May is Short Story Month, and with the Victoria Day long weekend coming up here in Canada, you might consider picking up a collection to read while hanging out in the backyard, on the balcony, or in the park. Here are a few by Canadian writers I’ve particularly enjoyed

How to Pronounce Knife

It’s probably no surprise to see this one on the list. Souvankham Thammavonga’s short story collection, How to Pronounce Knife, won the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize and has received much praise, both in Canada and beyond. I found these stories about the immigrant experience to be achingly beautiful.

That Time I Loved You

I was hooked from the first sentence of Carrianne Leung’s book That Time I Loved You: “1979: This was the year the parents in my neighbourhood began killing themselves.” This collection focuses on a group of neighbours in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough in the 1970s. Reading these stories was like wandering the neighbourhood and peering into the windows of the houses. I loved learning the secrets of these characters–the parts of themselves their neighbours didn’t get to see.

Coconut Dreams

The stories in Coconut Dreams by Derek Mascarenhas centre around a brother and sister, first-generation Canadians whose parents emigrated from India. I enjoyed the different perspectives in the stories as they told the experiences of the siblings, exploring themes of innocence, identity, and belonging.

13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl

In Mona Awad’s 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, thirteen stories show protagonist Lizzie at thirteen stages of her life, from her teenage years to adulthood. We see Lizzie struggle with her weight and with her relationships of all kinds. I was impressed with how each story worked as a standalone piece, but, when read together, they provided such a strong sense of Lizzie’s character.

The Toronto Book of the Dead

When I think of the short story as a genre, I think of fiction. But I suppose it doesn’t have to be. With Adam Bunch’s book The Toronto Book of the Dead, I think it’s fair to say this is a collection of short stories, even if the stories are true. It was fascinating to learn about Toronto’s history through these tales of some of the city’s most interesting deaths. (I happen to be currently reading Bunch’s new book, The Toronto Book of Love, which may appeal more, if you’re not feeling the morbid stuff so much.)