2025 TMU Alumni Book List
Searching for the perfect book for your next book club discussion? Look no further! We’re thrilled to present an exciting list of 2025 book releases by Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) alumni. Whether you’re drawn to stories about fashion and romance, thrilling mysteries, radical life changes, science, conservation or children’s education, this diverse collection has something for everyone.
Dive into these must-read titles and return to this page throughout the year as we continue to add new titles!
Hunters in Paradise: Tales of a Nassau Childhood
Authors: Lorraine Hunter, Journalism ’66 and Janice Winton, Accounting and Finance ’79
Release: January 2025
Hunters in Paradise: Tales of a Nassau Childhood follows Lorraine and her sister Janice as they move from snowy Calgary to Nassau, Bahamas, in the late 1950s. Their father, tired of the cold, relocates the family, leading to cultural adjustments and a trove of unforgettable tales, which they’ve encapsulated in a memoir of their tropical life.
The Rehearsal Club
Authors: Kate Fodor and Laurie Petrou (external link, opens in new window) , Communication & Culture (PhD) ’10
Release: February 2025
A mystery spans decades at the Rehearsal Club in this story of sisterhood, friendship and following your dreams under marquee lights.
From the Rez to the Runway
Author: Christian Allaire (external link, opens in new window) , Journalism ’14
Release: March 2025
From grinding as an unpaid intern, to becoming a glitzy (but overworked) fashion editor, Allaire writes with feeling about the struggle to find his place — and community — in the highly exclusive world of fashion. Full of joy, honesty, adversity and great clothes, From the Rez to the Runway is a gripping memoir about how to achieve your dreams — and elevate others — while always remaining true to yourself.
In the Company of Killers
Author: Elora Cook (external link, opens in new window) , Creative Industries ’20
Release: March 2025
Gossip Girl meets The Sopranos in this fast-paced drama about a teenage mafia heiress who would do anything to avenge her family, even join forces with her handsome enemy.
Sucker Punch
Author: Scaachi Koul (external link, opens in new window) , Journalism ’12
Release: March 2025
Named by Vulture and Literary Hub as one of 2025’s Most Anticipated Releases, Sucker Punch is about what happens when the life you thought you’d be living radically changes course, everything you thought you knew about the world and yourself has tilted on its axis, and you have to start forging a new path forward.
Canada and the Blackface Atlantic
Author: Cheryl Thompson, Communication & Culture ’07
Release: April 2025
Canada and the Blackface Atlantic traces the origins of theatre, dance, and concert singing in Canada and their connection to British and American song and dance traditions.
Jane and David’s Starter Guide to Saving the World: Family Activities to Interest Your Kid Animal Scientist
Authors: J.J. Johnson (external link, opens in new window) and Christin Simms (external link, opens in new window) , Radio and Television Arts ’02, and Colleen Russo Johnson
Release: April 2025
Inspired by Jane, the Apple + TV series, Jane and David’s Starter Guide to Saving the World explores the lives, inspirations and adventures of 10 notable experts in the field of animal conservation and protection from around the world, and gives readers tools and activities to help them take action in their own backyard.
Let’s Talk Podcasting for Kids
Author: Amanda Cupido, Journalism ’12
Release: April 2025
Adult readers all over the world have praised Amanda Cupido’s first book, Let’s Talk Podcasting: The Essential Guide to Doing it Right. Now it’s time to empower a different audience to love their voice and everything it has to say.
The Night Sparrow
Author: Shelly Sanders, Journalism ’99
Release: April 2025
Inspired by real female snipers and interpreters who worked in the Red Army during World War II, The Night Sparrow is a portrait of friendship, resilience and courage under extraordinary circumstances.
Restaurant Kid: A Memoir of Family and Belonging
Author: Rachel Phan, Journalism (MA) ’13
Release: April 2025
A warm and poignant narrative about finding one’s self amidst the grind of restaurant life, the cross-generational immigrant experience, and a daughter’s attempts to connect with parents who have always been just out of reach.
Small Ceremonies
Author: Kyle Edwards, Journalism ’17
Release: April 2025
Ferociously piercing the heart of an Indigenous city, Kyle Edwards's sparkling debut is a heartbreaking yet humour-flecked portrayal of navigating identity and place, trauma and recovery, and growing up in a land that doesn't love you. Recipient of the 2025 Governor General’s Award for Fiction.
One Golden Summer
Author: Carley Fortune (external link, opens in new window) , Journalism ’06
Release: May 2025
A radiant, new escape to the lake, #1 New York Times bestselling author Carley Fortune has penned a companion novel to her beloved first book, Every Summer After.
Widows and Orphans
Authors: Elizabeth Renzetti (external link, opens in new window) , Journalism ’88, and Kate Hilton
Release: May 2025
Journalist Cat Conway is looking forward to an easy assignment covering a major wellness and self-actualization summit at the Pinerock Resort. Cat’s mother, Marian Conway, bestselling author and defiantly mediocre parent, is on the agenda — and so is murder.
In Crisis, On Crisis: Essays in Troubled Times
Author: James Cairns, Communication and Culture (PhD) ’08
Release: June 2025
In a series of insightful essays that move deftly between personal, theoretical and historical approaches Cairns considers not only what makes something a crisis, but also how to navigate the effect of these destabilizing times on ourselves, on our families and on the world.
Writing Mr. Right
Author: Alina Khawaja (external link, opens in new window) , Literatures of Modernity ’22
Release: June 2025
In this charming, delightfully original rom-com, a struggling writer’s muse suddenly comes to life, but can they create their own happily-ever-after?
Cinephile: The Adnan Virk: Interviews, Essays, and Tales from the Red Carpet
Author: Adnan Virk, Radio and Television Arts ’00
Release: August 2025
Cinephile is a sharp, heartfelt, and wildly entertaining celebration of cinema from ESPN broadcaster and podcast host Adnan Virk. Drawing from hundreds of episodes of his long-running Cinephile podcast, Virk captures the magic of movies—not just the films themselves, but the moments that surround them: the midnight screenings, the awkward celebrity run-ins, the times we felt seen by characters on-screen more than by the people in our lives.
Engagement Economics
Author: Diondra Filicetti, Graphic Communications Management ’16
Release: August 2025
In today’s fast-paced economy, it’s not enough to focus on strategy and systems alone. Your people are your greatest asset…or your greatest liability. It all depends on one thing: their level of engagement. Engagement Economics reveals how businesses can boost performance and profitability by prioritizing your team’s fundamental needs for engagement.
October 7th: Searching for the Humanitarian Middle
Author: Marsha Lederman, Radio and Television Arts ’88
Release: August 2025
In this emotional missive from the diaspora, Globe and Mail columnist Marsha Lederman gathers her columns searching for the humanitarian middle of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
On the Ground
Author: Brian Stewart, Journalism ’64, Honorary Doctor of Journalism ’14
Release: September 2025
On the Ground is the powerful memoir of Brian Stewart, one of Canada’s most respected foreign correspondents. From the Gulf War to the Ethiopian famine, Stewart takes readers behind the scenes of history’s triumphs and tragedies, reflecting on the personal and professional cost of bringing truth home.
Yaya and the Dan-Tats
Author: Camellia Koo, Theatre Production ’99
Release: September 2025
A joyful picture book about all the mischief a young girl and her Yaya get up to–and all the friends they make and dan-tats they eat! — during her weekly visits to his long-term care home. A gentle introduction to adjusting to change and uncertainty, Yaya and the Dan-Tats showcases the unexpected fun and the community that can be found anywhere, even in unfamiliar places.
Against the Grain: Defiant Giants Who Changed the World
Author: Terry O’Reilly, Radio and Television Arts ’81
Release: October 2025
In Terry’s bestselling book, My Best Mistake, he uncovers the surprising power of screwing up. Now, he turns his incredible eye to the mavericks who go “against the grain” in their work to see what makes them tick and to explore what lessons we can learn from them.
Autumn Nights, Holiday Lights
Author: Elle Douglas, Radio and Television Arts ’06
Release: October 2025
TMU alumna and author Elle Douglas delivers a heartwarming holiday romance where fake snow, an ex with a director’s chair, and plenty of holiday sparks prove that love might just steal the show.
The Black Wolf
Author: Louise Penny (external link, opens in new window) , Radio and Television Arts ’79, Honorary Doctor of Letters ’21
Release: October 2025
Out of the silence, something deadly arises, in the 20th mystery in the #1 New York Times-bestselling Armand Gamache series, which concludes the story begun in Penny’s The Grey Wolf.
Keep This For Me
Author: Jennifer Fawcett, Theatre Performance ’04
Release: October 2025
Jennifer Fawcett returns with a gripping, atmospheric suspense novel about a woman investigating a serial killer’s connection to her mother’s disappearance — for fans of I Have Some Questions for You and Notes on an Execution.
Self Help Me
Author: Dena Jackson, Public Relations ’12
Release: October 2025
Self Help Me was created to share some honest, funny, and personal stories along with wellness tools that you can use to process heavy emotions. It’s a compilation of real-life experiences, interviews and holistic resources that you’re able to access all in one place.
Shadows of the Unknowns
Author: Michael Talledes, Law and Business, ’14
Release: October 2025
In a post-pandemic world shaken by a downed UFO, a scientist, a soldier, and five teens are thrust into a race to uncover a deadly government conspiracy and stop a threat that could destroy humanity.
Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts
Author: Margaret Atwood, Honorary Doctor of Letters ’12
Release: November 2025
How does one of the greatest storytellers of our time write her own life? In the long-awaited memoir of one of our most lauded and influential cultural figures, Atwood unfolds the story of her life, linking seminal moments to the books that have shaped our literary landscape, from the cruel year that spawned Cat’s Eye to the Orwellian 1980s Berlin where she wrote The Handmaid’s Tale.
One Last Christmas Wish
Author: Elle Douglas, Radio and Television Arts ’06
Release: November 2025
In One Last Christmas Wish, nostalgic charm collides with big-city ambition, old memories rekindle, sparks fly, and two opposites may find a future they never saw coming.
We Breed Lions: Confronting Canada’s Troubled Hockey Culture
Author: Rick Westhead, Journalism ’02
Release: November 2025
A hard-hitting and powerful look at hockey’s moment of reckoning in Canada, and the ways in which a game that is so universally loved has been rocked in recent years by court cases involving sexual assault and shocking incidents of hazing and abuse throughout junior hockey.
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