Run like a Girl
A memoir of ambition, resilience and fighting for change
Run Like a Girl will be released in Canada and the United States on September 23, 2025, with a UK and Australian release to follow on November 4, 2025.
Read more about the book
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Catherine McKenna’s Bold and Unfiltered Memoir, Run Like A Girl, to be Published in Fall 2025 with Sutherland House
Toronto, ON – Run Like A Girl, a powerful new memoir by Catherine McKenna, Canada’s former Minister of Environment and Climate Change, will be published in North America on September 23, 2025, with a UK and Australian release to follow on November 4, 2025.
From Olympic dreams to the frontlines of politics and climate action, Run Like A Girl charts McKenna’s personal and political journey – from leading Canada’s climate plan to withstanding sexist attacks as “Climate Barbie.” Through a unique scrapbook-style format, McKenna blends candid personal stories, political insights, and reflections on motherhood, ambition, and activism. McKenna recounts her fight for climate policy, the ups and downs of public service, the tough decision
to leave politics, and her mission to empower women in leadership.
An inspiring account of reinvention, resilience and defiance in the face of expectations, Run Like A Girl captures McKenna’s decision to step away from politics and her new mission to support women in leadership and fight for climate justice around the globe.
“Run Like A Girl is about embracing the messiness of life and having the courage to run your own race – even when it’s hard, even when the path isn’t clear,” says McKenna. “I didn’t plan to write a memoir, especially not one with pictures and swim caps and stories about burnout and Barbie insults. Life has taught me that if you want to make change, you have to show up. Faking it and trying to meet the expectations of others is no way to live or make a difference. This book is my way of being honest about politics, parenting, and pushing for something better. I hope it inspires young women to run like a girl too.”
For readers of Becoming by Michelle Obama and No Logo by Naomi Klein, Run Like A Girl is a timely and deeply personal call to action – about finding your own path, breaking the rules, fighting for the future - on your own terms.
Run Like A Girl
By Catherine McKenna
Paperback | ISBN: 9781998365593 | $27.95 USD / $30.95 CAD
Ebook | ISBN: 9781998365876
Publication: September 23, 2025 (US & Canada); November 4, 2025 (UK & Australia) Pages: 160
Sales & Distribution
In Canada: Distributed by University of Toronto Press, sold by Manda Group In the US and international: Distributed and sold by Ingram Publisher Services
For media inquiries, advance review copies, or to request an interview with Catherine McKenna, please contact:
Sarah Miniaci-Davis, Director of Publicity, Sutherland House Books | Fitzhenry & Whiteside
T: 647-464-8029 / E: sarah@sutherlandhousebooks.com
"This is a bold, hopeful book for the next generation of changemakers written by someone who knows what it means to stand up, speak out, and keep going.”
- Mary Robinson, First woman president of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
"This book, like its author, is a game changer. McKenna’s engaging and audacious mix of words and pictures offers a behind-the scenes view on how a leader is made, in baby steps and giant leaps. Run Like A Girl is the stuff of an inspired and inspiring public and private life.”
- Leanne Shapton, Artist and author of Swimming Studies, winner of the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography
"Catherine McKenna's book is such a delight to read and experience. With disarming candour and charm, Mckenna charts her personal and political life in a book that will win the hearts of its readers, friends and foes."
- Heather O’Neill, best-selling novelist, short-story writer and essayist. Her most recent bestselling novel, The Lonely Hearts Hotel, won the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction.
A few words from Catherine McKenna about Run like a Girl
Catherine McKenna is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Climate and Nature Solutions. She is Canada's former minister of environment and climate change, and minister of infrastructure. She is chair of the UN Secretary General’s Expert Group Net Zero, founded Women Leading on Climate, practiced law in Canada and Indonesia, established a not-for-profit focused on providing justice for all, and worked for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Timor-Leste. She has three children, is an avid open water swimmer, and lives in Ottawa.
For more information about Catherine McKenna, go to her website: www.catherinemckenna.ca
Follow Catherine on:
Bluesky @cathmckenna.bsky.social
Instagram - @cathmckennaottcen
X - @cathmckenna
Facebook - @mckennaottawa
LinkedIn - @catherine-mckenna