Toronto’s best bookshops

Toronto’s winter snowfall is fortuitous; you can follow my tracks through the city, which is home to more writers than anywhere else in the country. Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, Rohinton Mistry, Ann-Marie MacDonald – even John Irving is a part-time resident. The country’s major publishing houses are all located here, and it’s Toronto where the industry gathers to award the Giller Prize each November.

When I leave my apartment, my shelves remain behind but the books follow me. There are no walking tours of Toronto’s literary landmarks, as in London or New York, but as the city has grown (it’s now the seventh-largest in North America), our authors have done a commendable job of translating its streets and alleyways into poetry and prose.

I live three blocks from the historic St. Lawrence Market (pictured above), an area of the city brilliantly captured by Michael Redhill in his 2006 novel Consolation, one of the finest pieces of historical Canadian fiction to be published in recent years. I board the Queen streetcar, steps from my house, which takes me west to Trinity-Bellwoods, the city’s best park and, coincidentally, across the street from Type Books at 883 Queen St. West, a cleverly curated bookstore and a champion of the city’s independent publishers.

I walk north until I reach College Street, the heart of the city’s Little Italy, where I always make sure to check out the new arrivals at Balfour Books, 468 College St. From here I walk east, passing through the University of Toronto’s historic campus, and ultimately arriving at Yonge Street, the city’s spine.

A ten-minute walk to the south is BMV Books (10 Edward St, +1 416 977 3087), where I always find a book I didn’t know I was looking for.

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