Reading Canada Reads

Abstract

The CBC Radio One program Canada Reads launched in 2002 and has had a significant impact on the Canadian book industry from its beginning. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the methodologies of Canada Reads and the various elements of the program that have enabled it to have a substantial impact on the marketing and reception of Canadian literature. This thesis draws on first-hand interviews with those involved with the production of Canada Reads , notably its original and current producers and its current host, to provide a detailed look at the creation of Canada Reads and the considerations involved in the selection of texts and panelists. The thesis explores the cultural and ideological implications of the program by providing a detailed examination of the content and structure of Canada Reads . In particular, the thesis examines the role of Canada Reads as a literary award and how it assigns literary value to Canadian texts; the program's use of celebrity culture and spectacle, which allows the program to become a popular public media event, and its impact on the content of the program; the conflict between the panelists' personal and critical reading practices, which are interpolated by the reading audience; and the ways in which the program is grounded in Canadian identity and national rhetoric through Canadian literary texts, yet is unable or unwilling to establish a concrete definition of Canadian identity as it is represented in Canadian literature.