FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2025

CANADIAN BOOK CLUB AWARDS ANNOUNCES 2025 FINALISTS

Canada’s largest reader’s choice award celebrates a rising landscape of diverse, independent and traditional storytellers.

CANADA – The Canadian Book Club Awards (CBCA), the country’s largest reader’s choice award, is pleased to announce the finalists for its 2025 awards.

This year marked continued, measurable growth in both the number and diversity of submissions across all genres. The awards have expanded year-over-year in a way that reflects a shifting and increasingly vibrant publishing landscape: more readers participating, more authors submitting, and a richer mix of independent and traditionally published work.

Of this year’s finalists, we have a near 50/50 split of independently published vs traditionally published authors, with 82% of the authors being Canadian. CBCA is open to authors worldwide, but judged exclusively by Canadian readers.

“Each year we watch the awards evolve, not only in quantity, but in depth,” says Kristain Camps, Program Director for the CBCA. “The range of stories submitted this year speaks to a literary community that is thriving in every corner—independent, hybrid, and traditional. Our Avid Readers had their most challenging year yet, and that’s a testament to the exceptional quality of Canadian and international storytelling.”

Submissions were evaluated by CBCA’s Avid Readers, who selected the finalists in each literary category. Throughout the next three months, Verified Readers across Canada will read each finalist’s work and cast their votes to determine the winners.

This announcement arrives amid a lively and highly celebrated awards season across the literary world. As readers everywhere turn their attention to outstanding storytelling, the CBCA is proud to spotlight books chosen not by committees or juries, but by Canadian readers themselves.

The finalists for the 2025 Canadian Book Club Awards are:

Poetry

  • Love, Light & Other Beautiful Lies: A Poetic Memoir of Spiritual Materialism — Sean P. Russell (Independently Published)
  • No More Second Chances: poems to heal your heart — Chiara Mason (TSPA The Self Publishing Agency Inc.)
  • My Lost Pages — Sneha Sabu (White Falcon Publishing)

Non-Fiction

  • Kitchen Renovation Planning Guide — Charlene J Smith (Independently Published)
  • Disability Is Human: The Vital Power of Accessibility in Everyday Life — Stephanie W. Cawthon (TSPA The Self Publishing Agency Inc.)
  • Let’s Talk Podcasting (Second Edition) — Amanda Cupido (Independently Published)

Young Adult (YA)

  • A Thief Among Liars — E.A. Whyte (Independently Published)
  • Summer at Pine Lake — Alyssa Delle Palme (Evernight Teen)
  • The After — J. Taylor (FriesenPress)

Thriller / Mystery

  • Every Fall — Angela Douglas (Rising Action Publishing)
  • Because of His Heart — Stephen A. Marvin (FriesenPress)
  • Red Herrings — Gail Hulnick (The WindWord Group, LLC)

Spirituality / Wellness

  • Reclaim Your Mind — Jay Vidyarthi (Still Ape Press)
  • Five Minute Psychotherapy Techniques — Jenny H. Hsueh (FriesenPress)
  • The Everyday Pain Guide — Ya-Ling J. Liou, D.C. (Return to Health Press)

Sci-Fi / Fantasy

  • The Lightning Child: The Wolves of Orkerion — Quinn Lamothe (FriesenPress)
  • Shadow of the Yew Tree — Kate Gateley (Fogberry Press)
  • Chaos Calling — E.M. Williams (Circle Star Publishing)

Romance

  • Two Weeks in Toronto — Amelia Doyle (BRINKLEY Verlag)
  • A Place for Us — Patricia Grayhall (She Writes Press)
  • The Girl with Autumn Eyes — R.F. Vincent (FriesenPress)

Non-Fiction / Memoir

  • Halfway Home — Christina Myers (House of Anansi Press)
  • Left — Bonnie Thompson (Bee Writes Publishing)
  • Twice the Family — Julie Ryan McGue (She Writes Press)

Fiction

  • The Fort — Christy K. Lee (Rising Action Publishing)
  • Between Two Seasons — Marc MacDonald (Spilt Ink Press, an imprint of Gordon Publishing Collective)
  • Monday Rent Boy — Susan Doherty (Random House Canada)

Early Readers

  • Let’s Talk Podcasting for Kids — Amanda Cupido (Independently Published)
  • Armando and the Amazing Animal Race— Diana Schaffter (Sea Otter Press)
  • The Underground Railroad Twins — Lisa Tasca Oatway (Tellwell Talent)

Children’s

  • I’ve Never Sawn That Before! — Kristin Blakely (AVID Language)
  • The Who That I Am — Cynthia Carla (FriesenPress)
  • Bruce and the Trouble with Antlers — Gina Frisby (FriesenPress)

Business / Self-Help

  • Startup Different — David Sinkinson (Page Two Press)
  • The Courage Code — Leisse Wilcox (fEMPOWER Publications Inc.)
  • Untying the Knot — Kelly LaVallie (Page Two Press)

Anthology / Short Story

  • The Broken Chronicles Part 1: Soldiers — W.H. Bruce (Independently Published)
  • Beyond Blue — Christina Myers & Oga Nwobosi (Caitlin Press)
  • CANE WOOD — Stephen Leslie Howard (FriesenPress)

Winners will be announced February, 2026. 

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MEDIA INQUIRIES

The Canadian Book Club Awards Kristain Camps, Program Director
marketing@thecanadianbookclubawards.ca  thecanadianbookclubawards.ca