I had the pleasure of being at the Canada Reads announcement for 2009 in the CBC atrium yesterday. It was informative, entertaining and had just the right amount of ceremony about it. Personally I can’t wait for the radio show, which will be hosted by Jian Ghomeshi (radio broadcaster of my heart) from March 2-6. Here are the nominated books:
- The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill (championed by TV personality Avi Lewis).
- Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards (championed by singer Sarah Slean).
- The Outlander by Gil Adamson (championed by actor Nicholas Campbell).
- The Fat Woman Next Door is Pregnant (La grosse femme d’à côté est enceinte ) by Michel Tremblay, translated by Sheila Fischman (championed by TV host Anne-Marie Withenshaw0.
- Fruit by Brian Francis (championed by author Jen Sookfong Lee).
You’ve got 3.5 months to read it all, and the last two are quite short. Go for it! I’ve already read one (The Book of Negroes) and have had plans for Fruit and the Outlander for a while. You can also get a discount and a nifty bag when you buy them from the cbc. If you’ve reviewed any of these books already (or plan to in the future) feel free to leave your links in the comments!
CBC has engaged a resident blogger to release interesting tidbits until the show airs in March and it is totally worth checking out.
Happy Reading Canada!
Quill & Quire’s website summary of the 2009 Canada Reads picks is bang on.
And the timing is perfect – we’ve all just slogged through CanLit Awards Season. I wonder how the Canada Reads winner fits into literati circles.
Is winning Canada Reads now the Stanley Cup for Canadian books?
Lets wait and see.
Kathleen Molloy
Well, CR is second only to the Giller in terms of sales and getting bigger every year – so if it isn’t the Stanley Cup for Canadian books yet, it may one day be!
Aside from its impassioned advocacy, I think CR is fantastic because it isn’t restricted to this year’s books – it can bring back books that are out of print or have been out of the public attention for a long time.