The Book*hug Press office will be closed for the holidays from Monday, December 22, 2025, until Monday, January 5, 2026. During this time, our team will take some needed downtime, but we’ll be back in the new year with an announcement about our forthcoming spring 2026 releases. See you then.

It is time for part two of the 2025 edition of our annual Book*hug Wrapped series, where we ask our staff what their favourite books of the year have been (which luckily coincides with gift giving season). bookhugpress.ca/bookhug-wrap...

The Seaboard Review of Books reviewer Lisa Timpf selects The Last of Its Kind by Sibylle Grimbert, tr. by Aleshia Jensen, as a Best of 2025 pick, saying it "offers a timely and poignant reminder that what seems to be unthinkable may in fact be all too real." www.theseaboardreview.ca/p/the-seaboa...

Starry Starry Night by Shani Mootoo and I Remember Lights by @helloiamben.bsky.social are selected as top fiction books of 2025 by @49thshelf.bsky.social! ✨ 49thshelf.com/Blog/2025/12...

Kerry Clare names Starry Starry Night by Shani Mootoo as one of her three top books of 2025 on the latest episode of CBC Radio's The Next Chapter with Antonio Michael Downing. www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

Thank you to The Seaboard Review of Books reviewer Pamela Sinclair for selecting Fun Times Brigade by Lindsay Zier-Vogel as a top book pick for 2025, calling it an "enjoyable read... fresh and different." Read Sinclair's full review here: www.theseaboardreview.ca/p/the-fun-ti...

CBC Books selects Starry Starry Night by Shani Mootoo as a best Canadian fiction book of 2025. 🎊 www.cbc.ca/books/the-be...

No One Knows Us There by Jessica Bebenek is selected by CBC Books as a best Canadian poetry book of 2025. 🎉 www.cbc.ca/books/thge-b...

Brett Josef Grubisic selects I Remember Lights by @helloiamben.bsky.social for inclusion in Quill and Quire's Notable Books 2025 round-up.

The Miramichi Reader selects I Remember Lights by @helloiamben.bsky.social as a Best Fiction Book of 2025! miramichireader.ca/.../the-mira...

In this NBN episode, I speak with Tamara Jong about her breathtaking memoir, Worldly Girls ( @bookhugpress.bsky.social, 2025). Tamara memoir documents the slow unravelling of her connection to her faith and the tragic history of her fractured family. podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/t...

Cary Fagan joins #ALUCozyFest beside his wood-burning fireplace to read a passage from a story about a family trip and a defining moment in a young boy’s life, from his new collection A FAST HORSE NEVER BRINGS GOOD NEWS (@bookhugpress.bsky.social) alllitup.ca/cozy-fest-ca...

It is time for the 2025 edition of our annual Book*hug Wrapped series, where we ask our authors what their favourite books of the year have been. We hope you enjoy this year's selections, and that some of these titles will end up in your to be read pile! bookhugpress.ca/bookhug-wrap...

"In Starry Starry Night, one major challenge was staying away from the usual story-telling ideas of the need for arc and denouement. This is tied to the reason for me calling this work autofiction." Check out Shani Mootoo in conversation with rob mclennan. robmclennan.blogspot.com/2025/11/12-o...

“At times, the prose is subtle, quiet, beautifully straightforward; other times, propulsive, almost breathlessly so, rushing.” @robmclennan.bsky.social reviews Fenn Stewart's new collection women & roosters. robmclennan.blogspot.com/2025/11/fenn...

If you missed the reading and conversation with Shani Mootoo on Sunday, you can catch it here. @bookhugpress.bsky.social Please like and subscribe while you're there. youtu.be/J4D9XngezWI?...

Reading You Crushed It is "kind of like being an audience member at a comedy gig gone awry, watching someone self-deprecate and degenerate for laughs on-stage.” Thalia Stopa on Jean-Philippe Baril Guérard's book, tr. by Neil Smith for Scout Magazine. scoutmagazine.ca/scout-book-c...

"A novel of remembering, of the times in our lives we carry around like a precious and hefty rock in our back pocket. A novel about learning to be—for ourselves—who we want to be." @junctionreads.bsky.social reviews celebrated writer Shani Mootoo's Starry Starry Night. tinyurl.com/mru8vept

“Women and roosters..are the only kinds of creatures who don’t feel sad after sex. Well, maybe not right after. But until we can swap places...there’s no way of knowing all that’s in the lover’s heart.” Dawn MacDonald on Fenn Stewart's new work for The Seaboard Review of Books. tinyurl.com/5ej2u9ey

Review of Shani Mootoo’s epic and glorious, STARRY STARRY NIGHT from @bookhugpress.bsky.social Yes, you should read it! And join us on Sunday November 23 for a reading and conversation. Find the link to the event on our website. junctionreads.ca/junction-wri...

Finished reading Shani Mootoo’s beautiful new novel, Starry Starry Night, this evening. If you haven’t read it yet—why not? Borrow or buy it! ❤️📚 (You’ll fall in love with the character of Anju…and wonder where she’ll go after the very last line on the very last page.) @bookhugpress.bsky.social

Fenn Stewart, women & roosters / @bookhugpress.bsky.social ; robmclennan.blogspot.com/2025/11/fenn...

Reckless: The Playlist is here! Andrea MacPherson has curated a playlist of songs that inspired the writing of her brand new poetry collection Reckless. 🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵 Find the full playlist on the Book*hug blog here: bookhugpress.ca/reckless-the...

12 or 20 (second series) questions with Shani Mootoo / @bookhugpress.bsky.social ; robmclennan.blogspot.com/2025/11/12-o...

“Reading Worldly Girls was something I really needed right now, and I’m grateful.” @junctionreads.bsky.social reviews @bokchoygurltjong.bsky.social 's debut memoir: junctionreads.ca/junction-wri...

Chapbook reviews. Three fantastic poetry books from ANSTRUTHER BOOKS @palimpsestpress.bsky.social @bookhugpress.bsky.social (Jay MillAr) @hollay.bsky.social @inkstainedwreck.ca junctionreads.ca/junction-wri...

i love books so much. grateful to @bookhugpress.bsky.social who is sending me copies of Olga Ravn,.the Wax Child & the Employees. i can't wait to dive in. thanks to @davidnaimon.bsky.social for another intro to a fascinating writer.

Sunday November 23 6:00pm ET A virtual reading and conversation with Shani Mootoo, author of STARRY STARRY NIGHT from @bookhugpress.bsky.social @riverstreetwriting.bsky.social www.eventbrite.ca/e/1592394718...

@bokchoygurltjong.bsky.social’s memoir WORLDLY GIRLS offers readers a tender journey through intergenerational trauma, female relationships, and the narrative unmooring that comes after leaving high-control religion. Read my review here! @bookhugpress.bsky.social www.full-stop.net/2025/11/12/r...

Starry Starry Night by Shani Mootoo "is a masterpiece and one that will stay with me for a long, long time. Exquisite. Unforgettable,” writes Justine Abigail Yu of @49thshelf.bsky.social in What We Carry, a list tracing stories of migration, movement & ancestral memory. 49thshelf.com/Blog/2025/11...

Worldly Girls by @bokchoygurltjong.bsky.social "contains stand-alone essays that feel like fragments of a whole, a puzzle you only to realize is incomplete when you discover the missing pieces, what has been dropped, lost, or perhaps never packed into the box.” Thank you @junctionreads.bsky.social!

The Last of Its Kind by Sibylle Grimbert, translated from French by Aleshia Jensen, "offers a timely and poignant reminder that what seems to be unthinkable may in fact be all too real," writes Lisa Timpf in a review the Seaboard Review of Books. www.theseaboardreview.ca/p/the-last-o...

women & roosters: The Playlist is here! Fenn Stewart has curated a playlist of songs that inspired the writing of her brand new poetry collection women & roosters. 🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵 Find the full Spotify playlist on the Book*hug Blog below! 🎉 bookhugpress.ca/women-rooste...

Happy Publication Day to The Last of Its Kind by award-winning French author Sibylle Grimbert, translated by Aleshia Jensen. This moving & poignant work of historical literary fiction is a tender story of friendship, trust, respect, & the desire to endure and survive. bookhugpress.ca/shop/author/...

The five stories in Cary Fagan's A Fast Horse Never Brings Good News "bring much good news in their pacing, good humour, & slides into magic realism, each story gaining in length as the book progresses," writes Michael Greenstein for Seaboard Review of Books. www.theseaboardreview.ca/p/a-fast-hor...

The Hamilton Review of Books' Staff Writers’ Picks for Fall 2025 and beyond includes an exciting roundup of poignant and engaging titles, including Starry Starry Night by Shani Mootoo. hamiltonreviewofbooks.com/blog/2025/11...

The booksperts at @alllitupcanada.bsky.social have carefully curated book recos for the Lit Fic crowd, including Starry Starry Night by the inimitable Shani Mootoo. Receive 10% off + FREE shipping on this and other recommended books with promo code GIFTNEXT10: alllitup.ca/gift-their-n...

middle daughter at the dentist, so an opportunity to go through new poetry titles by MC Hyland and Fenn Stewart, // @bookhugpress.bsky.social

hey! did you know that Christine McNair is reading at Acadia U on Thursday? if yr nearby, you should go to that, / @christinemcnair.bsky.social @bookhugpress.bsky.social ; english.acadiau.ca/get-involved...

"Smith has written a smart and sexy book, full of joy and humour and history and resistance and music.” @amandaearl.bsky.social reviews Soundtrack: A Lyric Memoir by @michaelvsmith.bsky.social. amandaearl.substack.com/p/michael-v-...

"I don’t know all these poets...some of them I know well—some of them I’ve known well into the past century...don’t let that stop you from loving their work—I never do." Check out these reading recos from women & roosters author Fenn Stewart for @49thshelf.bsky.social. 49thshelf.com/Blog/2025/09...

“In Soundtrack, there’s music, music everywhere at the point where these two unequal forces interact.” Brett Josef Grubisic on Michael V. Smith's lyric memoir for The BC Review. thebcreview.ca/2025/10/21/2...

With the help of BookNet Canada's #librarydata, here're the 50 books from indie lit publishers Canadians borrowed most in October 2025. Feat. a top 10 from: @coachhousebooks.bsky.social, @ecwpress.bsky.social, @arsenalpulp.bsky.social, and @cormorantbooks.bsky.social.

Starry, Starry Night is a nuanced autofiction from acclaimed writer Shani Mootoo exploring gender, race, and class. Read more from book expert and seller Angula Gogia from Another Story Bookshop about why she thinks more Canadians need to get their hands on this one. @bookhugpress.bsky.social

breakfast pilgrimage, thy name is Future Bistro (with a stack of comics + Fenn Stewart’s new poetry title from Book*hug, @bookhugpress.bsky.social (a brief respite between small press fairs, before Meet the Presses today from noon to 5pm, @meetthepresses.bsky.social

What's on our reading radar this month? Bittersweet Nostalgia, Time Travel, 1960s' Trinidad, Willow Witches, and More with titles from @coachhousebooks.bsky.social @bookhugpress.bsky.social @ecwpress.bsky.social @invisibooks.bsky.social! 49thshelf.com/Blog/2025/10... #CanLit

“The title’s invocation of Van Gogh’s painting proves apt. Like the artist’s swirling night sky, Mootoo’s prose contains turbulence within careful composition.” Selena Mercuri reviews Shani Mootoo's Starry Starry Night for the BC Review. thebcreview.ca/2025/10/19/2...

Upstart & Crow present the Vancouver launch of women & roosters by Feb Stewart. With special guests Laura Morales Padilla and Afuwa. Sunday, November 2, 2025 6:00-7:30 pm PT 1387 Railspur Alley, Granville Island Free to attend! upstartandcrow.com/event/women-...

Happy Publication Day to women and roosters by Fenn Stewart, a forthright and deeply emotional semi-autobiographical long poem that will linger with readers long after its final, vibrant page. bookhugpress.ca/shop/author/...

Happy Publication Day to Andrea MacPherson's Reckless, a powerful and visceral new collection that provides an unflinching commentary on what the female body wants and endures. bookhugpress.ca/shop/author/...