Black writers in Canada need to be celebrated for their vital place within the national literary imaginary, a term used by George Elliott Clarke. Following in a rich history of trailblazers who faced barriers at every level of the literary world, the talented contemporary writers in this reading list have written books which would once have been sidelined or whitewashed away, however, that these titles exist as copies in our hands is not a symbol of an end to the invisible barriers of racism and discrimination. Despite the many achievements of black authors and scholars, black culture and writing continue to play a marginal role in Canadian literature. Rinaldo Walcott put it this way, CanLit fails to transform because it refuses to take seriously that Black literary expression and thus Black life is foundational to it. CanLit still appears surprised every single time by the appearance of Black literary expression and Black life. Because Black expression is reduced to surprise there has been no sustained and ongoing serious consideration of Black work in CanLit.
We as readers, writers, and lovers of words play a role in this literary dynamic, whether we choose to be aware of it or not. It is well past the time to approach the page from an anti-racist perspective.
BLACK LIVES MATTER in CANLIT

Disorientation
By Ian Williams

The Response of Weeds: A Misplacement of Black Poetry on the Prairies
By Bertrand Bickersteth

Gutter Child
By Jael Richardson

Gold Pours
By Aurore Gatwenzi

Delicious Monsters
By Liselle Sambury

Ties That Tether
By Jane Igharo

Washington Black
By Esi Edugyan

Wires That Sputter
By Britta Badour

Dominoes At The Crossroads
By Kaie Kellough

Burning Sugar
By Cicely Belle Blain

Unsettling The Great White North
Black Canadian History
Edited by Michele A. Johnson and Funké Aladejebi

Frying Plantain
By Zalika Reid-Benta

The Sleeping Car Porter
By Suzette Mayr

Black Matters
By Afua Cooper & Wilfried Raussert

Blood Like Magic
By Liselle Sambury

Dream of No One But Myself
By David Bradford

they said this would be fun
By Eternity Martis

The Skin We’re In
By Desmond Cole

Emancipation Day
By Wayne Grady

Exile Blues
By Douglas Gary Freeman

Dear Current Occupant
By Chelene Knight

Daughters of Silence
By Rebecca Fisseha

The Ring
By André Alexis

Finding Edward
By Sheila Murray

Blood Scion
By Deborah Falaye