André Alexis adds CBC Canada Reads Win to the Accolades for Fifteen Dogs

Canada Reads has wrapped for another year, with a tense final day coming to a close this morning at the CBC studios in Toronto. In a 4-1 vote, André Alexis' novel Fifteen Dogs (Coach House Books) took home the crown, adding to the book's already impressive list of accolades, which includes the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Fifteen Dogs' victorious champion was Humble The Poet, who was praised by the other debaters for having brought new and interesting arguments to the table today in favour of his chosen book. 

Debut novelist Madeline Ashby's Company Town (Tor Books) was the other final contender, robustly defended by soprano Measha Brueggergosman, who was gracious when it became clear that Fifteen Dogs was the winner, warmly hugging and congratulating Humble. 

That doesn't mean it was an easy or even friendly road to the end, however; the debates were marked by strong stances and passionate disagreements throughout the week. Just today, panelist Chantal Kreviazuk (who was previously defending The Right to Be Cold by Sheila Watt-Cloutier) lamented her book being knocked out of the competition, saying "we may as well be debating what book Canadians need to take to the beach [after Watt-Cloutier's book was elimiated]". She later warmed to Humble's reading of Fifteen Dogs, however, noting "We are exposed in our humanness in Fifteen Dogs".

The final day's debates also featured some outside voices: first the panelists were encouraged with recorded messages of advice from past winners, and later, the two authors still represented in the competition had recorded messages played, thanking their respective panelists for their hard work. Alexis took a tongue in cheek tone, jokingly reminding Humble that his kitchen needs to be painted and asking him to bring home a win.

The end of the debate saw Brueggergosman and Humble each given 30 seconds to make a final appeal to their fellow panelists, time that each of them put to good use. Humble for his part stressed the lessons contained in Fifteen Dogs, noting that the novel demonstrates that "happiness is not about what happens to you, it's about what you do with what happens to you." Brueggergosman made a heartfelt appeal for Company Town, noting the Alexis' book has already been widely celebrated and that Ashby, as both a debut novelist and a genre writer (Company Town is a speculative fiction tale set in a somewhat dystopian near future), "represents a new voice [and] we have to make room for her." She added wryly, "This isn't Canada Re-reads." 

But the votes came in with each of the now "free agent" panelists (Kreviazuk, Candy Palmater, and Jody Mitic, each of whom had been defending a book that had already been voted off) voting to remove Company Town from the competition and declare Fifteen Dogs the winner. 

Alexis was connected via phone link with the studio upon the announcement of the winner, and congratulated his champion, saying "I think Humble is amazing". 

Both Humble the Poet and André Alexis will be on CBC's q tomorrow morning. Tune into catch them at 10:00 tomorrow morning.