Canada Reads 2016, the CBC’s literary showdown, is described as a ‘battle of the books’. The radio event features five books by Canadian writers, defended by five high-profile Canadians, and listeners tune into the conversations and vote, by process of elimination, on the winner.
And the honour goes to Lawrence Hill‘s latest book, ‘The Illegal’. Hill also won in 2009 for his novel, ‘The Book of Negroes’, which became a television series.
“I hope that the book encourages Canadians to think with more humanity and more imagination about what it means to be a refugee and what our relationship to refugees should be moving forward.”
An annual event since 2002, the theme of the competition this year was ‘Starting Over’, and the other books selected were, ‘The Hero’s Walk’, by Anita Rau Badami, ‘Birdie’, by Tracey Lindberg, ‘Bone and Bread’, by Saleema Nawaz, and ‘Minister Without Portfolio’ by Michael Winter.
In an interview with the CBC’s Deanna Sumanac, Lawrence Hill said, “If you win a literary prize, that prize will be discussed for a day or so, and then fade. With Canada Reads, people are discussing five Canadian books for months.”
As for his book, he described his intention in the same interview: “I hope that the book encourages Canadians to think with more humanity and more imagination about what it means to be a refugee and what our relationship to refugees should be moving forward.”
In wrapping up her defence of the novel, Clara Hughes said, “The Illegal asks Canadians to imagine the humanity of one refugee, and thus all refugees”.
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