Johns won the 2020 Writers' Trust Journey Prize for the short story Bad Cree, which evolved into the novel of the same name. Jessica Johns is a Vancouver-based writer, visual artist and member of Sucker Creek First Nation in Treaty 8 Territory in northern Alberta. Jessica Johns's novel Bad Cree is a story about grief, guilt and healing With her dreams intensifying and getting more dangerous, Mackenzie must confront a violent family legacy and reconcile with the land and her community. Looking to escape, Mackenzie heads back to her hometown in rural Alberta where she finds her family still entrenched in their grief. The lines between her dreams and reality start to blur when she begins seeing a murder of crows following her around the city - and starts getting threatening text messages from someone claiming to be her dead sister. (HarperCollins Canada)īad Cree is a horror-infused novel that centres around a young woman named Mackenzie who is haunted by terrifying nightmares and wracked with guilt about her sister Sabrina's untimely death.

WATCH | Mattea Roach on why Ducks should win Canada Reads:īad Cree is a novel by Jessica Johns. Beaton has also published two children's books, King Baby and The Princess and the Pony. Beaton's success continued with the book Step Aside, Pops, which won the 2016 Eisner Award for best humour publication. The sassy historical webcomic gained a following of 500,000 monthly visitors and was eventually turned into a bestselling book. Kate Beaton is a cartoonist from Nova Scotia who launched her career by publishing the comic strip Hark! A Vagrant online. Kate Beaton's affecting Ducks dives into the lonely life of labour in Alberta's oil sands With the goal of paying off her student loans, Kate leaves her tight-knit seaside Nova Scotia community and heads west, where she encounters harsh realities, including the everyday trauma that no one discusses.ĭucks won Canada Reads 2023, when it was championed by Jeopardy! star Mattea Roach.

(Morgan Murray, Drawn & Quarterly)ĭucks is an autobiographical graphic novel that recounts author Kate Beaton's time spent working in the Alberta oil sands. Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands is a book by Kate Beaton.

Ghost Country by Patrick Lee