The annual Canada Reads competition announced their longlist under the theme “One Book To Move You.”
The competition is hosted by CBC and judged by a group of selected panelists.
Dessa Bayrock, a PhD student in Canadian literature at Carleton University, does research focusing on the Canada Reads Award, the Giller Prize, and the Governor General’s Awards.
“I was surprised to see how many memoirs there are this year,” she said.
Bayrock explained that the process for Canada Reads is not completely transparent.
“It’s kind of vague, and it’s kind of random, and it’s kind of arbitrary,” Bayrock says on selecting which books get longlisted and shortlisted.
Celebrities will vote on which book to vote off the list.
“The model of Canada Reads is literally based on Survivor,” she says.
“Canada Reads is super weird. It can’t decide if it wants to be about literary merit or if it wants to be about nationalism and how to create better citizens. It’s always been aimed at the listeners of CBC Radio.”
The memoirs this year feature books on growing up in Iraq and Syria, surviving Auschwitz as a slave labourer, and parents that blame mental illness on a mythical spirit called “the woo-woo.”
Lindsay Wong’s The Woo-Woo: How I Survived Ice Hockey, Drug-Raids, Demons, And My Crazy Chinese Family wasn’t initially well-received by publishers—they said it was too dark, too unconventional, and unrelatable.
“It was one of those books that no one wanted,” Wong said. “When you have to deal with something that’s so personal, it definitely stings a bit.”
Wong has a master of fine arts in literary nonfiction from Columbia University in New York City.
She spent years writing, years getting an agent, and then years finally finding a publisher.
“I’ve always been that type of person that if it doesn’t work out, I try again, I keep going,” said Wong. “And I think in writing, especially as a woman of colour, you kind of have to keep persisting . . . no one’s going to open the door for you . . . you have to make your own way.”
Fifteen books were announced to be on the longlist on Jan. 11.
“You get rejected for so many years so when finally you win some sort of award, or a nomination comes about, it’s definitely something you don’t expect,” Wong added.
One of the issues publishers brought up to Wong was that her story didn’t fit typical Asian genre themes. She said her new publisher, Arsenal Pulp Press, understands her vision.
She hopes that if she wins, she could finally start making a living as an author.
Books in the Canada Reads awards are often nominated for other Canadian awards, making them a “safe bet” as a nomination said Bayrock.
The Woo-Woo was a finalist for the 2018 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction.
“I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about The Woo Woo so it’s a title is on people’s minds so they’re cashing out on that popularity too,” Bayrock said.
Wong is excited about the diversity on the list this year, but Bayrock said she disagrees.
“I do find it quite performatively diverse,” she said. “There’s books on Holocaust survivors, people of colour, Syrian refugees—all these sorts of boxes get ticked . . . I feel like you could almost play bingo with the longlist.”
“I think it still plays an important role,” Bayrock said. “I think it has potential to reach demographics that other genres don’t.”
The Canada Reads shortlist is out on Jan. 31.
Image from files
