Apr 03, 2024
The Ottawa Public Library and Canadian Urban Libraries Council (CULC) are excited to bring you Canada's largest bilingual book club. Throughout April, public libraries across the country will participate in One eRead / Un livrel Canada, during which thousands of readers will borrow digital copies of Dimitri Nasrallah’s novel Hotline from their public libraries with no waitlists.
Longlisted for the 2022 Giller Prize, and a Canada Reads selection in 2023, Hotline is the story of Muna, a mother starting a new life in Montreal after escaping devastation in war-torn Lebanon with her 8-year-old son in the 1980s. Even as she struggles to find acceptance, healing, and purpose in a new city where she doesn’t feel welcome, Muna finds herself providing solace and a sympathetic ear to fellow Montrealers via her job as a hotline operator for a weight-loss centre.
Universal human themes - belonging, identity, isolation, and connection - make Hotline a perfect story to read and discuss with thousands of fellow Canadians as part of this year’s One eRead / Un livrel program.
The CBC will be partnering with One eRead / Un livrel for two live events with the author that happen on April 23rd and April 25th. Join the events in person or via livestreams.
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The French interview will take place on April 23rd at the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec in Montreal.
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The English interview will be hosted on April 25th by CBC Ottawa’s, All in a Dayhost Alan Neal and take place at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa, in partnership with Ottawa Public Library.
The events will be recorded and available through the OPL YouTube and on the 1ereadlivrelcanada.ca website.
One eRead / Un livrel highlights the benefit of open access to digital books. CULC reports that restrictive costs, licensing, and availability of content prevent public libraries from providing adequate access to the volume and variety of digital titles Canadians want to read. The high cost of digital content alone prevents libraries from diversifying their collections, meaning many authors and books are underrepresented and underexposed to Canadian readers. One eRead / Un livrel demonstrates that when restrictions on access are reduced, readership goes up.
We encourage Canadians to further the cause by taking part in this year’s national, bilingual book club, and advocating for fairer digital book prices for libraries.
About Un Livrel/One eRead Canada
One eRead Canada is an annual digital, bilingual, cross-Canada book club initiated and supported by the Canadian Urban Libraries Council (CULC) to help Canadian public libraries promote digital reading awareness and issues. The program was started in 2019 and has previously featured Glass Beads by Dawn Dumont (2019), Vi by Kim Thúy (2020), The Break by Katherena Vermette (2022), and Tatouine by Jean-Christophe Réhel (2023). It features a title with no waitlists for one month, in both French and English via e-book and e-audiobook formats for a bilingual reading or listening experience. Readers are invited to share their experience through the national Facebook and Instagram pages, and via live events with the author occurring in Montreal on April 23, and Ottawa on April 25.
About Canadian Urban Libraries Council (CULC) / Conseil des Bibliothèques Urbaines du Canada (CBUC)
The Canadian Urban Libraries Council was formed in 2008, formalizing groups whom had met for more than 25 years to better library service in Canada’s populated urban areas. CULC has members from the 51 largest public library systems in Canada, along with Library and Archives Canada and the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. CULC’s mission is to facilitate advocacy, collaboration, and research that strengthens and promotes the value of Canada’s urban libraries as integral to a vibrant democracy, a strong economy, and thriving communities. More than 75% of all Canadians are served by a CULC member library, whose activities comprise more than 80% of Canada’s public library total.