Canadians Can Write but Will They Read it?
Why Canadian Authors Fail to Register with Canadian Readers
Jan 5, 2009
Margaret who? That was the response given by several Canadians when prompted to name some famous Canadian authors.
National Shame
According to a recent poll by the National Post, “almost half of Canadians could not name a single Canadian author unprompted.”
Even Margaret Atwood, who has been a prominent Canadian writer since the 1960’s, failed to register in many Canadians’ minds. Of those who could respond, the most common answers were Farley Mowat, Pierre Berton and Michael Trembley, all either old or dead.
No Douglas Coupland. No Joseph Boyden. No Malcolm Gladwell. No Alice Munro. No W.P Kinsella. No Elizabeth Smart. Not even Robert Munsch.
So what’s going on?
Have Canadians stopped reading Canadian literature? Have the celebrity gossip blogs on Britney’s latest breakdown or Paris’ newest puppy replaced the classic Canadian novels that should be shaping future generations?
Or have Canadians simply stopped reading in general?
To Read or Not to Read?
According to the CIA Factbook, Canada’s literacy rate for people aged 15 and over is 99%. This is one of the highest in the world.
Furthermore, a poll taken by The Conference Board of Canada states that Canadian students have the second highest reading-level ability in the world, surpassed only by Finland.
So it’s clear that Canadians can read. But are they?
The National Post reports that the average Canadian read 17 books last year. This equals one book every three weeks, which is quite devastating in the grand scheme of things. However what’s even worse is that 12 percent of those polled reported that they hadn’t read any books at all.
Not only are Canadians not reading Canadian Literature; some are simply not reading books period.
The Fall of the Written Word
This problem obviously stems from our Generation X lifestyle where reading is the last thing on a child’s mind, unless it’s a text message or a wall-to-wall on Facebook. Things like Guitar Hero, American Idol and U-Tube are seemingly more important and more interesting than literature, Canadian or otherwise.
Furthermore, more and more children prefer to see the movie rather than read the book, and Hollywood is keen on adapting any decent book into a feature length film. The unfortunate thing about the anti-literature phenomena is that children (and adults) are missing out on the deep level of thinking and imagination that literature requires.
In regards to the lack of CanLit pride, the problem may come from our schooling. Are teachers reading the books by British author JK Rowling and American Margaret Petterson Haddix to their students rather than the works of equally inspiring Canadians like Kit Pearson, Mordecai Richler and Robert Munsch? Are students doing book reports on Jose Canseco’s memoir and Nicole Ritchie’s biography rather than analysing the poetry of Robert W Service and the short stories of Alice Munro?
Perhaps if CBC created Canada’s Next Top Writer or So You Think you Can Write Canada there would be more interest.
Perhaps not.
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