We’re thrilled to congratulate Catherine Hernandez whose novel SCARBOROUGH (Arsenal Pulp Press) has been longlisted for Canada Reads 2018! Canada Reads is an annual contest in which five Canadian celebrity panellists champion a chosen work of Canadian fiction based on the novel’s literary qualities. The debates are broadcast on CBC Radio One, CBC-TV and can be live streamed at Cbcbooks.ca. Books are voted off by the panellists until one book is chosen as the title the entire country should read.
From the publisher: SCARBOROUGH employs a multitude of voices to tell the story of a tight-knit neighbourhood under fire…It offers a raw yet empathetic glimpse into a troubled community that locates its dignity in unexpected places: a neighbourhood that refuses to be undone.SCARBOROUGH was also a City of Toronto Book Award finalist and a Globe and Mail 100 Best Book of the Year.
Congratulations on this well-deserved achievement, Catherine!
For the full longlist, please visit Cbc.ca/books/canadareadslonglist2018.
PRAISE FOR SCARBOROUGH
Hernandez goes deeper than most writers dare when it comes to the complexities of racial and cultural violences, unafraid to unpack the explicit and implicit prejudices that inform her characters’ behaviours, white and racialized alike … This is a crucial book for Toronto, and a shining example for writers concerned with the cultural tensions of the now. ―Broken Pencil
With its multiplicity of voices and its ability to walk the very fine line between nonjudgmental and nonexculpatory, the book is a sensitive and unvarnished look at a place with more than its fair share of troubles, and Hernandez shows that it is also a place that refuses to give up hope.
―Publishers Weekly
Scarborough is a celebration of community, a sensitive and compassionate portrayal of how lives are irrevocably changed, moment by moment, through small acts of kindness or cruelty. It’s a novel that deserves to be read widely. ― Hamilton Review of Books
Scarborough is raw yet beautiful, disturbing yet hopeful … It gives voice to people whose stories are often unheard, making this an important book that deserves a wide audience. ―Booklist
Scarborough is important for many reasons; it’s also quite simply storytelling at its finest. ― PopMatters