2026 CBC’s Canada Reads Long List @canadareadsinspired

Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

Source:
podbean.com/eau/pb-ym4dr-1a0dd2d

It's that time of year again when Rebecca and Tara try to predict which five books will make CBC's Canada Reads Short List for 2026! Adding to the excitement is that this year is the 25th anniversary of the debate, so they are hoping for an entertaining look back to find the one book all of Canada should read!
cbc.ca/books/canadareads/canada-reads-2026-longlist-9.7029177

A Minor Chorus by Billy-Ray Belcourt
Celestina's House by Clarissa Trinidad Gonzalez
Crossroads by Kaleb Dahlgren
Everything Is Fine Here by Iryn Tushabe
Foe by Iain Reid
Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid
It’s Different This Time by Joss Richard
Julie Chan Is Dead by Liann Zhang
Never Been Better by Leanne Toshiko Simpson
Oxford Soju Club by Jinwoo Park
Restaurant Kid by Rachel Phan
Searching for Terry Punchout by Tyler Hellard
Slice The Water by PP Wong
The Cure for Drowning by Loghan Paylor
The Hunger We Pass Down by Jen Sookfong Lee

@canadareadsamericanstyle
@onabranchreads

$Interview - Leslie Shimotakahara and The Breakwater Rebecca is excited to chat with Canadian author Leslie Shimotakahara about her latest novel, The Breakwater, which will be published by Cormorant Books in April 2026. https://www.cormorantbooks.com/Books/T/The-Breakwater One morning in Toronto, Cathy Matsumoto’s father, Yasuo, calls to announce he intends to visit a dying cousin in British Columbia. Cathy’s never heard of this mysterious relative before, but she begrudgingly agrees to plan a family trip with her father and daughter, Tessa, to Victoria, the hometown Yas was forcibly evicted from when Japanese Canadians were interned during World War Two. Its only in BC that Cathy learns this “cousin” is actually Yas’s younger brother, Stum, who’s been languishing in psychiatric care, abandoned, ever since Yas committed him to Essondale Asylum before the war. Yas tries to fend off probing questions from his daughter and granddaughter, but revisiting old haunts brings back memories of the brothers’ boyhood rivalry and coming-of-age near Victoria’s Chinatown, when Yas’s resolve to hold their fractured family together clashed against Stum’s troublesome turn toward a life of gambling, crime, and consorting with prostitutes. In this heartbreaking family story, two brothers, both old men not far from death, must at last confront long-buried family secrets — and their lingering effects on subsequent generations. Recommended Books: Flashlight by Susan Choi Worldly Girls: A Memoir by Tamara Jong It Must Be Beautiful to Be Finished: A Memoir of My Body by Kate Gies https://leslieshimotakahara.com/ https://www.instagram.com/leslieshimotakahara$

Interview - Jinwoo Park and Oxford Soju Club

Interview - Jerrod Edson and The Boulevard

Interview - Erin Steele and Sunrise over Half-Built Houses: Love, Longing and Addiction in Suburbia

Interview - Keegan Connor Tracy, CBCs Canada Reads Defender