Free Press
Book Club
Welcome to the Free Press Book Club!
This monthly book club runs completely online and is open to everyone.
Each month, we choose a novel and share it on this page, as well as in an email to those who have registered to participate. We send a couple of follow-up notes to check in on your progress and suggest a few discussion topics and questions to think about as you go.
At the end of the month, we gather to participate in a livestream book club meeting, hosted by our books editor, Ben Sigurdson, or one of our pals from McNally Robinson Booksellers, as well as the author of the book.
You can submit questions ahead of time, or drop them into one of the live chat boxes during the meeting. (And don’t worry, we provide an easy-to-access link to the stream, so all you have to do is click.)
Our focus is on local authors of varying genres and backgrounds, and we hope you’re excited to dive in.
The Book
52 Ways to Reconcile
By: David A. Robertson
Buy Now
From bestselling author of the Misewa Saga series David A. Robertson, this is the essential guide for all Canadians to understand how small and attainable acts towards reconciliation can make an enormous difference in our collective efforts to build a reconciled country.
52 Ways to Reconcile is an accessible, friendly guide for non-Indigenous people eager to learn, or Indigenous people eager to do more in our collective effort towards reconciliation, as people, and as a country. As much as non-Indigenous people want to walk the path of reconciliation, they often aren’t quite sure what to do, and they’re afraid of making mistakes. This book is the answer and the long overdue guide.
The idea of this book is simple: 52 small acts of reconciliation to consider, one per week, for an entire year. They’re all doable, and they’re all meaningful. All 52 steps take readers in the right direction, towards a healthier relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and a time when we are past trauma. By following these steps, we can live in stronger and healthier communities equally, and respectfully, together.
Schedule
Wed
Aug 27
May book club pick reminder
52 Ways to Reconcile, by David A. Robertson
Mon
Sept 15
Check-in
Expect an email from us to check in on your progress. We offer up some discussion questions and other things to think about as you continue reading.
Mon
Sept 22
Livestream information email
This email provides all the information you need for our livestream book club event, including the access link, some information about your viewing options and how you can submit your questions for the author ahead of time.
Tue
Sept 30
Free Press Book Club meeting
Join our live chat starting at 7 p.m. CT with special guest, author David A. Robertson.
If you have any questions, please email us at bookclub@winnipegfreepress.com
Upcoming Picks
A Great Country
By: Shilpi Gowda
October 2025
Heaven and Hell
By: Jón Kalman Stefánsson
November 2025
Past Picks
2020
The Break
By: Katherena Vermette
May 2020
Don’t Try This at Home
By: Rob Krause and Daria Salamon
June 2020
Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related.: a memoir
By: Jenny Heijun Wills
July 2020
Here the Dark
By: David Bergen
August 2020
All Our Relations
By: Tanya Talaga
September 2020
This Has Nothing to Do With You
By: Lauren Carter
October 2020
Black Water: Family, Legacy and Blood Memory
By: David A. Robertson
November 2020
Five Wives
By: Joan Thomas
December 2020/January 2021
2021
Five Wives
By: Joan Thomas
December 2020/January 2021
Songs for the End of the World
By: Saleema Nawaz
February 2021
We Are All Perfectly Fine
By: Dr. Jillian Horton
March 2021
Treed
By: Ariel Gordon
April 2021
Once Removed
By: Andrew Unger
May 2021
Paul is Dead
By: C.C. Benison
June 2021
The Paris Apartment
By: Kelly Bowen
July/August 2021
Fight Night
By: Miriam Toews
September 2021
Hour of the Crab
By: Patricia Robertson
October 2021
Status Update
By: George Toles, Cliff Eyland
November 2021
Moon of the Crusted Snow
By: Waubgeshig Rice
December 2021/January 2022
2022
Moon of the Crusted Snow
By: Waubgeshig Rice
December 2021/January 2022
The Strangers
By: Katherena Vermette
February 2022
Persephone’s Children
By: Rowan McCandless
March 2022
You Don’t Have to Die in the End
By: Anita Daher
April 2022
The Accidental Veterinarian
By: Dr. Philipp Schott
May 2022
Life in the City of Dirty Water
By: Clayton Thomas-Muller
June 2022
And Then Is Heard No More
By: Raye Anderson
July/August 2022
The Gunsmith’s Daughter
By: Margaret Sweatman
September 2022
The Full Catastrophe
By: Meira Cook
October 2022
Hey, Good Luck Out There
By: Georgia Toews
November 2022
The Theory of Crows
By: David A. Robertson
December 2022/January 2023
2023
The Theory of Crows
By: David A. Robertson
December 2022/January 2023
Wonder World
By: K.R. Byggdin
February 2023
Even That Wildest Hope
By: Seyward Goodhand
March 2023
Permanent Astonishment
By: Tomson Highway
April 2023
Out Of Mind
By: David Bergen
May 2023
Fishing with Tardelli
By: Neil Besner
June 2023
The Woo-Woo
By: Lindsay Wong
July/August 2023
A Safe Girl to Love
By: Casey Plett
September 2023
Shelterbelts
By: Jonathan Dyck
October 2023
Russian Daughter
By: Sarah Klassen
November 2023
Wild Hope
By: Joan Thomas
December 2023/January 2024
2024
Wild Hope
By: Joan Thomas
December 2023/January 2024
Hold Your Tongue
By: Matthew Tétreault
February 2024
Valley of the Birdtail
By: Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Douglas Sanderson
March 2024
Moon of the Turning Leaves
By: Waubgeshig Rice
April 2024
An Ordinary Violence
By: Adriana Chartrand
May 2024
The Twistical Nature of Spoons
By: Patti Grayson
June 2024
mmm… Manitoba
By: Kimberley Moore and Janis Thiessen
July/August 2024
An Evening with Birdy O’Day
By: Greg Kearney
September 2024
What’s Not Mine
By: Nora Decter
October 2024
Pinching Zwieback
By: Mitch Toews
November 2024
The Last Secret
By: Maia Caron
December 2024/January 2025
2025
The Last Secret
By: Maia Caron
December 2024/January 2025
The Lightning Bottles
By: Marissa Stapley
February 2025
Prairie Edge
By: Conor Kerr
March 2025
Death by a Thousand Cuts
By: Shashi Bhat
April 2025
Fungal
By: Ariel Gordon
May 2025
Wînipêk: Visions of Canada from an Indigenous Centre
By: Niigaan Sinclair
June 2025
The Riveter
By: Jack Wang
July/August 2025