1983. Vancouver is on the precipice of transforming itself from a dirty little town to a blandly sophisticated big city. Convertibles cruise beneath runty palm trees, and the air is filled with the delicious tang of ocean breezes, cheeseburgers, and pot smoke.

In this fast and furious crime novel set in the midst of a long west coast summer, an East …

Publishing Triangle Award for Trans and Gender-Variant Literature winner

Lambda Literary Award finalist

Longlisted for Canada Reads

As a writer, musician, performance artist, and filmmaker, Vivek Shraya has, over the course of the last few years, established herself as a tour de force artist of the highest order. Vivek's body of work includes ten albu …

Winner, Philip K. Dick Award for Distinguished Science Fiction

This unsettling novel is set thirty years in the future, in the wake of a third world war. Runaway effects of climate change have triggered the collapse of nation/states and wiped out over a third of the global population. One of the survivors, a former soldier nicknamed Mercy, suffers f …

QUEER FILM CLASSICS is a critically acclaimed series that launched in 2009, edited by Thomas Waugh and Matthew Hays, covering some of the most important and influential films about and/or by LGBT people made between 1950 and 2005, and written by leading LGBT film scholars and critics.

A Queer Film Classic on the 2005 film by French-Canadian director …

QUEER FILM CLASSICS is a critically acclaimed series that launched in 2009, edited by Thomas Waugh and Matthew Hays, covering some of the most important and influential films about and/or by LGBT people made between 1950 and 2005, and written by leading LGBT film scholars and critics.

A Queer Film Classic on the 1992 Canadian feature documentary sub …

A bold YA novel about a South Asian teenager struggling with anorexia.

Just days before her eighteenth birthday, Lila has resolved to end her life. The horror of becoming an adult, and leaving her childhood behind, has broken her heart.

Faerie, a novel for young people, is the fierce yet gently unfolding story of a hyper- imaginative girl who is on a …

New edition of Michael Turner's seminal 1995 poetry collection, including a new essay by the author.

When Michael Turner's Kingsway was published in 1995, critics and readers were either effusive in their praise or confounded by the book's unwillingness to adhere to traditional poetry structures. In this collection of linked poems that evolve around …

A wide-ranging anthology of Asian Canadian literature to celebrate 20 years of Ricepaper.

2015 marks the 20th anniversary of Ricepaper magazine, a pioneering periodical devoted to Asian-Canadian writing. Over the years, Ricepaper's focus has shifted from predominantly arts and culture reporting to the publication of original literature; as such, it …

A Globe 100 Best Book of the Year

Lambda Literary Award winner

The debut book by Hasan Namir is a revelatory novel about being queer and Muslim, set in war-torn Iraq in 2003. Ramy is a closeted university student whose parents have died, and who lives under the close scrutiny of his strict brother and sister-in-law. They exert pressure on him to fin …

The untold story behind some of Vancouver's notorious unsolved murder cases.

Finalist, Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award (BC Book Prizes)

While Vancouver is much loved by tourists and locals alike for its spectacular natural scenery and diverse culture, behind that facade lurks a violent past. Cold Case Vancouver takes a look at the city's disre …

A return to indigenous Mexican-American cooking: delicious recipes for physical and spiritual healing.

More than just a cookbook, Decolonize Your Diet redefines what is meant by "traditional" Mexican food by reaching back through centuries of history to reclaim heritage crops as a source of protection from modern diseases. Authors Luz Calvo and Catr …

A funny, poignant graphic novel about a young woman's coming out amidst both Islamic and western cultures.

In this fresh, often funny autobiographical graphic novel, Beldan Sezen depicts her coming of age, and her coming out as lesbian, in both western and Islamic cultures (as the daughter of Turkish immigrants in western Europe)?to friends, family, …

Darkly off-kilter stories about the moving parts to being human.

A blind date blooms in a grocery store parking lot. Lake Erie forms the backdrop to a botched assisted suicide. A neurotic, dog-loving caretaker writes a complaint letter after an unfortunate leg-waxing incident. While his uncle lies in a coma, a young man befriends a dead homeless guy …

A thought-provoking collection of essays on Michel Foucault that reframes his legacy.

In his private life, as well as in his work and political attitudes, Michel Foucault often stood in contradiction to himself, especially when his expansive ideas collided with the institutions in which he worked. In Francois Caillat's provocative collection of essa …

A stirring graphic novel based on the extraordinary book by Irene Nemirovsky.

Suite Francaise, an extraordinary novel about village life in France just as it was plunged into chaos with the German invasion of 1940, was a publishing sensation ten years ago; Irene Nemirovsky completed the two-volume book, part of a planned larger series, in the early …

A transformative memoir by a queer disabled person of colour and abuse survivor.

Lambda Literary Award and Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction finalist

In 1996, poet Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, carrying only two backpacks, caught a Greyhound bus in America and ran away to Canada. They ended up in Toronto, where they were welcomed by a comm …

On the heels of America's renewed relations with Cuba: a vivid graphic novel on the life of Fidel Castro.

As America moves toward normalizing relations with Cuba, this gripping, vivid graphic novel reveals the life and times of Fidel Castro, one of the 20th century's most intriguing, charismatic, and divisive figures. The book is narrated by a Germa …

A novel about a boy with a stutter, and the tangled barbs of repressed memory.

Montreal, 1979. A boy's speech starts to fracture along with the cement of le Stade olympique. Do they share a fault line? Daniel Allen Cox's unconventional fourth novel tells the story of a boy with a stutter who grows up and uses sound to remember the past. A coming-of- …

Delicious meat-free recipes in which root vegetables take centre stage.

Once the lonely, unattractive kin of sexier, more popular produce, root vegetables finally get the love and attention they deserve in this inventive and far-reaching vegan cookbook. Author Carla Kelly puts roots, tubers, and rhizomes front and centre in recipes that include ligh …

Paul Yee's first novel for adults: an historical account of a Chinese man on a journey to find the mother of his son.

For more than thirty years, Paul Yee has written about his Chinese-Canadian heritage in award-winning books for young readers as well as adult non-fiction. Here, in his first work of fiction for adults, he takes us on a harrowing jou …

New edition of this important YA novel coinciding with the new film starring Mo'Nique.

First published in 1986, Blackbird is a funny, moving, coming-of-age novel about growing up black and gay. Johnnie Ray Rousseau is a high school student upset over losing the lead role in the school staging of Romeo and Juliet. As if that weren't enough, his best …

A memoir about fathers and sons, breaking out of gender norms, and reconciling with a dangerous childhood.

Lambda Literary Award finalist

Michael V. Smith is a multihyphenate force of nature: a novelist, poet, improv comic, filmmaker, drag queen, performance artist, and occasional clown. In this, his first work of nonfiction, Michael traces his ear …

A bold and beautiful retelling of the Peter Pan story.

Sassafras Lowrey's gorgeously subversive queer punk novel reimagines the classic Peter Pan story. Prepare to be swept overboard into a world of orphaned, abandoned, and runaway bois who have sworn allegiance and service to Pan, the fearless leader of Neverland, and to the newly corrupted Mommy …

The first full-length poetry book by the Lambda Literary and Vancouver Book Award Winner.

Finalist, Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize

Award-winning writer Amber Dawn reveals a gutsy lyrical sensibility in her debut poetry collection: a suite of glosa poems written as an homage to and an interaction with queer poets, such as the legendary Gertrude Stein, C …

A down-to-earth cookbook that proves you don't need a lot of money to create nutritious, beautiful meals at home.

In this winsome cookbook, blogger Emily Wight offers fantastic recipes, ideas, and advice on how to prepare imaginative, nutritious, and delectable meals without breaking the bank. Perfect for students, families, and anyone on a budget, …

A Queer Film Classic on Canadian director Patricia Rozema's I've Heard the Mermaids Singing, her quirky and hopeful first feature film which made its premiere at Cannes and won its Prix de la jeunesse. Presented as a "videotaped confession," it tells the story of Polly Vandersma, an unpretentious and introverted young woman who takes photographs as …

A Queer Film Classic on two groundbreaking gay films from the early 1970s, both of which exemplify the growing liberalization of social attitudes toward sex and homosexuality in post-Stonewall America. L.A. Plays Itself and Boys in the Sand were both gay art house porn films released within months of each other at a theatre in New York in 1972. L …

A bittersweet graphic novel about a nerdy teenaged boy who falls in love with the cool kid at school.

Adrian isn't very happy these days. He lives in a small town and goes to a Catholic high school. He wears glasses, secretly reads philosophy books, and wishes he had more muscles. He's dogged by a strict mother, bullied by fellow players on the socc …

By the author of Blue Is the Warmest Color: a stunning graphic novel on the downfall of a rock legend.

Jul Maroh burst onto the scene in 2013 with Blue Is the Warmest Color, a tender, bittersweet graphic novel about lesbian love, in which a young woman named Clementine becomes infatuated with Emma, a girl with blue hair. The book spawned a controver …

The art of storytelling through textiles, exploring the many ways in which narrative can be expressed through cloth and needle.

Strange Material explores the relationship between handmade textiles and storytelling. Through text, the act of weaving a tale or dropping a thread takes on new meaning for those who previously have seen textiles--quilts, b …

A book of recipes and gardening tips for living and eating sustainably and responsibly all year round.

Randy Shore's father and grandfather grew up on farms, yet he didn't even know how to grow a radish. Author of "The Green Man" column in the Vancouver Sun, he spent five years teaching himself how to grow food for his family, and then how to use th …

Quick, inventive, stylish recipes featuring all manners of canned seafood.

As an ingredient, canned seafood often gets short shrift; it's often considered a mundane filler for salads, casseroles, and sandwiches by those in a hurry or on a budget. But while fresh is always best, there's no reason why canned seafood has to be boring.

Discover how to tr …

City of Vancouver Book Award Winner

In his debut story collection, poet Wayde Compton explores the concept of place and identity in which characters and space merge to make narrative. These interconnected stories, imbued with the colour of speculative fiction, are towering in their conceits. As much as characters are revealed by what they do and say …

Sharp-eyed tales about outsiders, non-conformists, and iconoclasts.

In Nothing Looks Familiar, Shawn Syms' debut story collection, characters from a wide swath of society chart paths from places of danger or unhappiness into the great unknown, each grappling with a central and sometimes unanswerable question: if you fight to change your circumstance …

Angie Abdou's latest: a novel on the complexities of class, gender, parenthood, and desire.

Vero and her husband Shane have moved out of the sweet suite above his parents' garage and found themselves smack in the middle of adulthood--two kids, two cars, two jobs. They are not coping well. In response to their looming domestic breakdown, Vero and Sha …

A "Globe 100" Best Book of the Year (The Globe and Mail)

Lambda Literary Award finalist

In the beginning, there is no he. There is no she.

Two cells make up one cell. This is the mathematics behind creation. One plus one makes one. Life begets life. We are the period to a sentence, the effect to a cause, always belonging to someone. We are never our o …

In spring and summer, there's nothing better than enjoying a meal outdoors with friends and family; today, al fresco dining has never been more popular, given the rise in popularity of gourmet takeout and prepared picnic baskets. For those who eschew all animal products, though, outdoor vegan meals usually consist of mundane veggie sandwiches and a …

Craftivism is a worldwide movement that operates at the intersection of craft and activism; Craftivism the book is full of inspiration for crafters who want to create works that add to the greater good. In these essays, interviews, and images, craftivists from four continents reveal how they are changing the world with their art. Through examples t …

First published to acclaim in Australia, Look Who's Morphing by Asian-Australian writer Tom Cho is a funny, fantastical, often outlandish collection of stories firmly grounded in pop culture. The book's central character undergoes a series of startling transformations, shape-shifting through figures drawn from film, television, music, books, porn f …

Finalist, Vancouver Book Award

Billeh Nickerson is one of Canada's showiest poets; colourful, witty, and wise, with undertones of sexy. By turns outlandish and poignant, Artificial Cherry heralds the return of Billeh's cheeky/sweet sensibilities. From Elvis Presley and glass eyes to phantom lovers and hockey haiku, you're never quite sure where Bil …

Being a girl was something that never really happened for me. -Rae Spoon

Ivan E. Coyote and Rae Spoon are accomplished, award-winning writers, musicians, and performers; they are also both admitted "gender failures." In their first collaborative book, Ivan and Rae explore and expose their failed attempts at fitting into the gender binary, and how u …

A Queer Film Classic on the stunning 1991 documentary about the drag subculture in 1980s New York.

This latest addition to the Queer Film Classics series is an homage to Paris Is Burning, Jennie Livingston's brilliant and award-winning 1991 documentary that captures the energy, ambition, wit, and struggle of African-American and Latino participants …

A startling and unexpectedly rich collection of images from Vancouver's pre-gentrification past.

Vancouver may be a youngster among major cities, but it has a rich and beguiling history. Past Tense Vancouver blogger Lani Russwurm is a regular contributor to the popular website Vancouver Is Awesome; in this fascinating book, produced in conjunction w …

Contemporary, imaginative interpretations of First Nations cuisine, including lighter, healthier, and more nutritious versions of traditional recipes.

Native American cuisine comes of age in this elegant, contemporary collection that reinterprets and updates traditional Native recipes with modern, healthy twists. Andrew George Jr. was head chef for …

A lively, wide-ranging visual history of muscular men from around the world.

Over the last 100 years, the image of the muscular man has known no boundaries; it has been the object of envy, admiration, and desire, and used to convey optimal health and fitness, product appeal, political power, and military might. Universal Hunks, David L. Chapman's fo …

Sarah Schulman's surprising novel about a brokenhearted waitress looking for love in New York's Lower East Side.

In this new edition of Sarah Schulman's acclaimed 1988 novel, the unnamed narrator is a no-nonsense coffee-shop waitress in New York's bohemian Lower East Side who is nursing a broken heart after her girlfriend Dolores leaves her for anot …

A New York Times bestseller

The live-action French film version of Blue is the Warmest Color won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013.

Originally published in French as Le bleu est une couleur chaude, Blue is the Warmest Color is a graphic novel about growing up, falling in love, and coming out. Clementine is a junior in high school who …

Lambda Literary Award finalist

The celebrated essayist sheds necessary (and humorous) light on gender, sexuality, and family.

S. Bear Bergman is an acclaimed writer and lecturer who travels regularly across North America to speak on trans issues. Bear's first two books, Butch Is a Noun and The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You, are considered essential …

A beautiful suite of stories set in Spain, Africa, and North America: an elegy to love, longing, and the eternal outsider.

The truth I seek lies beneath the skin, under flesh, below bone, beyond scalpel's reach.
In the 1990s, Patrick Roscoe was known as the great iconoclast of Canadian fiction. As author of such acclaimed short-story collections as …

Kelli Deeth's first book since her acclaimed 2001 debut The Girl without Anyone (a Globe and Mail Best Book of the Year) is a collection of stories about missed connections and unrequited desire. Deeth's female protagonists confront the emotional complexities of marriage, childlessness, adoption, adolescent longing, friendship, and death; they mour …