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Contributors

Nikki Luscombe is a Toronto-based freelance writer

Books of the Year breakthrough

Our 2017 list shines with much-needed stories that push social and literary boundaries

A positive sense of otherness

Fartumo Kusow uses the backdrop of war-torn Somalia to explore the human condition in Tale of a Boon’s Wife

After words

Toronto indie press BookThug looks to rebrand its racially charged name

Focus, focus, focus

There will always be better writers than you. And that’s okay

A still-burning flame

M&S will publish a posthumous Leonard Cohen collection in 2018

Authors of a golden age

Older writers aren’t letting the speed bumps of age prevent them from producing meaningful work

Slavery’s long shadow

Ongoing state violence against Black people has its roots in a culture of anti-Blackness, writes

Pushing the door fully open

How a challenging year strengthened and uplifted the Indigenous literary community

With distinction

►Injun by Jordan Abel, Griffin Poetry Prize (winner).

News in review

Recalling 2017’s biggest headlines

Listen to this

As the popularity of audiobooks continued to rise in 2017, so did the number of Canadian-produced titles

Building bridges

In the wake of this year’s controversies around appropriation of Indigenous stories and voices, Carleigh Baker finds hope that a new openness is emerging

Books of the Year

Q&Q editors share a few of their favourite 2017 releases

More of the year’s best

Q&Q reviewers select their favourite reads from 2017

Alpha and omega

Two significant books about the Canadian publishing industry examine the beginning and the end of an era in CanLit

Kids’ books of the year

Q&Q‘s Books for Young people editors share their favourite children’s titles of 2017

From the kidlit aficionados

librarians and book bloggers weigh in with their favourite children’s books of the year

A touch of glamour

Deborah Ellis makes books that aim to make a difference. This year Hollywood joined her fight

Covers of the Year

Graphic designers share their thoughts on four of this year’s exceptional book covers

Moments and fragments

Story collections by Annette Lapointe and Emily Anglin highlight the fleeting, and often uncanny, nature of the form

Into the mystic

Three collections by women at different stages of their careers showcase a variety of approaches to the physical and metaphysical worlds

Matters of life and death

Joe Denham and Cornelia Hoogland deliver collections that reckon with existential questions and the nature of grief

Of two minds

A 10-year overview of English poetry in Canada appears to give preference to a lyric approach

Running from the family

Gillian Wigmore’s new novel employs traditional CanLit themes, but gives them a contemporary spin

A night at the theatre

Elly MacKay’s wordless picture book illustrates the joy and wonder of seeing the Nutcracker ballet for the first time

Problem solved

Tales of inspiring innovators and engineers show kids how to follow their curiosity

Lessons in cree

Two grandfathers share the joy and pain of their native language

What does the fox say?

Human-spirit-animal families populate the rich mythology of S.M. Beiko’s sophisticated new fantasy series

Shelter from the storm

Award-winning illustrators create magic with animals braving the elements

The big picture

A new illustrated edition of Thomas King’s The Inconvenient Indian keeps words and ideas at the forefront