Day 2 of Canada Reads 2026 is about to start

Canada Reads 2026: daylight ii

Canada Reads 2026: daytime 1

A Canada Reads 2026 crash course

Canada Reads 2026 Trailer

On Canada Reads, five Canadian celebrities each select one book they think all Canadians should read. They debate their choices with each other over the course of four days, and vote to eliminate one book every day. The last book standing is the winner.

I'll be watching live and giving you behind-the-scenes updates all week long. 

The first day of debates starts today at 10:05 a.m. ET. Stay tuned!

From cocktails at Calgary's Wordfest to a reading in a Fredericton brewery, the country really leaned into Canada Reads this year. 

Across the country, countless libraries hosted events of their own, like those in Sherbrooke, Que., and St. Albert, Alta., for example. For years both have run parallel Canada Reads debates with prominent locals as champions. 

At Wordfest in Calgary, Morgann Book and Steve (Dangle) Glynn joined Joss Richard and Tyler Hellard for a Heated Rivalry-themed mini-Canada Reads on April 1. 

Hellard also showed up at the Picaroons Roundhouse in Fredericton, where he read from Searching For Terry Punchout. 

In White Pine Books in Arnprior, Ont., local chefs championed cookbooks by preparing dishes from them for guests.

There are still a lot of events to come, so keep your eyes peeled and get out into the community to celebrate Canada Reads.

We’re getting ready for the second day of debates, and there’s a whole team behind the scenes making sure you don’t miss a moment! 

One of them is camera operator Joanna Russell, who’s tasked with capturing host Ali Hassan as the debate unfolds. 

Russell says she loves working on Canada Reads because it’s “fast-paced and fun,” and she’s a reader herself. 

A fan of psychological thrillers, she’s especially excited to read Foe by Iain Reid — though she’s finding it tough to track down a copy, with so many of the Canada Reads books flying off store shelves.

While we’re at it with the Canada Reads history lesson, here are some particularly notable titles from years gone by:

The list of former Canada Reads panellists is a real who's who of iconic Canadians. 

Olympians like Donovan Bailey, Mark Tewksbury, Clara Hughes and Maggie Mac Neil, and actors including Devery Jacobs, Alan Thicke, Yanic Truesdale, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and Jay Baruchel have all been on the show. 

Longtime Canada Reads fans may think they've seen Tegan Quin on the show before, but it wasn't her. It was her identical twin sister and bandmate, Sara. 

In 2011, Sara Quin championed Essex County by Jeff Lemire, the first graphic novel on Canada Reads. 

Essex County was voted out on the first day of the competition, so Tegan joked she's got a singular goal coming into the show — which she’s already accomplished.

By getting to this point, It’s Different This Time makes history for the romance genre on Canada Reads!

Despite the genre's popularity, It's Different This Time is only the second romance novel to make it on the Canada Reads short list. 

The first was Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune, championed by fashion influencer Mirian Njoh, which was eliminated on the first day in 2024

Though Foe was eliminated yesterday, champion Josh Dela Cruz is still very much part of the game. 

His new role is as a free agent. This means he still gets to cast his vote at the end of every day, and the remaining panellists must persuade him to keep their books safe. 

That’s a lot of power for Dela Cruz — and a lot less pressure.

Hi everyone! Welcome to Day Two of Canada Reads, the great Canadian book debate! 

We started with five contenders, and now the stakes are higher. Foe by Iain Reid was eliminated yesterday — leaving four books still in the running. 

The titles battling it out today are The Cure for Drowning by Loghan Paylor, Searching for Terry Punchout by Tyler Hellard, A Minor Chorus by Billy-Ray Belcourt, and It’s Different This Time by Joss Richard.

Today’s debates promise passion, strategy and surprise as our panellists go all in to convince Canada that their book is the one everyone should read. Stick with us — the live show starts in an hour.

Steve Dangle said the sports novel Searching for Terry Punchout is a powerful example of building bridges within communities — especially reconnecting with people we may have lost touch with — and overcoming ego in the process.

“I loved the picture that it painted of Canada,” said Glynn.

Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers reflected on a personal connection to the genre-bending literary fiction A Minor Chorus, sharing the story of a community member featured in her documentary Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy. 

A residential school survivor who spent much of his life incarcerated and unhoused, she described him as “a beautifully profound, loving, generous and humorous person,” noting that knowing him helped her feel less alone.

“I feel like A Minor Chorus speaks to the people who are like [him] and their lives and why they matter.”

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