Iryn Tushabe’s Everything is Fine Here is in consideration to be named ‘the one book that all Canadians should read,’ according to CBC’s annual list
Iryn Tushabe is in her first year of the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction program, but her literary career is well underway. Some of her accolades include being longlisted for the CBC Nonfiction Prize in 2016, winning the City of Regina Writing Award in 2020 and 2024, and the Writer’s Trust McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize in 2023.
In April 2025, Tushabe released her debut novel, Everything is Fine Here, with House of Anansi Press. The novel was selected as a CBC Best Book of 2025, and has now been included on the CBC Canada Reads 2026 longlist.
2026 marks the 25th edition of Canada Reads, a series where five Canadian celebrities each pick one book they think all Canadians should read and debate their choices to determine a winner. Everything is Fine Here is one of 15 contenders, including Rachel Reid’s Heated Rivalry and Billy-Ray Belcourt’s A Minor Chorus, that may be chosen by the panelists.
“I love Canada Reads,” says Tushabe. “I watch it every year. It would be a dream come true to see Everything is Fine Here championed as the book all Canadians should read in 2026!”
Tushabe says she found out about the selection a few days prior to the announcement, and that keeping the news to herself was tough. “Like my novel’s protagonist, I’m not good at keeping secrets.”
In the novel, set in Uganda, 18-year-old Aine Kamara grapples with the truth about her beloved older sister, who is gay in a country where homosexuality is illegal. As the novel unfolds, Aine is caught between disapproving parents, a hostile culture and a desire to see her sister thrive, all while maintaining her secret.
“I’m desperate for more people to know that regardless of the country’s brutal anti-homosexuality legislation, there are queer people in Uganda who are living their lives on their own terms and resisting oppression in clever, beautiful ways,” says Tushabe.
In addition to her literary success, Tushabe is also a recipient of the Sylvia D. Hamilton Award, a major entrance award established by Inglis Professor Dr. Sylvia D. Hamilton that recognizes academic excellence.
