"Jeopardy" champ Mattea Roach, shown in a handout photo, will go to bat for a graphic memoir on CBC's "Canada Reads" this year. The on-air literary contest returns March 27, with Roach championing Kate Beaton's "Ducks." THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-CBC **MANDATORY CREDIT**
TORONTO – “Jeopardy” champ Mattea Roach will go to bat for a graphic memoir on CBC’s “Canada Reads” this year.
The on-air literary contest returns March 27, with Roach championing “Ducks” by Nova Scotia author Kate Beaton, which was on former president Barack Obama’s list of favourite books of 2022.
Actor-filmmaker Keegan Connor Tracy will argue on behalf of Michael Christie’s “Greenwood,” while Yukon-based bhangra artist and educator Gurdeep Pandher will defend “Hotline” by Dimitri Nasrallah.
Meanwhile, TikToker Tasnim Geedi will champion “Mexican Gothic” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, while the actor-director Michael Greyeyes will represent “Station Eleven” by Emily St. John Mandel.
Comedian Ali Hassan, who stars in the CBC comedy “Run the Burbs” and has hosted “Canada Reads” for the last six years, will return to moderate.
Each day of the competition, one book will be eliminated by the panellists until the one that best defines this year’s theme of “One Book to Shift Your Perspective” is declared.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 25, 2022.
