Candy Palmater on why Katherena Vermette's The Break should win Canada Reads

Canada Reads will kick off on March 27 and this year's five defenders are getting ready for the big battle of the books. 

Of the five panellists, Candy Palmater was singled out early on as a top contender and by the sounds of her personalized Rocky theme song on today's episode of q, she means business.

Palmater reveals to host Tom Power how she struggled to choose Katherena Vermette's The Break at first, due to her mother's death, but snapped out of it in a "lightning rod moment at 3 a.m. in the morning."  

Now, she's convinced that this book will take the top honour. "It leaves you with a deeper understanding of colonization and what better time than now to really take a deep look at these things," she explains. "It's the book that best hits this year's Canada Reads theme." 

Stay tuned in the upcoming weeks for other contenders, Humble the Poet, Chantal Kreviazuk, Tamara Taylor and Jody Mitic, to visit the q studios and talk about their picks. 

And don't forget: the winning panellist of Canada Reads will join us live in Ottawa on March 30 for our Junos show. For more information about that, head over here. 

— Produced by Chris Trowbridge