towards anything or anyone deemed disagreeable or heretical to their world view.

Svard wins Manitoba Open in playoff

History will show Daniel Svard won the 2026 Manitoba Open on the 73rd hole of play, sinking a nervy three-foot par putt in a playoff to claim his first professional victory on Sunday afternoon at Elmhurst.

But it was much earlier in his final round — which started with three bogeys in the first five holes — where the tournament really was won. Or, more precisely, not lost.

“Pretty wild, the range of emotions I went through,” said the 23-year-old PGA Tour Americas rookie from Sweden, who began the day with a two-shot lead but suddenly found himself in chase mode.

“I was feeling really good and really confident and then I had kind of a nightmare start. I actually had to make some big putts to not completely play myself out of it. Everything kind of worked out in the end, but it was a roller-coaster to get there. I’m pretty excited and proud of how I got there to fight back.”

Wooed by wood, Cedarella founder takes pride in handcrafted designs

Marina Bulan is the founder of Cedarella, a two-year-old venture that turns out eye-catching wood products such as jewelry, kitchen decor, children’s toys and, most recently, metre-high outdoor planters that double as home street-number indicators.

Ahead of immigrating to Winnipeg a decade ago from their native Russia, Bulan and her partner thought it would be prudent to conduct some research on their soon-to-be new home, a city they knew next to nothing about.

Imagine their surprise as they were viewing the 2007 surrealist film My Winnipeg, which comically blends historical facts about our burg with what Winnipeg-born writer/director Guy Maddin has termed “mystical hypothesizing.”

(For instance, there is no proof that, as reported in the award-winning flick, Winnipeg is the sleepwalking capital of the world, and that residents keep keys to their former abodes on their person in the event they turn up there during a bout of somnambulism.)