Thompson's first play, Crackwalker (1980), is an urban drama set in a slum in Kingston, Ontario. Famous for its fascinating bleakness, the play shows the failing relationship of a mentally impaired woman and a man who is not stable.

In Douglas Coupland's compelling novel Girlfriend in a Coma (1998), a teenager from Vancouver falls into a coma and misses seventeen years of her life. When she wakes up, her boyfriend and friends have grown up, and she must attempt to deal with a rapidly changing world.

Leaving Home (1972), by David French, is a play about a working-class family conflict in which two sons leave their father and their Newfoundland home. Critically acclaimed, it was extremely influential in the Canadian drama scene in the 1970s.

Jeff Karabanow's Being Young and Homeless: Understanding How Youth Enter and Exit Street Life (2004), Vol. 30 of the Adolescent...