CBC Canada Reads Announces Ali Hassan as Host + Theme and Longlist for 2017

The 2017 iteration of CBC's popular battle of the books, Canada Reads, will be hosted by actor ad comedian Ali Hassan, and will tackle the question "What is the one book Canadians need now?”

Last year's theme was "starting over" and resulted in a second victory for acclaimed author Lawrence Hill, whose novel The Illegal (HarperCollins Canada) was successfully championed by Olympian and humanitarian Clara Hughes.

The longlist will be whittled down in January 2017, but the CBC has announced that the final selections will be chosen from the following titles:

The Break by Katherena Vermette (House of Anansi)

Company Town by Madeline Ashby (Tor Books)

The Elephants in My Backyard by Rajiv Surendrja (Random House Canada)

even this page is white by Vivek Shraya (Arsenal Pulp Press)

Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis (Coach House Books)

I Am Woman by Lee Maracle (Press Gang)

The Just City by Jo Walton (Tor Books)

Knucklehead by Matt Lennox (HarperCollins)

Nostalgia by M.G. Vassanji (Doubleday Canada)

One Hour in Paris by Karyn L. Freedman (Freehand Books)

Quantum Night by Robert J. Sawyer (Viking Canada)

The Right to Be Cold by Sheila Watt-Cloutier (Penguin Canada)

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel (Del Rey)

Today I Learned It Was You by Edward Riche (House of Anansi)

Waiting for First Light by Roméo Dallaire, with Jessica Dee Humphreys (Random House Canada)

It's a strong list, with some particularly notable titles including Giller Prize winner Fifteen Dogs (Coach House Books) by André Alexis, Governor General's Award-nominated The Break (House of Anansi) by Katherena Vermette, and our own former columnist Vivek Shraya's even this page is white (Arsenal Pulp Press). 

Stay tuned for the announcement of the final books as well as their celebrity champions, in late January.