Heather O'Neill, championing The Future by Catherine Leroux, wins Canada Reads 2024

Canada Reads21:51Canada Reads champions on Commotion

The winning panellist and author joined Elamin Abdelmahmoud on Commotion to discuss the roller-coaster week and what it's like being on the great Canadian book debate.

After a thoughtful few days of debates, Heather O'Neillhas wonCanada Reads2024. The book she championed, The Futureby Catherine Leroux, translated by Susan Ouriou,survived the elimination vote on March 7, 2024.

• Watch theCanada Reads2024finale

Novelist, short story writer and essayist O'Neill successfully argued thatThe Futurebest fits the theme as "one book to carry us forward."

The Futureis set in an alternate history of Detroit where the French never surrendered the city to the U.S. Its residents deal with poverty, pollution and a legacy of racism. When Gloria, a woman looking for answers about her missing granddaughters, arrives in the city, she finds a kingdom of orphaned and abandoned children who have created their own society.The Futureis the translation of Leroux'sFrench-language novel L'Avenir.

• Catherine Leroux imagines an alternate history of Detroit in her book,The Future

"Leroux reverses the dystopian genre and makes it into the idea that disaster can actually herald change and that we're living in a time of great catastrophe, all of us, all over the world," said O'Neill during the finale."It's hard to watch the news, but there is a way for us to come together as a community and come out of that. And I feel that idea of hope."

"Winning Canada Reads in a year that deals with the particular theme of the future and how to carry forward is so meaningful to me," said Lerouxtold CBC. "In writing this book, disseminating it and meeting readers over the years, I've continued to think about the very question that started it all: how do we look towards the future, how do we go forward? I hope that the answers I offer in the book will inspire Canadians all around."

LISTEN | Heather O'Neill and Catherine Lerouxdiscuss The Future:

The Next Chapter24:50Canada Reads panelist Heather ONeill and The Future author Catherine Leroux discuss the annual battle of the books

Acclaimed Montreal writer and past Canada Reads-winning author Heather ONeill on why she chose to champion fellow Quebecer Catherine Lerouxs novel The Future in this year's debate. Leroux shares what inspired her to create a dystopian, French-speaking version of Detroit.

Previously,The Futurewon the Jacques-BrossardAward for speculative fiction.

• Read an excerpt fromThe Futurenow

Shut Up You're Prettyby Ta Mutonji was the runner-up. Actor Kudakwashe Rutendochampioned the linked short story collection.

Shut Up You're Prettyis a short fiction collection that tells stories of a young woman coming of age in the 21st century in Scarborough, Ont.The disarming, punchy and observant stories follow her as she watches someone decide to shaveher head in an abortion clinic waiting room, bonds with her mother over fish and contemplates her Congolese traditions at a wedding.

• Ta Mutonji and Kudakwashe Rutendo discuss individualized representation and the power of female friendship

Ultimately,Shut Up You're Prettylost to The Futurein a 4-1 vote on the final day.

O'Neillisthe first person to win Canada Readsas both an author and a contender. Her debut novelLullabies for Little Criminalswas a Giller finalist and wonCanada Reads2007 when it wasdefended by musician John K. Samson. In 2013, La Ballade de Baby, the French translation ofLullabies for Little Criminalswas defended by journalist Brendan Kelly on Radio-Canada's Combat des Livreswhich is the French version of Canada Reads.

O'Neillwas also the first back-to-back finalist for theScotiabank Giller PrizeforThe Girl Who WasSaturday Nightin 2014 and her short story collectionDaydreams of Angelsin 2015.

• Heather O'Neill reflects on what it was like when her debut novel wonCanada Reads2007

Her novelThe Lonely Hearts Hotelwon the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction andwas longlisted forCanada Reads2021.When We Lost Our Headsis her most recent novel that follows two extraordinary young women Marie Antoine and Sadie Arnett 19th century aristocrats living in Montreal's wealthiest neighbourhood, the Golden Mile.

The 2024Canada Readswinner brought a reflective and anecdotal perspectiveto the debates, both making a strong case forThe Futureand acknowledging the merits of the other books in contention. And whiledensity of The Future's prose was a major point of discussion in the finale, O'Neill felt that it added to what makes the book so special.

"I feel like Canada can handle this book,"O'Neill said. "Yes, sometimes you have to go back and read a line again. Yes, you may have to pause and think about things, but I just want Canada to have a challenge."

• Past Canada Reads contenders and winners

Lerouxis a writer, translator and journalist from Montreal. She was shortlisted for the2016 Scotiabank Giller PrizeforThe Party Wall, which is an English translation of her French-language short story collectionLe mur mitoyen.Leroux won the 2019 Governor General's Literary Award for English to French translation for her translation ofDo Not Say We Have Nothingby Madeleine Thien.

Ouriouis a French and Spanish to English translator, a fiction writer and a playwright. She has previously won the Governor General's Literary Award for translation for her work. She lives in Calgary.

The other three books were eliminated earlier in the week. Romance novelMeet Me at the Lakeby Carley Fortune, championed by Mirian Njoh, was eliminated onDay One.Denison Avenueby Christina Wong and Daniel Innes, defended by Naheed Nenshi,was eliminated onDay Two.Bad Creeby Jessica Johns, championed by Dallas Soonias, was eliminated onDay Three.

This year's show was hosted byAli Hassan. The contenders and their chosen books were:

• Athlete and CBC Sports contributor Dallas Soonias championsBad Creeby Jessica Johns
• Former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi championsDenison Avenueby Christina Wong & Daniel Innes
• Fashion influencer Mirian Njoh championsMeet Me at the Lakeby Carley Fortune
• Actor Kudakwashe Rutendo championsShut Up You're Prettyby Ta Mutonji
• Author Heather O'Neill championsThe Futureby Catherine Leroux, translated by Susan Ouriou