2026 Fall Preview: Short Fiction, Graphic Novels, and Poetry

Over the course of three instalments, Q&Q presents the titles we’re most excited about this fall. This week’s instalment features short fiction, graphic novels, and poetry. Fiction will be featured next week, with nonfiction to be featured on Aug. 5.

Q&Q’s fall preview covers books published between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2026. All information (titles, publication dates) was supplied by publishers.

This season’s short-story titles include a collection from Wayne Grady that reimagines classics of the genre; new works from veterans of the form Pauline Holdstock, Pamela Mordecai, and Rabindranath Maharaj; and an anthology edited by Russell Smith that explores the meaning of the word “monster.”

We are Busy Being Alive
Rishi Midha
Anvil Press, July

What Endures
Pauline Holdstock
Biblioasis, Aug.

Tougher Than the Rest
Dina Del Bucchia
Arsenal Pulp Press, Sept.

The Cartel and Other Cover Stories
Wayne Grady
Freehand Books, Sept.

Driving Crazy to the Front Door
Michael Foy
Linda Leith Publishing, Oct.

Two Days in Mayaro
Pamela Mordecai
Goose Lane Editions, Sept.

Monsters: Unsettling Short Stories
Russell Smith, ed.
Rare Machines/Dundurn Press, Oct.

Dead Peasant
Lisa Baldissera
Book*hug Press, Nov.

The Nowhereian
Rabindranath Maharaj
Buckrider Books/Wolsak & Wynn, Nov.

We Had Years
Russell Wangersky
Biblioasis, Nov.

A pair of forthcoming graphic novels include a volume collecting Richard Van Camp’s stories about the malevolent Wheetago of Tlicho Dene mythology alongside new art by Christopher Shy and a coming-of-age story by Belgian comic artist Brecht Evens, translated by Montreal-based cartoonist François Vigneault.

Wheetago War Stories
Richard Van Camp and Christopher Shy, ill.
Renegade Arts Entertainment, Sept.

The Jellyfish King
Brecht Evens and François Vigneault, trans.
Drawn & Quarterly, Oct.

Fall’s poetry offerings explore everything from a personal experience of climate disaster and late-life Autism diagnosis to the possibilities of exclamatory expression. Featured titles include new work from award-winning poets, including Canisia Lubrin, Sanna Wani, Tim Lilburn, and Hélène Dorion in translation, as well as the first new volume of collected verse from CanLit giant Robert Bringhurst.