It’s almost time for the biggest event on any Canadian book lover’s calendar: Canada Reads! The annual Battle of the Books began in 2002 and is hosted by CBC. Five celebrity advocates each choose a book to argue for in a series of knock-out debate rounds, until one title is chosen as the winner.
Canada Reads is meant to be accessible, appealing to a broad audience, and hopes to draw in new readers. The celebrity advocates for the books help the program reach audiences who may not have picked up that title otherwise. They also each choose the book they’re representing, and their passion for the story comes through in how they defend it. Most years, the only restriction is that the book be by a Canadian author, though some years have had more narrow themes. In 2012, for example, all contenders were non-fiction.
While the winner of Canada Reads does not receive a cash prize, appearing in the program generates a lot of buzz for the authors selected. Bookstores across the country put up displays for the featured books as soon as they are announced, and sales jump, especially for winners. Take Rockbound by Frank Parker Day, narrated by James Banning, for example. Before it appeared on Canada Reads in 2005, it sold roughly 200 copies a year. After it made the shortlist, it sold 7,000 copies in a few months.
Alongside the English language version of Canada Reads is Le Combat des livres, which airs on Radio-Canada Première and features French Canadian authors. Most years, one of the five titles will be an English book in translation, just like most Canada Reads competitions include a Québécois French book in translation. Lawrence Hill is the only author to have won both Canada Reads and Le Combat des livres with The Book of Negroes (Aminata in the French translation), beautifully narrated by Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah.
Last year, the winning book was The Future by Catherine Leroux, translated by Susan Ouriou and narrated by Karie Richards. It was represented by the author Heather O'Neill. O’Neill’s own novel Lullabies for Little Criminals won Canada Reads in 2007, making 2024 the first year someone had won Canada Reads both as a writer and an advocate.
In 2025, the theme for the debate is books that “change how we see, share and experience the world around us,” and the advocates are Maggie Mac Neil, Olympic gold medallist in swimming; Shayla Stonechild, actor and wellness advocate; Michelle Morgan, producer and actor in Heartland; Linwood Barclay, thriller writer; and Saïd M'Dahoma, a neuroscientist and pastry chef.
The debates will air between March 17 and March 20 on CBC TV, CBC Radio and CBC Books. If you’re not sure who to root for yet, here's an introduction to each of the books and their celebrity advocates, featuring insights each advocate shared with CBC.
Sarah has just moved across the country with her husband and their six-year-old son Jacob to escape from his former babysitter, Holly. Holly seemed like the perfect choice to watch Jacob, and he adored her. But Sarah had her suspicions, and the more she observed Holly, the more worried she became—until she witnessed something that made her grab her son and run. When she finds security cameras watching her in her new home, though, Sarah realizes she may not have run far enough to escape her past. Hillary Huber and Joy Osmanski both narrate the story, bringing the two main characters to life in this tense thriller.
Maggie Mac Neil is the celebrity advocate for Watch Out for Her. She has brought home three Olympic medals for Canada in swimming, and she is championing the first thriller to compete in Canada Reads. Mac Neil chose this novel as a reminder to Canadians that reading can be fun and engaging, not just educational: "You don't have to read a book to learn something. You can read something because you simply enjoy it. As someone who picked up reading more vigorously later in life, hopefully this book will encourage others if they haven't started that journey for themselves."
Through Marsha Knight’s engaging narration, Ma-Nee Chacaby shares her story of growing up in a remote Ojibwa community, coming out as a lesbian and becoming the leader she is today. Her community was haunted by the legacy of colonialism, and she endured poverty, abuse and alcoholism in her youth. She found strength in the traditional knowledge passed on to her by her Cree grandmother and Ojibwa stepfather. When she was 20, she moved to what became her adopted city, Thunder Bay. There, she began to heal from an abusive marriage, achieved sobriety, became an alcoholism counselor, came out, and raised her kids along with many foster children. In 2013, she led Thunder Bay’s first Pride parade.
Shayla Stonechild is a Red River Métis and Nehiyaw iskwew (Plains Cree woman) from Muscowpetung First Nation who uses her platform as a wellness influencer to amplify Indigenous voices, including in her work as the founder of Matriarch Movement. She chose to represent A Two-Spirit Journey in Canada Reads because, as she says, “This isn't just a book, it's a call to action ... This is a testimony to the strength, resilience, perseverance and love that we have within our bloodlines as Indigenous people.”
Etta is an 83-year-old woman living in Depression-era Saskatchewan who has decided to live her dream: to finally see the ocean. That means setting out on a 3,000-kilometre journey to Halifax with only a talking coyote named James to keep her company. Waiting for her back home is her husband, Otto, and their friend and neighbour Russell. As she makes the slow and grueling journey, Etta reflects on her life as a young woman surviving the Second World War and how her relationship with Otto and Russell has changed over the decades. Robert G. Slade’s narration transports listeners to different eras of Canadian history.
Michelle Morgan is an actor and filmmaker best known for her role as Lou in Heartland. She praises Etta and Otto and Russell and James for its spare and poignant writing that “captures the wonder and the hardships of Depression-era Saskatchewan.” Apart from the setting, Morgan argues Canadians should pick this up for its thought-provoking depiction of “love and loss and remembering and forgetting.”
Wayne Johnston is best known for his novels, like The Colony of Unrequited Dreams. In Jennie's Boy, he turns to non-fiction in an equal parts funny and moving account of six months of his childhood spent with his grandparents in Newfoundland. He was seven years old and too sick to go to school, though doctors couldn’t diagnose his illness. He spent those days with his maternal grandmother, Lucy. During those six months, they both faced their own mortality—but only one survived to tell the tale. Wayne Johnston narrates this himself, which, as we all know, is the ideal way to experience a memoir.
Johnston must be a writer’s writer, because his book is represented by the bestselling author Linwood Barclay, famous for his thrillers like No Time for Goodbye. Barclay credits Johnston’s skill partly to his childhood: “They say that for a writer, the best thing that can happen to you is to have a dysfunctional, miserable childhood. And in that regard, Wayne hit the jackpot.” He also chose Jennie's Boy because “as dark as it may be, it's also very funny.”
As a new mother, Lily can’t stop thinking about her own mother’s disappearance when she was 11. Swee Hua walked out on her family in the spring of 1987 and was never heard from again. Now, Lily is determined to find out what happened. She returns to her small B.C. hometown to find answers, but her family refuses to provide them. Lily knows that her mother longed to return to Brunei, while her previously stateless father was eager to assimilate into a town with very few other Asian families. When she digs deep enough, she discovers a clue that leads her to Southeast Asia. Jennifer Hui’s affecting narration sweeps listeners up into a story of isolation, belonging and family secrets.
Dandelion is championed by Saïd M'Dahoma, a French Comorian Canadian pastry chef with a PhD in neuroscience who is known online as The Pastry Nerd. This story resonated with him for its depiction of immigration: "What Dandelion brilliantly does is that it shows that there's not just one immigrant story. There are so many different stories, so many different dreams and aspirations that immigrants can have when they come.”
Be sure to tune in March 17-20 to see which of these five books is named the winner of Canada Reads! Regardless, each of these books is well worth a listen, and you can expect them to be taking over Canadian book clubs from coast to coast.
