Canada Reads

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Canada Reads is an annual "battle of the books" competition organized and broadcast by Canada's public broadcaster, the CBC.

Contents

[edit] Overview

During Canada Reads, five personalities champion five different books, each champion extolling the merits of one of the titles over a series of five programs. At the end of each episode, the panelists vote one title "off the island" until only one book remains. This book is then billed as the book that all of Canada should read.

Canada Reads was first broadcast on CBC's Radio One in 2002; since its third edition it has been broadcast on Radio One and on television on CBC Newsworld. The fourth edition of Canada Reads ran from February 21 to 25, 2005. The fifth edition will be broadcast from April 17 to 21, 2006, but only on Radio One.

The candidate books for each edition of Canada Reads are announced several months before the programs are broadcast. They are then promoted in bookstores, in the hope that the listening and viewing public will purchase and read them all before the programs air. In some cases, publishers have published special editions of the nominated titles. The publisher of the final Canada Reads title makes a donation to charity. In 2005 this a portion of sales proceeds of the winning book went to The Movement for Canadian Literacy.

Radio-Canada, the French-language service of CBC, produced a French version of Canada Reads in 2004 entitled Le combat des livres ("Battle of the books"), broadcast from March 29 to April 2 on La Première Chaîne. Another edition was broadcast from March 14 to March 18, 2005.

[edit] Canada Reads 2002

Canada Reads 2002 aired from April 16 to 19, 2002. The winning title was announced on April 23, 2002, Canada Book Day.

Mary Walsh was the moderator.

The books selected for Canada Reads 2002 and their respective champions were:

The winning title was In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje.

[edit] Canada Reads 2003

Canada Reads 2003 aired from April 21 to 25, 2003. Bill Richardson was the moderator.

The books selected for Canada Reads 2003 and their respective champions were:

The winning title was Next Episode by Hubert Aquin.

[edit] Canada Reads 2004

Canada Reads 2004 aired on both CBC Radio and CBC Newsworld.

Bill Richardson was the moderator.

The books selected for Canada Reads 2004 and their respective champions were:

The winning title was The Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhaeghe.

[edit] Canada Reads 2005

Canada Reads 2005 was broadcast from February 21 to 25, 2005.

CBC Radio host Bill Richardson was again the moderator.

The books selected for Canada Reads 2005 and their respective champions were:

The winning title was Rockbound by Frank Parker Day.

[edit] Canada Reads 2006

Canada Reads 2006 was broadcast from April 17 to 21, 2006.

CBC Radio host Bill Richardson was again the moderator.

The books selected for Canada Reads 2006 and their respective champions were:

The winning title was A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews.

[edit] Canada Reads 2007

Canada Reads 2007 will air from February 26 to March 2, 2007. Bill Richardson will again moderate the competition.

For the 2007 competition, each of the five winning advocates from past series will return to champion a new title in an "all-star" edition of the series. The books chosen by the participants were revealed in late November 2006, in a series of interviews conducted by Richardson on Sounds Like Canada. The titles and champions are:

  • Children of My Heart by Gabrielle Roy, championed by Denise Bombardier
  • Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill, championed by John K. Samson
  • Natasha and Other Stories by David Bezmozgis, championed by Steven Page
  • The Song of Kahunsha by Anosh Irani, championed by Donna Morrissey
  • Stanley Park by Timothy Taylor championed by Jim Cuddy.

[edit] Le combat des livres 2004

Radio-Canada, the French-language service of CBC, aired a French version of Canada Reads entitled Le combat des livres from March 29 to April 2, 2004. It was moderated by Marie-France Bazzo.

The books selected for Le combat des livres and their respective champions were:

The winning title was Un dimanche à la piscine à Kigali by Gil Courtemanche.

[edit] Le combat des livres 2005

Radio-Canada, the French-language service of CBC, aired a French version of Canada Reads entitled Le combat des livres from March 14 to March 18, 2005. It was moderated by Marie-France Bazzo.

The books selected for Le combat des livres 2005 and their respective champions were:

The winning title was L'avalée des avalés by Réjean Ducharme.

[edit] Le combat des livres 2006

Radio-Canada, the French-language service of CBC, aired a French version of Canada Reads entitled Le combat des livres from January 30 to February 3, 2006. It was moderated by Marie-France Bazzo.

The books selected for Le combat des livres 2006 and their respective champions were:

  • Un petit pas pour l'homme by Stéphane Dompierre, championed by comedian Louis-José Houde
  • Une coquille de silence, the French-language translation of Deafening by Frances Itani, championed by lawyer and author Maureen McTeer (this is the same title that McTeer championed in Canada Reads 2006)
  • Comment devenir un monstre by Jean Barbe, championed by actor Lucie Laurier
  • La femme de ma vie by Francine Noël, championed by journalist Françoise Guénette
  • Prochain épisode by Hubert Aquin championed by actor Pierre Lebeau (Next Episode, the English-language translation of Prochain épisode, was championed by journalist Denise Bombardier in Canada Reads 2003, where it won the competition)

The winning title was La femme de ma vie by Francine Noël.

[edit] Success

As a vehicle to promote interest in reading and books and to increase sales, Canada Reads has been a signal success. Even already successful titles see increases in sales driven by their inclusion in the contest: sales of Michael Ondaatje's In The Skin of A Lion increased by 80,000 in 2002, the year of its appearance on Canada Reads. Its publisher, Random House of Canada attributed much of this increase to Canada Reads.

The success for lesser known titles can be as marked. Hubert Aquin's Next Episode sold 18,500 copies in the year when it won Canada Reads.

For the 2005 edition, sales of Jacques Poulin's Volkswagen Blues, which usually are about 200 copies a year, increased to 7,500 between the time the nominations were announced and the shows began airing. During the same period, 7000 copies of Frank Parker Day's Rockbound were shipped by its publisher, the University of Toronto Press.

[edit] Criticism

There has been some criticism of Canada Reads. First, criticism has been made of the use of "celebrity" panelists. Criticism has also been made of the game show format, and the fact that discussion of books often remained on a superficial level.

Criticism has also been made of the choice of books; originally each panelist provided a list of five books, from which the producers chose the final contenders. In 2005, this process changed, and the panelists submitted only one choice. (The fact that Molly Johnson had to step in and defend Rufus Wainwright's choice threw a spanner in the works to a certain extent.)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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