Watch the Canada Reads 2024 book trailers
The great Canadian book debate takes place March 4-7
Canada Reads 2024 will take place March 4-7.
This year, the great Canadian book debate is looking for one book to carry us forward.
When we are at a crossroads, when uncertainty is upon us, when we have faced challenges and are ready for the future, how do we know where to go next? This collection of books is about finding the resilience and the hope needed to carry on and keep moving forward.
The 2024 contenders are:
- Athlete and CBC Sports contributor Dallas Soonias champions Bad Cree by Jessica Johns
- Former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi champions Denison Avenue by Christina Wong & Daniel Innes
- Fashion influencer Mirian Njoh champions Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune
- Actor Kudakwashe Rutendo champions Shut Up You're Pretty by Téa Mutonji
- Author Heather O'Neill champions The Future by Catherine Leroux, translated by Susan Ouriou
Canada Reads will be hosted by Ali Hassan and will be broadcast on CBC Radio One, CBC TV, CBC Gem, CBC Listen and on CBC Books.
The debates will take place live at 10:05 a.m. ET. You can tune in live or catch a replay on the platform of your choice. You can see all the broadcast details here.
Watch the book trailers and get to know the creators behind them below!
Bad Cree by Jessica Johns
Bad Cree is a horror-infused novel that centres around a young woman named Mackenzie, who is haunted by terrifying nightmares and wracked with guilt about her sister Sabrina's untimely death. The lines between her dreams and reality start to blur when she begins seeing a murder of crows following her around the city — and starts getting threatening text messages from someone claiming to be her dead sister.
Looking to escape, Mackenzie heads back to her hometown in rural Alberta where she finds her family still entrenched in their grief. With her dreams intensifying and getting more dangerous, Mackenzie must confront a violent family legacy and reconcile with the land and her community.
Bad Cree will be championed by athlete and CBC Sports contributor Dallas Soonias.
The trailer for Bad Cree was created by Bree Island and Surah Negi, the owners and visual artists of Mixed Creatives, an Indigenous-owned indie VFX and animation studio in the Coast Salish territories.
Island is member of the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation. She is an artist with a focus on illustration, design and Woodland art, a nêhiyaw storytelling visual art form. She hopes that her art will share Cree worldviews and teachings to bring healing to her family and community.
Hailing from the Himalayas, Negi is an expert in VFX and CGI, working on numerous commercial and independent animation. His practice highlights stories exploring ancestral knowledge, acts of resistance and metamorphoses.
The trailer for Bad Cree was narrated by Tanis Parenteau, the actor and producer who also narrated the audiobook. Parenteau is a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta.
Her acting credits include Billions, FBI: Most Wanted, Gossip Girl, Sweet Summer Pow Wow and Rehab. She produced Dating Indian, which won Best Comedy at Edmonton Short Film Festival and received an AMPIA Rosie Award nomination for Best Scripted Production Under 30 Minutes. Her APTN lumi digital original series Jason premiered earlier this month.
Ashy July did the sound design and wrote the script.
Denison Avenue by Christina Wong & Daniel Innes
Set in Toronto's Chinatown and Kensington Market, Denison Avenue is a moving portrait of a city undergoing mass gentrification and a Chinese Canadian elder experiencing the existential challenges of getting old and being Asian in North America. Recently widowed, Wong Cho Sum takes long walks through the city, collecting bottles and cans and meeting people on her journeys in a bid to ease her grief.
Denison Avenue will be championed by former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi.
The trailer for Denison Avenue was created by Daniel Innes, one of the co-creators of the book.
Innes is a multidisciplinary artist who splits his time between Toronto and rural Hyōgo, Japan. He works in painting, installation, graphic and textile design, illustration, sign painting and tattooing. His next projects are a collaborative book, a graphic novel, a painting, book cover design and installation work.
The trailer for Denison Avenue was narrated by Christina Wong, the author of the book.
Wong is a Toronto-based writer, playwright and multidisciplinary artist who also works in sound installation, audio documentaries and photography.
Her plays have been performed at Factory Studio, Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace and Palmerston Library Theatre. Her work can be found in Spacing, TOK Magazine and on CJTM 1280AM.
The sound design was done by Alex Redekop and the script was written by Charlene Chow.
Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune
Meet Me at the Lake finds 32-year-old Fern Brookbanks stuck — she can't quite stop thinking about one perfect day she spent in her 20s. By chance, she met a man named Will Baxter and the two spent a romantic 24 hours in Toronto, after which they promised to meet up one year later. But Will never showed up.
Now, instead of living in the city like she thought she would, Fern manages her mother's Muskoka resort by the lake, a role she promised herself she'd never take on. Disillusioned with her life, Fern is shocked when Will shows up at her door, suitcase in hand, asking to help.
Why is he here after all this time and more importantly, can she trust him to stay? It's clear Will has a secret but Fern isn't sure if she's ready to hear it all these years later.
Meet Me at the Lake will be championed by fashion influencer Mirian Njoh.
The trailer for Meet Me at the Lake was created by Alice M.
Based in Halifax, Alice M. is an artist, illustrator and systems analyst. Their work often features vibrant colour and fashionable looks.
The trailer for Meet Me at the Lake was narrated by A.J. Bridel, who also narrated the audiobook.
Bridel is a theatre, screen and animated series performer. She was first discovered on Over The Rainbow, a competition show to find the next Dorothy in Andrew Lloyd Weber's production of The Wizard of Oz, where she made it to third place. Some of her stage credits include Sherrie Christian in Rock of Ages, Lauren in Kinky Boots and Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables. She voices Pipp Petals on My Little Pony and has been on Odd Squad, Murdoch Mysteries and Accused.
The sound design was done by Alex Redekop and the script was written by Ryan B. Patrick.
Shut Up You're Pretty by Téa Mutonji
Shut Up You're Pretty is a short fiction collection that tells stories of a young woman coming of age in the 21st century in Scarborough, Ont. The disarming, punchy and observant stories follow her as she watches someone decide to shave her head in an abortion clinic waiting room, bonds with her mother over fish and contemplates her Congolese traditions at a wedding.
Shut Up You're Pretty was on the 2019 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize shortlist and won the 2020 Edmund White Award for debut fiction.
Shut Up You're Pretty will be championed by actor Kudakwashe Rutendo.
The trailer for Shut Up You're Pretty was created by Raoul Olou.
Based in Toronto, Olou is a multidisciplinary artist. His pieces explore personal experiences, inution, anthropology inspired by quantum physics and speculative fiction.
The trailer for Shut Up You're Pretty was narrated by Jemeni G, who also narrated the audiobook.
Jemeni G is a writer, actress, radio host, producer and media personality living in Toronto.
A frequent CBC guest host and contributor, she's the current host of CBC's Marvin's Room and has voiced hundreds of ads and televised productions and has been published in various books and anthologies as a poet and writer.
Ashy July did the sound design and wrote the script.
The Future by Catherine Leroux, translated by Susan Ouriou
The Future is set in an alternate history of Detroit where the French never surrendered the city to the U.S. Its residents deal with poverty, pollution and a legacy of racism. When Gloria, a woman looking for answers about her missing granddaughters, arrives in the city, she finds a kingdom of orphaned and abandoned children who have created their own society.
The Future won the Jacques-Brossard Award for speculative fiction.
The Future will be championed by author Heather O'Neill.
The trailer for The Future was created by Meaghan Tarasick.
Tarasick is an illustrator and character designer based in Toronto. She has a particular interest in horror and fantasy and creates digital art for comics and game development. She has self-published two short comics and loves storytelling and connecting with people through art.
The trailer for The Future was narrated by Karie Richards, who also narrated the audiobook.
Richards is an actor, producer, playwright and performer. She has both written and performed three solo shows nationally and internationally. She has recorded and performed with pianist John Sheard. She also worked as an assistant sound editor and assistant film editor on feature films.
The sound design was done by Alex Redekop and the script was written by Ryan B. Patrick.
