When the longlist was announced, I wrote on Instagram, 'Jonny m'boy, you find me again and again with gifts and medicine aplenty just when I need you,' and I truly stand by that. Jonny is very much like Joshua in that way - he's a voracious caretaker, love-giver. How does that feel? It's been quite the ride of acclaim. It's been two years since Jonny Appleseed came out, and yet it is still getting much deserved attention, now from Canada Reads. You'll be introduced to one of Canada's most exciting literary voices, who I had the pleasure of chatting with last week.

Vivid and intimate, if you haven't already been introduced to Jonny Appleseed, now is the time to change that. And in the dream-like seven days leading up to the trip, Jonny learns to reconcile the pieces of his life before he faces his past. A self-proclaimed 'NDN glitter princess,' Jonny ends up becoming a cybersex worker who fetishizes himself in order to make a living. But this is all upended when he has return home to attend his stepfather's funeral. And now it will compete on CBC's annual battle of the books, with actor and filmmaker Devery Jacobs championing it on the show.Īs Canadians scramble for their next pandemic winter book, they'll be lucky to find a truly exceptional read in Jonny Appleseed. The book follows a young two-spirit Indigiqueer man has left the reserve to try and find a life in the big city. It was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. It was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award. It won the Lambda Literary Award, the Amazon Canada First Novel Award and the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction.

Released in 2018 by Arsenal Pulp Press, Jonny Appleseed comes to Canada Reads with a considerable set of laurels already attached to it. Four of the five books selected this year were written by LGBTQ authors - including Joshua Whitehead's transcendent and powerful debut novel Jonny Appleseed. After last year's winner We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib, Canada Reads has continued to prove just how much queer storytelling is leading the field of contemporary Canadian literature. There was something wonderfully queer about the short list of books Canada Reads announced for its 20th edition. Queeries is a weekly column by CBC Arts producer Peter Knegt that queries LGBTQ art, culture and/or identity through a personal lens.

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