Well, folks, the Canada Reads votes are in and the winner this year is pretty dang special for many reasons. You can give a round of applause to Devery Jacobs for finishing this year’s competition with the book Johnny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead.
If you’re not familiar with what Canada Reads is, let us explain. It is a 20-year long-running competition that is trying to figure out what book every Canadian should read that year. It’s sort of like a literary Survivor.
Jacobs championed the book as she thought it best fit this year’s theme which is “one book to transport us.” The book has been noted in several other competitions but is now the first book by an Indigenous author to win Canada Reads. And beyond that, the book represents two-spirit and Indigiqueer communities.
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So Actor Devery Jacobs was honored to be able to defend this book all the way up to the end. After all, as a queer Indigenous woman, this win meant just as much to her as the author. And as you might have guessed, Joshua Whitehead was also overjoyed at the news.
If you’d like to learn more about Joshua Whitehead and his winning title Johnny Appleseed you can click here. If you haven’t read works by Canadian Indigenous authors we hope you take this opportunity to do so. Happy reading, folks!
