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2025 Summer Book Recommendations June 11, 2025 – Posted in: Book Club, Book Recs, Uncategorised

From Mawenzi House Publishers to our devoted readers, summer has officially started! This summer we want to shine some sunlight on our fiction titles. From teenagers attempting to destroy Shakespeare’s manuscripts, to small Indian Muslim communities torn apart by archaic social customs, embark on a journey with these six books. 1. The Blessed Curse by Sarmad Sehbai  We start our summer reading list with a dark comedy about searching for a male aphrodisiac. A group…

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A Mawenzi House Holiday Gift Guide December 4, 2020 – Posted in: Gift Guides

With so many family members to love on, friends to delight, and colleagues to impress during the gift-gifting season, many of us find ourselves overwhelmed by the endless browsing and comparing and guessing and shortlisting that goes into holiday shopping. Thankfully, we know that books remain evergreen gifts—they are wonderfully aesthetic, provide long hours of enjoyment, and have lasting significance for those who receive them. Here at Mawenzi House, we’ve put together a gift guide for you so that finding that memorable book for…

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What We’re Reading May 8, 2020 – Posted in: Book Recs, From the Publisher

There’s no doubt that this pandemic has either broken your reading stride, or encouraged you to read more than ever before. Here’s what us here at Mawenzi House have been reading lately. See anything you’d want to read? Nurjehan Aziz, Publisher The lockdown due to Covid-19 has afforded me a chance to catch up on reading books that have long sat on my bookshelf, a collection that I would look at everyday and shake my…

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Holiday Gift Guide November 11, 2019 – Posted in: Gift Guides

Struggling to find the perfect gift? It’s no secret that books are a great choice, but let’s face it…not just any book will do! Supporting diverse Canadian lit this year is just as important (and rewarding!) Imagine helping your friend or family member discover their next favourite author that they wouldn’t have chosen for themselves. You’ll be the holiday lit(erary) hero in no time at all! So before you hit the bookstores, check out our…

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Pride Highlight: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha June 24, 2019 – Posted in: Book Recs, Highlights

More about Leah: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha is a queer disabled femme writer and performer of Burgher/Tamil Sri Lankan and Irish/Roma ascent. Her most recent titles are the nonfiction book Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice (2018) and the poetry book Tonguebreaker (2019). Her memoir Dirty River was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award and a Publishing Triangle Award (Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction). She is also author of the poetry books Bodymap and Love…

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National Indigenous People’s Day: Featuring Joseph A. Dandurand June 20, 2019 – Posted in: Book Recs, Highlights, Holidays & Observances

In celebration of National Indigenous People’s Day, we are celebrating with Joseph A. Dandurand, and his newest book of poetry, SH:LAM (The Doctor), where he lives the experiences of an Aboriginal people brought to the edge of extinction. In the Author’s Note, Joseph says: “The poems in this collection tell the truth of what has happened to my people. The Kwantlen people used to number in the thousands, but 80% of our people were wiped…

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Pride Highlight: Trish Salah June 19, 2019 – Posted in: Book Recs, Highlights

  More about Trish: Born in Halifax, Trish Salah is the author of the Lambda award winning Wanting in Arabic, and of Lyric Sexology Vol. 1, and co-editor of a special issue of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly on Transgender Cultural Production. She has fiction in the science fiction and fantasy anthology, Meanwhile, Elsewhere and poetry in numerous magazines, including Anomaly, Prism International and Supplement. In 2018 she was a finalist for the Dayne Ogilvie prize.…

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Pride Highlight: Kagiso Lesego Molope June 4, 2019 – Posted in: Book Recs, Highlights

More about Kagiso: Kagiso Lesego Molope was born and educated in South Africa. Her first novel, Dancing in the Dust (Mawenzi House) was on the IBBY Honour List for 2006. Her second novel, The Mending Season, was chosen to be on the school curriculum in South Africa. This Book Betrays My Brother was awarded the Percy Fitzpatrick Prize by the English Academy of Southern Africa, where it was first published. The Canadian edition received a…

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