McClelland and Stewart is launching Kanata Classics, a new paperback series, on July 15.

The series, launched to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, will publish six titles annually, reissuing significant works of fiction and nonfiction that “may have been overlooked or unsupported in a market and in a country built to prioritize the settler experience,” according to the press release, with the intent of broadening what is the Canadian “literary classics space.”

Each season, three of the titles added to the series will be Indigenous-authored and three will be by non-Indigenous authors, spanning various identities, geographies, and generations. Each book will include new introductions by Canadian authors.

“As the first Indigenous Publisher here at Penguin Random House Canada, I feel a personal responsibility to build new programs and initiatives to honour the incredibly rich Indigenous storytelling that historically has been neglected by the traditional publishing industry,” Stephanie Sinclair, publisher of McClelland & Stewart, said in a press release. “With the launch of Kanata Classics, I am proud to boldly build upon and expand the important work begun earlier in McClelland & Stewart’s history. Kanata Classics gives us an opportunity to give voice and visibility to brilliant Indigenous and other equity-deserving writers.”

Kanata Classics will be published as trade paperbacks (5.5″ x 8.25″). EBook editions will be released simultaneously with the paperbacks, and audiobook editions, if not already available, will be created when possible. The print editions will retail at $22.00, with certain exceptions (Alistair MacLeod’s Island, part of the inaugural list, will retail at $24.00), and eBooks at $13.99.

The inaugural six titles are: NISHGA by Jordan Abel, with an introduction by David Chariandy; Halfbreed by Maria Campbell, with an introduction by the author; Bear by Marian Engel, with an introduction by Claire Cameron; Island by Alistair MacLeod, with an introduction by Kate Beaton; Ru by Kim Thúy, with an introduction by Sharon Bala; and Medicine Walk by Richard Wagamese, with an introduction by David A. Robertson. The titles in the inaugural list are all part of McClelland & Stewart’s backlist.

Series titles forthcoming in 2026 are: This Wound Is a World by Billy-Ray Belcourt; Little Badger and the Fire Spirit by Maria Campbell; The Origin of Waves by Austin Clarke; American War by Omar El Akkad; The Tin Flute by Gabrielle Roy; and Starlight by Richard Wagamese.

An advisory board that has contributed to the creation of the series includes: David Chariandy (University of Toronto); Chris Hall (Canadian Independent Booksellers Association); Rania Husseini and Kaitlyn Vincent (Indigo); Minelle Mahtani, (University of British Columbia); Niigaan Sinclair (University of Manitoba); and Robert Wheaton (Penguin Random House Canada).

McClelland & Stewart’s New Canadian Library, created in 1958, was instrumental in defining classics of Canadian literature for many decades.

The Kanata Classics colophon is an original design from Anishinaabe artist Luke Swinson.