In this issue:
- Letter from CELA’s Executive Director
- Awards update
- Giller Book Club event
- Reading in the news
- Books to promote at your library
- CD transition
- We need your feedback
- Reading for Truth and Reconciliation
- Death of activist Alice Wong
- Magazine update
- Reporting problems with books
- World Braille Month resources available!
- Visit accessible libraries!
- Webinars
- Featured title for adults: Unseen: How I lost my vision but found my voice
- Top five books
- Top five for kids
- Featured title for teens: Fake Skating
- Top five for teens
- Service tip: Accessing CELA audiobooks
- Holiday hours
- Stay connected!
Letter from CELA’s Executive Director
There is so much to celebrate this month. Many of the major award programs have announced their winners. All the nominees and winners are excellent choices if you are looking for books to read, or even books to give this holiday season. You can find all the winners on our Awards page and in the links in this newsletter.
We are also looking forward to celebrating World Braille Month in January. Some of our staff are involved in the organizing committee, in collaboration with other organizations, putting together resources for libraries and activities for braille readers or those just curious about braille. Information about all the World Braille Month festivities can be found on the NNELS website.
This month, CELA staff have been so pleased to be part of international conversations around the work and the importance of accessible libraries. I recently attended the international DAISY Board meeting in Geneva, Switzerland on behalf of the DAISY Canada Consortium and had the opportunity to learn from and speak with our counterparts around the world about the innovations and challenges impacting the worldwide accessible reading landscape. Thanks to the Accessible Books Consortium (ABC), Lindsay Tyler has just returned from Trinidad and Tobago, presenting at Enabling Access – Unlocking the Potential of the Marrakesh Treaty Regional Workshop, where she spoke with representatives from 12 English-speaking Caribbean countries to support collaboration among libraries for people with print disabilities, including ratifying the Marrakesh Treaty, and to share CELA's experience.
While the CELA team is always working to increase access and offer more choices, we are proud of the progress we have made over the last decade in dramatically increasing choices for our users.
Happy reading!
Laurie Davidson, Executive Director
Awards update
This month, a number of prestigious literary awards named their winners. Congratulations to all the authors and illustrators who have received awards or nominations this month.
Endling by Maria Reva won the Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.
All the Parts We Exhile by Roza Nozari won the Dayne Olgivie Prize.
Theory of Water by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson won the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction.
This year's winner of the Giller Prize is Pick a Colour: A Novel by Souvankham Thammavongsa. This is her second Giller Prize. Her debut novel How to Pronounce Knife won in 2020.
The Governor General's Award for Literature announced the winners of their slate of awards. Congratulations to:
- Kyle Edwards, who won the Fiction category for Small Ceremonies: A Novel
- Claire Cameron, who won the Nonfiction category for How to Survive a Bear Attack: A Memoir
- Heather Smith, who won Young People’s Literature – Text category for Tig
- Tara Beagan, who won the Drama category for Rise, Red River
- Null Karen Solie, who won the Poetry category for Wellwater: Poems
Canadian author Omar El Akkad's debut nonfiction work One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This has made the shortlist for U.S. National Book Award. It is available in braille and audio in our collection.
Keep an eye on our Awards page for updated lists and winner announcements!
Giller Book Club Event
Join the 2026 Giller Book Club for a one-hour conversation on Wednesday, December 3, at 7 p.m. ET. Giller Prize Jury Chair, Dionne Irving will chat with Souvnakham Thammavongsa, winner of the 2025 Giller Prize for her debut novel, PICK A COLOUR.
Everyone is welcome to attend this free, virtual event.
Reading in the news
In a reading rut? A recent article in The Guardian addresses what may be causing this and more importantly how to get out of the rut.
If you want to browse our collection, check out our Recommended Reads page or our Awards page for suggestions, or use our browse by categories option.
Books to promote at your library
Are you looking to promote some new accessible titles in your newsletters, social media feeds, or as part of an in-branch display?
Download the list of promotable titles and share it with your communications team
Find the new list, updated monthly and featuring links to new books in our collection, on our For Libraries page.
CD transition
If you are learning new ways of reading CELA titles or looking for help to find and select books, we have lots of support and resources for you, including guides and tutorials which can be found on the CD Transition Resources page on our website.
New! Our newest resource is a Choosing the right reading technology, which guides users, library staff and designates through a series of questions to help determine which reading technology might be the most effective, based on individual needs and preferences.
We need your feedback
We need your feedback!
As you know, CELA is no longer providing CDs effective July 31, 2025. We've created a survey to capture your feedback on the transition.
This survey is an opportunity to let us know how effective our training and communications were for libraries during the transition from receiving CELA's DAISY audiobooks on CD to digital delivery. We will use this feedback to find out how we can best continue to support our users through this change. We have also included some questions about our communications in general.
The survey is open through to December 5. We would appreciate your responses.
Reading for Truth and Reconciliation
This month’s pick is Seventhblade by Tonia Laird.
A fast-paced, anti-colonial action-adventure fantasy that explores twisted power dynamics and the effects of settler colonialism. After the murder of T'Rayles’s adopted son, the infamous warrior and daughter of the Indigenous Ibinnas returns to the colonized city of Seventhblade ready to tear the streets asunder in search of her son’s killer.
T'Rayles must lean into the dangerous power of her inherited sword and ally herself with questionable forces, including the Broken Fangs, an alliance her mother founded, now fallen into greed and corruption, and the immortal Elraiche, a powerful and manipulative deity exiled from a faraway land. Navigating the power shifts in a colonized city on the edge and contending with a deadly new power emerging from within, T'Rayles must risk everything to find the answers and justice she so desperately desires.
Set in a fragmented, fascinating world of dangerous magics and cryptic gods, Seventhblade is a masterful new fantasy adventure from a bright, emerging Indigenous voice.
Death of activist Alice Wong
We are saddened by the passing of Alice Wong, disability activist and author. Wong was diagnosed in childhood with a progressive neuromuscular disability and used a wheelchair for much of her life. She founded the Disability Visibility Project, which collected oral histories of people with disabilities.
Her book Disability Visibility and the Young adults's adaptation of the same title highlighted first person stories of people with disabilities. Her memoir Year of the tiger: An activist’s life is filled with insight and humour. Our condolences go to her family, friends and many fans.
Read Alice Wong’s work in our collection.
Magazine update
Editions of magazines previously missing from our website have now been restored. Check out your favourites for the most up to date issues. Or subscribe to magazines to have them delivered directly to your bookshelf.
Reporting problems with books
We work hard to keep our collection in good shape, but once in a while there is a problem with a book, such as an error in the audio recording. You can let us know about these kinds of problem by using the “Damaged Book Report” form.
We’ve made some improvements to the way you access this form so it’s easier to fill out. Information about the book is now automatically completed for you. This change is designed to make reporting issues quicker and more convenient.
You’ll also find detailed instructions and helpful tips on resolving common problems before submitting a report.
To learn more and access the form, visit our Damaged Book Report information page.
World Braille Month resources available!
The World Braille Month team is putting together resources to help libraries plan for and promote events and activities related to Louis Braille and the impact his code has made for people who are blind or have low vision.
Engage your library users in learning about Louis Braille and the code he invented which changed the world for people who are blind or have low vision, by supporting independence in literacy.
The World Braille Month organizing team has put together programming ideas, book recommendations and storytime kits, a variety of resources, and information on available materials and manipulatives to bring braille to life for everyone.
Library Programming for World Braille Days: Resources for Libraries.
Our colleagues at NNELS are hosting the World Braille Month events page.
Visit accessible libraries!
If you want to learn more about accessibility for your own career, need to research best practices, or are looking for topics to present to staff about accessibility, accessiblelibraries.ca can help.
You will find dozens of resources across a broad range of topics, created by and for Canadian public and academic libraries with the goal of sharing ideas, information, and best practices about accessibility initiatives. The resources reflect insight gained from those with lived experiences of a disability.
Webinars
Are there topics related to accessibility that you would like to see included in our webinars? We regularly update our content and always appreciate hearing ideas from library staff. Send your suggestions to members@celalibrary.ca.
Getting Started with Accessible Reading Canada: Listen to CELA Audiobooks with Alexa
Join us for a live webinar introducing Accessible Reading Canada, a new way for CELA patrons to enjoy CELA audiobooks using Alexa-enabled smart speakers. This 60-minute session will walk you through how to use voice commands to search, browse, and listen to audiobooks from your CELA Direct to Player Bookshelf using the Accessible Reading Canada Alexa skill.
This webinar will cover:
- What Alexa-enabled smart speakers are and how they work
- How to set up and use the Accessible Reading Canada skill
- How to use voice commands for browsing and reading
- Where to find help guides and additional support
After the presentation, there will be a Q&A session to ask additional questions. This session will be recorded.
To register for the online Zoom webinar, select the link below and fill in the registration form. To attend by phone, please call the Contact Centre at 1-855-655-2273.
How to support library patrons to read CELA’s audiobooks and magazines: Transitioning from reading on CDs to other devices
In this 60 minute webinar, library staff will discover how to transition patrons with print disabilities from reading CELA’s audiobooks and magazines on CD, to a variety of players and apps. We will guide you through this change so you can continue to offer accessible reading materials through your library’s CELA account. You will learn:
- Which audiobook players and apps work with CELA audiobooks and magazines
- How to access CELA books and magazines onto library-owned devices
- How CELA can support book clubs and reading programs
- Where to find help, training and tutorials
Educator Access Program webinar
This webinar will introduce library staff and educators to the CELA Educator Access program. This program is offered through public libraries and gives teachers and other educators access to CELA’s collection to support their students with print disabilities at the elementary, secondary and post-secondary levels.
Audience: Public library staff and educators. Educators can include teachers, teacher librarians, educational assistants, and special education teachers – anyone who supports students with print disabilities in a formal educational setting.
Learning goals:
- How to register with the Educator Access program
- What alternate formats and reading technologies are available for students at all levels in the CELA collection
- What is Bookshare and how can educators get access
- How to find, access and read our books, magazines and newspapers in audio, e-text and braille
Length: 60 minutes
Featured title for adults: Unseen: How I lost my vision but found my voice
From social media star and change-maker Molly Burke, a vulnerable, honest, and darkly humorous memoir on navigating the challenges of being a blind woman in a sighted world. When Molly Burke was four years old, she was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare degenerative eye disease that leads to eventual blindness, forcing her to see the world through new eyes—literally.
Growing up disabled didn't stop her from playing sports, becoming a rock-climbing instructor, or winning a beauty pageant, but other people's narrow perceptions of her held her back. Years of relentless bullying, toxic work environments, a rodent-infested apartment, and life's lowest moments were juxtaposed with red carpets, first-class flights, and personal and professional achievements. Throughout her life, Molly has learned to appreciate the duality, and most importantly, she's learned the beauty of being unapologetically yourself and standing up for what you truly believe in. In Unseen, Molly chronicles her journey as a disabled woman, entrepreneur, and entertainer, illuminating what her experiences have taught her and what she hopes others can learn from her hardship and successes. Part memoir, part rallying cry for a more compassionate and empathetic world, Unseen recounts Molly's life and experiences fighting against the expectations society set for her and, in doing so, helps readers find their own voice, inner strength, and self-acceptance.
Read Unseen: How I lost my vision but found my voice by Molly Burke.
Top five books
Most popular with our readers last month:
- The loneliness of Sonia and Sunny: a novel by Kiran Desai, Family stories
- Gone before goodbye by Harlan Coben and Reese Witherspoon, Mystery and crime stories
- The impossible fortune (Thursday Murder Club Mystery #5) by Richard Osman, Gentle mysteries
- Tom Lake: a novel by Ann Patchett, Serious and literary fiction
- No time like the future: An optimist considers mortality by Michael J. Fox, Actors biography
Top five for kids
Most popular with kids last month:
- The dragonet prophecy: Wings of fire series, book 1 by Tui T. Sutherland, Fantasy
- Phoebe the fashion fairy: The Party Fairies Book 6 by Daisy Meadows, Fables and fairy tales
- Anne of avonlea: Anne of green gables series #2 by L. M. Montgomery, Classic fiction
- Blood Runners: Absolution by George S. Mahaffey Jr., Science fiction
- Once upon a thriller (Nancy Drew Diaries #4) by Carolyn Keene, Adventure stories
Featured title for teens: Fake Skating
From play dates on the playground to sneaking into movie theatres, Dani and Alec were inseparable as kids. Until Dani moved away. Years later, Dani is back in Minnesota, and exited to reconnect with the nerdy and comforting Alec. But teenage Alec is NOTHING like the boy she remembers. He's the hockey STAR in a town where hockey players are worshipped as gods – and he loves it.
When one thing leads to another and Dani and Alec find themselves thrown together and playing the role of boyfriend and girlfriend, "complicated" becomes an understatement. In this Minnesota town, hockey may rule, but romance is about to take its place. A swoony, boy-next-door fake dating romance from the New York Times bestseller, Lynn Painter.
Read Fake Skating by Lynn Painter.
Top five for teens
Most popular with teens last month:
- The smile by Donna Jo Napoli, Historical fiction
- The headmasters by Mark Steven Morton, Science fiction
- Hatchet: book 1 by Gary Paulsen, Canadian fiction
- Albatross: a novel by Terry Fallis, Humourous fiction
- Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer, Romance
Service tip
Have you heard? Thanks to the Accessible Reading Canada skill, CELA users can now listen to audiobooks from CELA on Amazon Alexa smart speakers. You can read all about it on our Accessible Reading Canada help page, or join us at our upcoming webinar where you can learn more about this new feature:
Getting started with Accessible Reading Canada, Thursday, Dec. 4 2:30-3:30 pm EST
Some libraries have asked us about the possibility of loaning out Alexa smart speakers so their patrons can try out Accessible Reading Canada. Learn about this on our Loaning Alexa devices at libraries page.
Holiday hours
The Contact Centre will be closed on December 25 and 26. Please be aware of the following changes to the hours of operation during the Holiday period as we wrap up 2025.
The times indicated below are all in Eastern Standard time (EST).
Monday December 22 – 8am-7:30pm
Tuesday December 23 – 8am-7:30pm
Wednesday December 24 – 8am-4pm
Thursday December 25 – CLOSED
Friday December 26 – CLOSED
Monday December 29 – 9am-5pm
Tuesday December 30 – 9am-5pm
Wednesday December 31 – 9am-5pm
The Contact Centre will be closed on January 1.
Stay connected!
Visit CELA's social media, including X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook, YouTube and our blog, for more news about what's happening in the world of accessible literature.