CBC Canada Reads Announces Star Studded 2022 Longlist

CBC Books has announced the 15-title mixed genre Canada Reads longlist for the 21st iteration of the popular debate literary show. The list includes memoir, short fiction, and novels, including recent Giller Prize winner Omar Ek Akkad's What Strange Paradise. El Akkad joins his fellow Giller-winning alum Esi Edugyan on the list, which includes further star power with other highly decorated writers like Rivka Galchen, Catherine Hernandez, and Michelle Good, whose Five Little Indians was notably nominated for all three major Canadian fiction awards in 2020, winning the Governor General's Literary Award. 

The CBC Canada Reads 2022 longlist:

• The Spoon Stealer by Lesley Crewe
• Driven by Marcello Di Cintio
• Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
• What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad
• Book of Wings by Tawhida Tanya Evanson
• Satellite Love by Genki Ferguson 
• Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch by Rivka Galchen
• Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
• Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez
• All the Quiet Places by Brian Thomas Isaac 
• Dominoes at the Crossroads by Kaie Kellough
• Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia 
• Life in the City of Dirty Water by Clayton Thomas-Müller
• From My Mother's Back by Njoki Wane
• We Two Alone by Jack Wang 

The final five books will be selected from the longlist by the yet-to-be revealed panellists. The announcement of the panellists and their chosen titles will take place on January 26, 2022, and the debates will air March 28-31, with host Ali Hassan returning to shepherd the panellists through the often intense process of eliminating the books one by one until a final winner is crowned. 

As in past year, the debates will be broadcast on CBC Radio One, CBC TV, CBC Gem and on CBC Books. 

The winning title of Canada Reads often becomes one of the bestselling books of the year in Canada, with the so-called Canada Reads bump being coveted in Canadian publishing. 

Stay tuned to Open Book for coverage of the 2022 debates, and the announcement of the panellists and the books they will champion throughout.