And the winner of this year’s CBC Canada Reads competition is… Nikolski by Nicholas Dickner! The winner was announced last week, I don’t want to brag or anything but I guessed it. Every year CBC hosts a three-month battle, where five celebrity panelists defend their favourite Canadian fiction novel.
This year it was between:
Good to Fault – Marina Endicott
Nikolski – Nicolas Dickner
Generation X – Douglas Coupland
The Jade Peony – Wayson Choy
Fall on your knees – Ann-Marie MacDonald
I love this competition because people actually get involved in it. As soon as the shortlist was announced people would come into the store, pick up all five books and just buy them without even looking at the back. Good on you CBC.
But some people were disappointed with the five choices this year. Canada Reads was created to promote Canlit, but do authors Douglas Coupland and Ann-Marie Macdonald need CBC’s help? They are already well-established Canadian authors whose books are already bestsellers. Also most of these books were published by multi-national publishing houses instead of born Canadian houses, so is CBC really promoting the growth of Canlit or keeping it too mainstream? In response, the competitions Canada Also Reads and Canada Reads Independently were created.
The National Post, under the pseudonym of their book blog The Afterword, created their own competition, Canada Also Reads, which is exactly the same as Canada Reads – celebrity panelists, essays and debates – but with eight books, instead of just five:
My White Planet – Mark Anthony Jarman
The Day the Falls Stood Still – Cathy Marie Buchanan
Last Shot – Leon Rooke
The Best Laid Plan – Terry Fallis
You and the Pirates – Jocelyne Allen
Yellowknife – Steve Zipp
Come, Thou Tortoise – Jessica Grant
Fear of Fighting – Stacey May Fowles
Out of these eight books, I’ve only heard of two of them, while I know 4 out of 5 of the Canada Read nominees. If they continue hosting this competition it might actually encourage people to look beyond the mainstream Canlit. This year’s winner is Come, Thou Tortoise, which I’ve actually read, not sure if I agree with the choice though, and it is published Alfred A. Knopf, not exactly a struggling company.
Canada Reads Independently was also created to delve even deeper into the underworld of Canlit. It was created by Kerry Clare of Pickle Me This, who enjoys Canada Reads but found this year the books were too obvious unlike the previous year’s line up. She wanted books that would challenge her, that came out of nowhere, so she created her own list and own celebrity panel.
Moody Food – Ray Robertson
How Happy to Be – by Katrina Onstad
Wild Geese – by Martha Ostenso
Hair Hat – by Carrie Snyder
Century – by Ray Smith
Hair Hat looks really good! A collection of short stories, which I have never been able to wrap my head around, but they are all linked by one character; that might make it more bearable for me. The winner will be announced soon.
I like the idea behind the second two lists better, which lists do you prefer? Do you agree with Canada Reads 2010 or wishing for something else?
Living Literary 