The 111 Greatest Works of Canadian Literature
The list of Canada's greatest literary works is based on the same extensive research and surveys carried out over the past two decades for our Greatest Literature of All Time list—with special attention paid to the views of Canadian readers, writers, critics and scholars.
Within the Canadian context, we have endeavoured to cover all possible genres, cultures and periods.
As with the Greatest Literature list, preference is given on this list to major works of creative literature—such as novels, plays, and collections of stories and poems—although some significant shorter works have also been included.
Latest update: January30, 2023
Click linked titles and authors for details, critiques and other comments.
1832
Wacousta
John Richardson
Canada
Novel
1836
The Clockmaker, or the Sayings and Doings of Samuel Slick of Slicksville
Thomas Chandler Haliburton
Canada
Novel
The Backwoods of Canada
Catherine Parr Traill
Canada
Letters
1852
Roughing It in the Bush
Susanna Moodie
Canada
Memoir
1886
In Divers Tones
Charles G.D. Roberts
Canada
Poetry collection
including The Tantramar Revisited, The Sower, The Potato Harvest, and others
1893
Low Tide on Grand Pré
Bliss Carmen
Canada
Poetry collection
including Low Tide on Grand Pré, Windflower, A Sea Child, The Eavesdropper, and others
1895
Lyrics of Earth
Archibald Lampman
Canada
Poetry collection
1904
The Imperialist
Sarah Jeannette Duncan
Canada
Novel
1907
Songs of a Sourdough
Robert Service
Canada
Poetry collection
including The Shooting of Dan McGrew, The Cremation of Sam McGee, and others
1908
Anne of Green Gables
Lucy Maude Montgomery
Canada
Novel
1925
Settlers of the Marsh
Frederick Philip Grove
Canada
Novel
1940
David
Earl Birney
Canada
Poem
1941
As For Me and My House
Sinclair Ross
Canada
Novel
1944
Earth and High Heaven
Gwethalyn Graham
Canada
Novel
1945
Two Solitudes
Hugh MacLennan
Canada
Novel
The Tin Flute
Gabrielle Roy
Canada
Novel
By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept
Elizabeth Smart
Canada
Novel
1947
Who Has Seen the Wind?
W.O. Mitchell
Canada
Novel
Hetty Dorval
Ethel Wilson
Canada
Novel
1954
Swamp Angel
Ethel Wilson
Canada
Novel
1959
Canada
Story collection
including All the Years of Her Life, A Sick Call, Now That April's Here, Ancient Lineage, Two Fishermen, and others
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
Mordecai Richler
Canada
Novel
The Double Hook
Sheila Watson
Canada
Novel
1963
Canada
Story collection
including The Conversion of Willie Heaps, The Yellow Sweater, The Magnet, One-Two-Three Little Indians, and others
Never Cry Wolf
Farley Mowat
Canada
Memoir
1965
Next Episode
Hubert Aquin
Canada
Novel
A Season in the Life of Emmanuel
Marie-Claire Blais
Canada
Novel
St. Urbain's Horseman
Mordecai Richler
Canada
Novel
1968
Les Belles-Soeurs
Michel Tremblay
Canada
Play
1969
Irving Layton
Canada
Poetry collection
1970
Fifth Business
Robertson Davies
Canada
Novel
Kamouraska
Anne Hébert
Canada
Novel
Lives of Girls and Women
Alice Munro
Canada
Story collection
1972
Surfacing
Margaret Atwood
Canada
Novel
Selected Poems
Al Purdy
Canada
Poetry collection
1976
Bear
Marian Engel
Canada
Novel
1977
The Wars
Timothy Findley
Canada
Novel
The Beggar Maid
Alice Munro
Canada
Story cycle
Stardance
Spider and Jeanne Robinson
Canada
Novel
1981
Famous Last Words
Timothy Findley
Canada
Novel
Obasan
Joy Kogawa
Canada
Novel
1984
Neuromancer
William Gibson
Canada
Novel
Sanaaq
Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk
Canada
Novel
The Engineer of Human Souls
Josef Škvorecký
Canada
Novel
1984–1986
The Fionavar Tapestry
Guy Gavriel Kay
Canada
Novel trilogy
Black Robe
Brian Moore
Canada
Novel
1987
In the Skin of a Lion
Michael Ondaatje
Canada
Novel
The Stone Diaries
Carol Shields
Canada
Novel
1988
Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)
Ann-Marie MacDonald
Canada
Novel
1989
Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing
Tomson Highway
Canada
Play
1990
Tigana
Guy Gavriel Kay
Canada
Novel
1991
Generation X
Douglas Coupland
Canada
Novel
1992
The English Patient
Michael Ondaatje
Canada
Novel
Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs
Leonard Cohen
Canada
Poetry collection
Green Grass, Running Water
Thomas King
Canada
Novel
1994
Funny Boy
Shyam Selvadurai
Canada
Novel
The Book of Secrets
M.G. Vassanji
Canada
Novel
1995
The Jade Peony
Wayson Choy
Canada
Novel
A Fine Balance
Rohan Mistry
Canada
Novel
1996
The Cure for Death by Lightning
Gail Anderson-Dargatz
Canada
Novel
Selected Stories
Mavis Gallant
Canada
Story collection
including The Moslem Wife, In Youth Is Pleasure, The Chosen Husband, In Plain Sight, and others
Fall on Your Knees
Ann-Marie MacDonald
Canada
Novel
Fugitive Pieces
Anne Michaels
Canada
Novel
1998
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams
Wayne Johnston
Canada
Novel
1999
No Great Mischief
Alistair Macleod
Canada
Novel
Barney's Version
Mordecai Richler
Canada
Novel
Anil's Ghost
Michael Ondaatje
Canada
Novel
Mercy Among the Children
David Adams Richards
Canada
Novel
2001
The Beauty of the Husband
Anne Carson
Canada
Poetry collection
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage
Alice Munro
Canada
Story collection
including Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage; The Bear Came Over the Mountain; and others
2002
The Polished Hoe
Austin Clarke
Canada
Novel
Life of Pi
Yann Martel
Canada
Novel
2004
Runaway
Alice Munro
Canada
Story collection
A Complicated Kindness
Miriam Toews
Canada
Novel
2005
Three Day Road
Joseph Boyden
Canada
Novel
Still Life
Louise Penny
Canada
Novel
2006
Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures
Vincent Lam
Canada
Story cycle
2007
Late Nights on Air
Elizabeth Hay
Canada
Novel
The Book of Negroes
Lawrence Hill
Canada
Novel
2009
The Bishop's Man
Linden MacIntyre
Canada
Novel
February
Lisa Moore
Canada
Novel
Ru
Kim Thúy
Canada
Novel
2010
Room
Emma Donoghue
Canada
Novel
Annabel
Kathleen Winter
Canada
Novel
2011
The Sisters Brothers
Patrick deWitt
Canada
Novel
Half-Blood Blues
Esi Edugyan
Canada
Novel
The Cat's Table
Michael Ondaatje
Canada
Novel
Among Others
Jo Walton
Wales / Canada
Novel
2013
The Orenda
Joseph Boyden
Canada
Novel
Bone and Bread
Saleema Nawaz
Canada
Novel
The Hungry Ghosts
Shyam Selvadurai
Canada
Novel
2017
Bellevue Square
Michael Redhill
Canada
Novel
2019
This Is How You Lose the Time War
Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone
Canada, United States
Novella
See also:
Article
Creating the Greatest Literature of All Time list
List
Greatest Literature of All Time
List
Greatest Novels of All Time
List
Greatest Stories of All Time
List
Greatest Plays of All Time
List
Greatest Poetry of All Time
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