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Books Set in Winnipeg

Stories about the city we live in and (sometimes) love

Overview

In her poetry collection, River Woman, Katherena Vermette writes of Winnipeg: "so hot in the summer / the grass yellows / so cold in the winter / you can freeze in minutes / this place / has tried every degree / so unsatisfied / it keeps shifting." Vermette, like other authors found on this tab, showcase Winnipeg. You'll find references to extreme weather, street names and slurpees, but these books provide more than a caricature of a complicated city. They make sense of and give heart to this urban prairie space that we call home; these characters hold a special place because they are our neighbours.

 

Staff picks

Vanishing monuments : a novel by John Elizabeth Stintzi
The case of Lena S. by David Bergen
Once more with feeling by Méira Cook
Treed : walking in Canada's urban forests by Ariel Gordon
Some great thing by Lawrence Hill
Fanonymous by M. C (Matt C.) Joudrey
The shadow over Portage and Main
Baldur's song : a saga by David Arnason
Bandit : a portrait of Ken Leishman, a novel by Wayne Tefs
Fox by Margaret Sweatman
Larry's party by Carol Shields
The opening sky by Joan (Sandra Joan) Thomas
Under the ribs of death by John Marlyn

History

Rooster Town : the history of an urban Métis community, 1901-1961 by Evelyn J. (Evelyn Joy) Peters
Stolen city : racial capitalism and the making of Winnipeg by Owen Toews
Aqueduct : colonialism, resources, and the histories we remember by Adele Perry
Structures of indifference : an indigenous life and death in a Canadian city by Mary Jane McCallum
Communal solidarity : immigration, settlement, and social welfare in Winnipeg's Jewish community, 1882-1930 by Arthur Ross
1919 : a graphic history of the Winnipeg General Strike
Prairie metropolis : new essays on Winnipeg social history
A diminished roar : Winnipeg in the 1920s by Jim Blanchard
Winnipeg modern : architecture, 1945-1975

Indigenous reads

The reason you walk by Wab Kinew
Kiss of the fur queen by Tomson Highway
April Raintree by Beatrice Mosionier
The break by Katherena Vermette
Joe from Winnipeg : all my best by Ian Ross
Indigena Awry by Marie Annharte Baker
Perception : a photo series by K.C. Adams

Female protagonists

The prairie bridesmaid by Daria Salamon
Summer of my amazing luck : a novel by Miriam Toews
Somewhere else : a novel by Jan Guenther Braun
All that belongs by Dora Dueck
Little fish : a novel by Casey Plett
The stone diaries by Carol Shields
An unexpected break in the weather by Deborah Schnitzer
Crackpot by Adele Wiseman
When Alice lay down with Peter : a novel by Margaret Sweatman

Poetry

Lyrics and poems : 1997-2012 by John K. Samson
St. Boniface elegies by Catherine Hunter
Moon was a feather by Scott Nolan
Prairie journey by Madeline F. Coopsammy
River woman by Katherena Vermette

Carol Shields Winnipeg book award recipient (2020)

New to books set in Winnipeg? Try one of these books:

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