A Winnipeg Free Press Top Read of 2021


The thirteenth installment of Canada's annual volume of essays showcases diverse nonfiction writing from across the country.


“The exceptional essay,” writes editor Bruce Whiteman, “derives from a passionate feeling, love and anger being perhaps its upper and lower limits, coexisting with a desire for truth, and it aims for the radiance of what is.” In the 2021 edition of Best Canadian Essays, Whiteman’s selections seek truth in all the places it may be found, from walks in brambled woods and ancient cities to memories of childhoods that shape a life; to analyses of artifacts both legislative and cultural that advance equality long overdue; to reports from the field that articulate the poetry of the present, the invisibility of the poor, the social contours and consuming mental contagions of the ongoing pandemic. Drawn from leading magazines and journals published in 2020, the fifteen essays gathered here brilliantly illuminate what is.


Featuring work by:


Neil Besner

Catherine Bush

Yvonne Blomer

Jenna Butler

Elizabeth Dauphinee

Eva-Lynn Jagoe

Mark Kingwell

Frances Koziar

Hilary Morgan V. Leathem

Stephanie Nolen

Kevin Patterson

Soraya Roberts

Ian Waddell

Sheila Watt-Cloutier

Joyce Wayne

Rob Winger