Canada Reads 2017 contenders

The five panelists — an actor, a musician, a comedian, a performer, and a veteran — and the five final books for CBC's 2017 Canada Reads competition have been announced.

The contenders and their selected books are:

• Humble The Poet defending Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis
• Tamara Taylor defending Company Town by Madeline Ashby
• Chantal Kreviazuk defending The Right to Be Cold by Sheila Watt-Cloutier
• Candy Palmater defending The Break by Katherena Vermette
• Jody Mitic defending Nostalgia by M.G. Vassanji

Between March 27 and 30, 2017, the contenders will debate and defend their chosen books live on CBC-TV, CBC Radio One, and online at CBCbooks.ca. The debates will be hosted by Ali Hassan from CBC's Laugh Out Loud.

Get all of the details, including biographies of each contender, on CBC's website.