• New Series in our collection!
• Awards Season
• CELA Welcomes a new Executive Director
• Kids and Teens: New Printbraille available for fall
• Service Tip
• Stay connected!

Feature: revisiting books from high school

Whether you were an avid reader in high school or did what you needed to get by, English class probably introduced you to some authors or books that stretched you in new directions. Why not revisit some of the classics you read – or maybe should have read – or check out some of the works on current high school reading lists.

1984 by George Orwell is a classroom favourite with themes about the power of language, manipulation, rebellion and philosophy. Political events have made this classic relevant and timely again.

Shirley Jackson: The lottery is a memorable short story about a unique small town ritual and how it affects the community. Jackson was a prolific short story writer but also published novels and memoirs. Read The Lottery and other short stories.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Set against the French Revolution, Dickens’ novel weaves a story of love and deception and second chances. It’s a dense read, but there’s a reason it’s a classic. It’s a great story and worth the effort.

The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill is based on the true story of Aminata, a slave who escapes her own in South Carolina, travels to Nova Scotia and finds herself living a life she could not have imagined.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak follows a girl named Liesel who makes it her mission to steal books that the Nazis in Germany hope to destroy. An interesting narrator, and a heartwrenching ending make this book one that stays with you.

Awards Season

It’s CanLit awards season. The Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Governor General award for Literature and the Roger’s Writer’s Trust Prize for fiction all release their short lists early in the fall. Some books, like Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments or Andre Alexis's Days by Moonlight have been nominated for multiple awards but there are also some surprises. Each year CELA works with these award programs to ensure that accessible copies of the shortlists are available to Canadians with print disabilities. Find out which books have been nominated on our Awards page.

Congratulations to all the authors named to the Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist, announced September 30, 2019.  We're pleased to have accessible versions of all these outstanding Canadian works.

CELA Welcomes a new Executive Director

The Centre for Equitable Library Access is pleased to announce Rina Hadziev has been appointed as its new Executive Director, effective October 7, 2019.

Formerly with the Greater Victoria Public Library in Victoria, British Columbia, Rina brings over 15 year of experience in public library leadership, digital collections and technical services. Rina was a member of the CELA board from 2016-2019, and played a key role advocating for improved access to ebooks and digital audiobooks for libraries and their patrons through her participation with the Canadian Urban Libraries Council Digital Content Working Group.

“Rina is passionate about accessibility and equitable access, and her collaborative style will help us continue to build on our existing partnerships and explore new relationships which are essential for the continued improvement of accessible library services,” says Catherine Biss, Chair of the CELA Board of Directors.

Rina succeeds Michael Ciccone who left CELA in late August to become CEO of London Public Library. “I am excited about the opportunity to build on the progress CELA has made since its launch 5 years ago, and to work together with CELA staff and partners to meet the changing accessibility needs of libraries and their patrons,” says Rina Hadziev.

Kids and Teens: New Printbraille available for fall

While we are working to add printbraille to our website, we have made a fresh selection of printbraille titles available to patrons for fall.

Printbraille books can be ordered on our website using the order form on our Kids and Teens page, or those who don’t have access to our website can call our Contact Centre and request the titles. Please note that book numbers are not available for these titles. If leaving a message, please clearly state you are requesting printbraille. There is a limit of 3 titles per patron.

Service Tip: How to find out more about our books

There’s lots of information available about the books in our collection.

If you are searching for titles and just want a quick idea about the book’s contents, you can click on Show Full Summary to read the book summary without leaving your search results page.

If you would like more information, click on the title of the book from the search results page, and you will find the full record, including the summary, information about the publisher or narrator, who produced the book or the number of braille volumes. If no narrator is listed, the book is produced using synthetic speech.

Stay Connected!

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