The 111 Greatest Works of Canadian Literature
This selection of literature from Canada is based on the continuing research carried out for The Greatest Literature of All Time list and is additionally informed by the views of local readers, writers, critics and scholars.
It encompasses the greatest works of Canadian authors in all forms, genres, cultures and periods.
This list focuses on major creative—mainly fictional—works, although some shorter or nonfiction writing of literary significance may also be included.
Latest update: March 29, 2024
1832
Wacousta
by John Richardson, Canada
Novel
1836
The Clockmaker, or the Sayings and Doings of Samuel Slick of Slicksville
by Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Canada
Novel
The Backwoods of Canada
by Catherine Parr Traill, Canada, letters
1852
Roughing It in the Bush
by Susanna Moodie, Canada
Memoir
1886
In Divers Tones
by Charles G.D. Roberts, Canada
Poetry collection includes The Tantramar Revisited, The Sower, The Potato Harvest, and others
1893
Low Tide on Grand Pré
by Bliss Carmen, Canada
Poetry collection includes Low Tide on Grand Pré, Windflower, A Sea Child, The Eavesdropper, and others
1895
Lyrics of Earth
by Archibald Lampman, Canada
Poetry collection
1904
The Imperialist
by Sarah Jeannette Duncan, Canada
Novel
1907
Songs of a Sourdough
by Robert Service, Canada
Poetry collection includes The Shooting of Dan McGrew, The Cremation of Sam McGee, and others
1908
Anne of Green Gables
by L.M. Montgomery, Canada
Novel
1925
Settlers of the Marsh
by Frederick Philip Grove, Canada
Novel
1941
As For Me and My House
by Sinclair Ross, Canada
Novel
1944
Earth and High Heaven
by Gwethalyn Graham, Canada
Novel
1945
Two Solitudes
by Hugh MacLennan, Canada
Novel
The Tin Flute
by Gabrielle Roy, Canada
Novel
By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept
by Elizabeth Smart, Canada
Novel
1947
Who Has Seen the Wind?
by W.O. Mitchell, Canada
Novel
1954
Swamp Angel
by Ethel Wilson, Canada
Novel
1959
Morley Callaghan's Stories
by Morley Callaghan, Canada
Story collection includes "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
by Mordecai Richler, Canada
Novel
The Double Hook
by Sheila Watson, Canada
Novel
1963
Hugh Garner's Best Stories
by Hugh Garner, Canada
Story collection includes "The Conversion of Willie Heaps", "The Yellow Sweater", "The Magnet", "One-Two-Three Little Indians", and others
1965
Next Episode
by Hubert Aquin, Canada
Novel
A Season in the Life of Emmanuel
by Marie-Claire Blais, Canada
Novel
St. Urbain's Horseman
by Mordecai Richler, Canada
Novel
1969
Selected Poems
by Irving Layton, Canada
Poetry collection
1970
Fifth Business
by Robertson Davies, Canada
Novel
Kamouraska
by Anne Hébert, Canada
Novel
Lives of Girls and Women
by Alice Munro, Canada
Story collection
1972
Surfacing
by Margaret Atwood, Canada
Novel
Selected Poems
by Al Purdy, Canada
Poetry collection
1976
Bear
by Marian Engel, Canada
Novel
1977
The Wars
by Timothy Findley, Canada
Novel
The Beggar Maid
by Alice Munro, Canada
Story collection
Stardance
by Spider and Jeanne Robinson, Canada
Novel
1981
Obasan
by Joy Kogawa, Canada
Novel
1984
Neuromancer
by William Gibson, Canada
Novel
Sanaaq
by Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk, Canada
Novel
1984–1986
The Fionavar Tapestry
by Guy Gavriel Kay, Canada, Novel trilogy
Black Robe
by Brian Moore, Canada
Novel
1987
In the Skin of a Lion
by Michael Ondaatje, Canada
Novel
The Stone Diaries
by Carol Shields, Canada
Novel
1988
The First Garden
by Anne Hebert, Canada
Novel
1989
Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing
by Tomson Highway, Canada
Play
1990
Tigana
by Guy Gavriel Kay, Canada
Novel
1991
Generation X
by Douglas Coupland, Canada
Novel
1992
The English Patient
by Michael Ondaatje, Canada
Novel
Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs
by Leonard Cohen, Canada
Poetry collection
Green Grass, Running Water
by Thomas King, Canada
Novel
1994
Funny Boy
by Shyam Selvadurai, Canada
Novel
The Book of Secrets
by M.G. Vassanji, Canada
Novel
1995
The Jade Peony
by Wayson Choy, Canada
Novel
A Fine Balance
by Rohan Mistry, Canada
Novel
1996
The Cure for Death by Lightning
by Gail Anderson-Dargatz, Canada
Novel
Selected Stories
by Mavis Gallant, Canada
Story collection includes The Moslem Wife, In Youth Is Pleasure, The Chosen Husband, In Plain Sight, and others
Fall on Your Knees
by Ann-Marie MacDonald, Canada
Novel
Fugitive Pieces
by Anne Michaels, Canada
Novel
1998
Brown Girl in the Ring
by Nalo Hopkinson, Canada
Novel
1998
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams
by Wayne Johnston, Canada
Novel
1999
No Great Mischief
by Alistair Macleod, Canada
Novel
Barney's Version
by Mordecai Richler, Canada
Novel
Anil's Ghost
by Michael Ondaatje, Canada
Novel
Mercy Among the Children
by David Adams Richards, Canada
Novel
Monkey Beach
by Eden Robinson, Canada
Novel
2001
The Beauty of the Husband
by Anne Carson, Canada
Poetry collection
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage
by Alice Munro, Canada
Story collection includes Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage; The Bear Came Over the Mountain; and others
2002
The Polished Hoe
by Austin Clarke, Canada
Novel
Life of Pi
by Yann Martel, Canada
Novel
2004
Runaway
by Alice Munro, Canada
Story collection
A Complicated Kindness
by Miriam Toews, Canada
Novel
2005
The Time In Between
by David Bergen, Canada
Novel
Still Life
by Louise Penny, Canada
Novel
Spin
by Robert Charles Wilson, Canada
Novel
2006
Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures
by Vincent Lam, Canada
Story collection
Lullabies for Little Criminals
by Heather O'Neill, Canada
Novel
2007
Late Nights on Air
by Elizabeth Hay, Canada
Novel
The Book of Negroes
by Lawrence Hill, Canada
Novel
2009
The Bishop's Man
by Linden MacIntyre, Canada
Novel
February
by Lisa Moore, Canada
Novel
Ru
by Kim Thúy, Canada
Novel
2010
Room
by Emma Donoghue, Canada
Novel
Annabel
by Kathleen Winter, Canada
Novel
2011
The Sisters Brothers
by Patrick deWitt, Canada
Novel
Half-Blood Blues
by Esi Edugyan, Canada
Novel
The Cat's Table
by Michael Ondaatje, Canada
Novel
Among Others
by Jo Walton, Wales / Canada
Novel
2012
Indian Horse
by Richard Wagamese, Canada
Novel
2013
The Orenda
by Joseph Boyden, Canada
Novel
Bone and Bread
by Saleema Nawaz, Canada
Novel
2017
Bellevue Square
by Michael Redhill, Canada
Novel
2019
This Is How You Lose the Time War
by Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone, Canada, United States
Novella
