Pilgrim
A finalist for the Giller Prize and a Canadian bestseller that surpassed the author’s own impressive sales records. More
Room
Winner of the 2011 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize regional prize; made into a major motion picture. More
The Known World
The Pulitzer Prize–winning novel that examines the troubling complexities of slavery. More
Monster
Winner of the first Michael L. Printz Award and the Coretta Scott King Award. More
Shilpi Somaya Gowda
At every stage of life, since being a kid with a flashlight under the covers, reading has always been my favorite activity. More
Barometer Rising
The first novel by MacLennan, one of Canada’s most significant novelists of the mid-twentieth century. More
Lawrence Hill
Writing is the one pursuit I have always pursued, and always known I was compelled to pursue. More
Wild Swans
Popular bestseller that has sold more than 13 million copies. More
The Book of Negroes
A milestone in Canada’s understanding of black history and one of the bestselling books in Canadian publishing history. More
Original proposal for Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes
Lawrence Hill’s agent, Janet Turnbull Irving, submitted this one-page summary for his as yet unwritten novel Migration to HarperCollins Canada Editor-in-Chief Iris Tupholme in 1998. More
Deborah Challinor
I read to escape, whether the genre is crime, historical, dystopian, thriller, or biography. More
Geronimo Johnson
I write to unread what has been written about me in error and with malice. More
1958: Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. selects Harper & Brothers to publish his memoir…
After leading the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955 and becoming the voice of the civil rights movement, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. selects Harper & Brothers to publish Stride Toward Freedom, his memoir about the Montgomery bus boycott. More
Stride Toward Freedom
Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s memoir of the Montgomery bus boycott. More
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
This 1972 Booker Prize–nominated novel was also made into a 1978 Australian film. More
Lionel Shriver
Why I write: To find out what I think. More
Internal memo from Collins Canada announcing a hot air balloon publicity stunt
To launch the new Canadian trade paperback imprint Totem, in September 1975, Collins Canada’s head of publicity Lucinda Vardey organized the release of hot air balloons over Toronto and neighboring suburbs. More
Half of a Yellow Sun
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s masterpiece, and winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction. More
Black Boy
A powerful and eloquent autobiography that has sold more than a million copies since publication. More
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Multimillion-copy global bestseller that won critical acclaim for its beautifully wrought depiction of innocence corrupted. More
Native Son
Wright’s unsparing reflection on what it means to be black in America. More
Their Eyes Were Watching God
One of the most widely read and acclaimed novels in the canon of African-American literature. More