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A black and white photo of writer James Cairns. He is a light skin toned man with longer dark hair that curls at the ends, sticking out from under a toque. He wears horn-rimmed glasses and stubble, and is laughing, almost in profile. He is pictured in front of a bookcase.

Author Interview

Writer’s Block: James Cairns

In his new book In Crisis, On Crisis: Essays in Troubled Times (Wolsak & Wynn) that examines our collective understanding of crisis โ€“ as well as the many crises going on right now โ€“ย James Cairns hopes to help readers “think in new ways about the nested character of the crises in their lives.” We talk to James about the book, as well as sobriety, parenthood, and other books he’d recommend in today’s writer’s block.


Freshly Published!

Browse what’s new on the ALU shelves this week.


Happy Pride!

What are we reading for Pride Month? Browse our list of new-and-notable books from LGBTQ2SIA+ writers
as part of your Pride celebrations.

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Popular Categories


Indigenous Litspace

Discover fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, and kids’ books by Indigenous authors and #ReadIndigenous.

Poetry Litspace

We don’t tell you what the poets are doing, we show you with a dedicated home for poetry recordings, interviews, excerpts, and more.

Kids Litspace

The ALU Kids Litspace is a home for the finest in kids lit, for young, middle-grade, and teen readers (and all of those who are young-at-heart).

Congratulations to the Amazon First Novel Award finalists!

These books from independent Canadian literary publishers are up for debut fiction’s top prize in 2025.

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Globe Spring Picks

The Globe and Mail highlighted these books from independent Canadian publishers as must-reads for the
season ahead.

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Congratulations to the books on the
Dublin Literary Award longlist!

As chosen by librarians all over the world, these books from independent Canadian literary presses are literally world famous!


ebooks for everyone

In 2022 All Lit Up launched the ebooks for everyone collection: 600+ books that were converted to fully-accessible epub formats for readers with print disabilities. Browse some handpicks from our collection below.