In this issue
- Letter from CELA’s Executive Director
- Awards update
- Reading in the news
- CD transition
- Reading for Truth and Reconciliation
- October is Dyslexia Awareness Month
- Canada Post workers strike
- Webinars for you
- New board members
- Accessible Reading Canada survey
- Come say hi!
- Featured title for adults: The Hunger We Pass Down
- Top five books
- Top five for kids
- Featured title for teens: The Whisperings
- Top five for teens
- Service tip
- Holiday hours
- Stay connected!
Letter from CELA’s Executive Director
September kicks off the literary awards season in Canada. We’re always thrilled to see nominated titles added to our collection as the announcement dates draw near. A decade ago, CELA users could wait sometimes months for awards titles to be produced and added to our collection. Now, thanks to shifts in technology and partnerships with awards organizations, publishers and producers, we see books added to our collection within days or weeks of publication, giving users lots of choice in their reading and lots of opportunities to take part in community conversations around these titles.
Choice will be a big part of our conversations in the coming months as we kick off our next round of strategic planning. We’re delighted to welcome two new directors to the CELA Board: Emily Blackmore from Newfoundland & Labrador Public Libraries and Sarah Meilleur from Calgary Public Library. We also thank outgoing Board Directors Tara Wong and Åsa Kachan for their service. The Board will be undertaking our next round of strategic planning over the coming year as we chart the next phase of CELA's work. We will keep users and libraries up to date as we are able to share more about our plans.
Two of our new staff, Cora and Andrea, have been hard at work creating outreach plans and resources to help us introduce CELA to folks with print disabilities who may not know about us. Their work, which is funded through the Equitable Access to Reading program, will focus on informing professionals and communities who support people with print disabilities about the benefits of accessible reading and CELA’s services. You can read more about their work on our recent blog post.
This edition of Open Book features lots of new and timely reads, whether you are interested in award nominees, books for Truth and Reconciliation, or CELA’s most popular titles last month.
Happy reading!
Laurie Davidson, Executive Director
Awards update
It's a busy month for Canadian awards announcements! Congratulations to the following authors.
Raymond B. Blake has won the 2025 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing for his book Canada's Prime Ministers and the Shaping of a National Identity.
Canadian David Szalay is among the six authors shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize for his novel Flesh.
Five authors have been shortlisted for the 2025 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.
The Hilary Weston Prize shortlist features 5 Canadian nonfiction authors.
The Dayne Olgivie Prize shortlist was announced. This award goes to a writer from the LGBTQ+ community for writing in any genre.
The Giller Prize longlist has been released. Check out accessible versions in our collection.
The winners of the First Nations Community Reads Awards will be announced the second week of October. Check out the entries for adult and kids
The Toronto Book Awards announced its shortlist earlier this month. Find accessible versions of nominated titles in our collection.
American writer Leslie Jamison has won the 2025 Weston International Award which recognizes an author's body of work.
Reading in the news
The CBC radio show The Current with Matt Galloway interviewed comic Phil Hanley about struggling with dyslexia as a child, the support he had from his mother and why he wrote his book Spellbound: My Life as a Dyslexic Wordsmith.
Read Spellbound in our collection.
CD transition
If you are transitioning away from CDs, we want you to know that we are here to support you.
We continue to update our CD Transition Resources webpage, adding new resources as they are developed, and we will be adding additional training opportunities this fall.
We are also in the process of switching former CD users to our Direct to Player service. The Direct to Player service allows users to add books or magazines to a virtual bookshelf and then have them seamlessly accessed by their compatible reading device, which may include a DAISY player, an app on your smartphone, tablet or computer or a smart speaker. If you would like us to expedite this option for you, you can call the Contact Centre or use the form on My Account to have the switch made automatically. On the My Account page, choose Service switch to Direct to Player for CD users and select the option which says Switch my CD service to DAISY Direct to Player now.
If you need additional support, please reach out to our Contact Centre by phone or email. The Contact Centre can book a one on one appointment to assist you in configuring your device for Direct to Player options.
Reading for Truth and Reconciliation
Ojibwe author Richard Wagamese, once wrote, when “we take the time to share those stories with each other, we get bigger inside, we see each other, we recognize our kinship – we change the world, one story at a time…”
September 30 marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. As Wagamese suggests, an excellent way to understand the personal and generational impact of residential schools is through the reading the stories of Indigenous, Inuit and Métis authors.
We have gathered some of these important stories in a reading list which also includes the reports from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Some feataured titles:
Waiting for the long night moon: Stories by Amanda Peters
Finding otipemisiwak: The people who own themselves by Andrea Currie
A Season in Chezgh'un: A Novel by Darrel J. McLeod. 2023
real ones: a novel by katherena vermette.
Find more titles to read for the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.
October is Dyslexia Awareness Month
Accessible books make it easier for people with dyslexia to study, work and enjoy reading. In addition to books from CELA, your library may have other resources, including decodable books and programs to support people with dyslexia.
Organizations like Dyslexia Decoded, Dyslexia Canada, Learning Disability Association of Canada and the International Dyslexia Association provide support and work hard to raise awareness about dyslexia, especially in October.
If you know of someone who has dyslexia, encourage them to learn about accessible books available through CELA. And spread the word to teachers about our Educator Access program.
Canada Post workers strike
As of September 25, Canada Post workers have gone on strike.
CELA has suspended the production and mailing of physical materials, including embossed braille and printbraille, and we will hold any Envoy Connect devices that have been returned to us until the strike is resolved.
Please note that CELA no longer offers CDs. That service concluded on July 31, 2025.
Please check our blog for information and links to assist you in finding possible ways to read CELA books during this strike.
Webinars for you
We host a series of webinars on Zoom to help users access CELA services, to stay up to date on new technologies and to learn more about accessible reading. Most of our webinars are recorded.
On the Webinars for you page, you will find upcoming webinars. On that same page you will find links to other CELA video resources available on our YouTube channel.
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, please select the link below and fill in the registration form. To attend by phone, please call the Contact Centre at 1-855-655-2273.
Envoy Connect: An accessible and affordable audiobook player
In May 2023, CELA launched our new service which uses the Envoy Connect audiobook player to read books in CELA’s collection. This webinar will provide a basic introduction to the Envoy Connect player, a portable, affordable and easy-to-use device. This webinar is for both library staff and CELA patrons who want to learn more about this device.
This webinar will cover:
- Basics of the Envoy Connect Player: what it is, how it works, etc.
- How to manage books on the Envoy Connect with the CELA Connect software.
- Where to find learning resources or purchase the player.
To register for the online Zoom webinar, please select the link below and fill in the registration form. To attend by phone, please call the Contact Centre at 1-855-655-2273.
Ask Us! Come chat with CELA staff and have your questions answered
This hour long interactive conversation gives CELA users an opportunity to ask questions related to using CELA’s library services. We encourage you to bring your questions and learn from CELA staff, as well as to share experiences with other CELA patrons in the audience. This Q&A aims to support how you access the books, magazines and newspapers in CELA’s multiple format collections for people with print disabilities.
To register for the online Zoom webinar please select the link below and fill in the registration form. To attend by phone, please call the Contact Centre at 1-855-655-2273.
Starting with CELA: finding and getting books and magazines
Have you recently registered for CELA or would you like a refresher on how to find and read books and magazines? Or are you a designate who assists a CELA user with a print disability manage their library service? We’re pleased to share how you can use the 1.5 million titles available to you in this 60-minute webinar.
- What CELA offers: books & more!
- What kind of devices do you need to listen to CELA's books and magazines
- Discover how to access a book or magazine using CELA's site: log in, search and choose a book
- Find tutorials and videos for more help
To register for the online Zoom webinar please select the link below and fill in the registration form. To attend by phone, please call the Contact Centre at 1-855-655-2273.
Tuesday Nov 25 2:00-3:00pm EST
New board members
CELA welcomed two new Board directors this month.
Emily Blackmore has over a decade of experience working in public libraries, including outreach, social media work, and collections building. Emily is currently the Children's and Youth Collections and Services Librarian where she selects children's and teen books for all 94 branches at the Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries. Emily has her MLIS from Dalhousie University and is the Past President of the Atlantic Provinces Library Association, as well as a member of the TD Summer Reading Club National Committee.
Sarah Meilleur is the CEO of Calgary Public Library, an award-winning library system with 22 locations, serving over 1.6 million people. She is a recognized speaker at international conferences, has authored numerous journal articles, and lectures at Harvard University on library design. Sarah led the design thinking, completion and launch of Calgary's award winning new Central Library, which has seen over 5.6 million visitors since opening in November 2018. She received Avenue Magazine's Top 40 under 40 award in 2011, was a recipient of Queen Elizabeth ll's Platinum Jubilee Medal in 2022 for outstanding service to family, community, and country, and received a Blackfoot name of Pookaipiyakii, which translates to Children Dancing Woman, from Blackfoot Elder Miiksika’am in 2023. Sarah is passionate about how public libraries transform lives, and she works to foster curiosity, innovation, belonging, and fantastic visitor experiences.
We want to thank our outgoing Board Directors Tara Wong from Oakville Public Library and Åsa Kachan from Halifax Public Libraries for their dedicated service and contributions.
Accessible Reading Canada survey
On June 25th, we launched Accessible Reading Canada, a new way to enjoy audiobooks using an Alexa smart speaker. If you’ve tried the service, we’d love to hear from you!
Please complete our short survey to share your experience and help us improve this service.
Come say hi!
Come visit us at the Halton Hills Library's Book Bash!
If you are in the Georgetown Ontario area on October 10 or 11 stop by the library and visit us at the Book Bash Children's Literature Festival. This event is aimed at children ages 0-12 and features author spotlights, activities and CELA! We will be there from 11am to 4pm. Come say hi at our booth and try out our braille activites and learn what we can offer kids with print disabilities. For more information visit the Halton Hills Library website.
Featured title for adults: The Hunger We Pass Down
From the bestselling author of Superfan comes a haunting novel about the demons passed down through five generations of women in a Chinese Canadian family, and what it might take for them to finally break free of the past. Single mother Alice Chow is drowning. With a booming online business, a resentful teenage daughter, a screen-obsessed son, and a secret boyfriend, she can never get everything done in a day.
So it’s a relief when Alice wakes up one morning to find the counters are clear, the kids’ rooms are tidy, and orders are neatly packed and labelled. But she doesn’t remember staying up late to take care of things. As the strange pattern continues, she realizes someone—or something—has been doing her chores for her. Alice knows she should feel uneasy, but the extra time lets her connect with her children and with her hard-edged mother, who has started to share shocking stories from their family history—beginning with the horrors that befell her great-grandmother, who was imprisoned as a comfort woman in Hong Kong during the Second World War. But the family’s demons—both real and subconscious, old and new—are about to become impossible to ignore. Set against the gleaming backdrop of contemporary Vancouver, The Hunger We Pass Down is a devastating, horror-tinged novel about how unspoken legacies of violence can shape a family. It follows the relentless spectre of intergenerational trauma as it is handed down from mother to daughter, and asks what it might take to break the cycle—heroism, depravity, or both.
Read The Hunger We Passed Down: A Novel by Jen Sookfong Lee.
Top five books
Most popular with our readers last month:
- We Are All Guilty Here: A Novel (North Falls #1) by Karin Slaughter, Suspense and thrillers
- She Didn't See It Coming: A Novel by Shari Lapena, Canadian authors (fiction)
- Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds by Allison Brennan, Women sleuths
- The War We Won Apart: The Untold Story of Two Elite Agents Who Became One of the Most Decorated Couples of WWII by Nahlah Ayed, Women biography
- Guess Again by Charlie Donlea, Mysteries and crime stories
Top five for kids
Most popular with kids last month:
- Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper, Disabilities fiction
- Little House in the Big Woods (Little House #1) by Laura Wilder and Garth Williams, Family stories
- The Dragonet Prophecy: Wings of Fire Series, Book 1 by Tui T Sutherland, Fantasy
- The Complete Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis, Pauline Baynes, Adventure stories
- Dog Driven by Terry Lynn Johnson, Animal stories
Featured title for teens: The Whisperings
Burn Our Bodies Down meets Delicious Monsters in this terrifying new young adult horror by acclaimed master of the macabre Joel A. Sutherland.Joana and her younger brother Peter aren't used to setting down roots. Ever since the violent murder of their mother, their father can't stay in one place for long, haunted by the literal ghosts of the past. He has what he calls "the Whisperings," and will do anything to protect his children from the horrors that torment him.
When the family moves to Burlington, Vermont, Joana thinks they've finally found a place to call home. They rent the lower half of a creepy yet comfortable mansion downtown, and Joana actually begins to fit in at school, thanks in part to Willem, a handsome (and single) classmate. But a near-death experience awakens the Whisperings in Joana, and she soon realizes her family isn't the only family living in the house. She meets the Keils — ghosts forced to relive their own gruesome murders every night. As they say, misery loves company... and suddenly, Joana is forced to protect the ones closest to her from a supernatural threat in this horrifying haunted house story for teen readers.
Read The Whisperings by Joel A. Sutherland.
Top five for teens
Most popular with teens last month:
- Love Me or Miss Me by Dream Jordan, General fiction
- The Raven's Tale by Cat Winters, Ghost and horror stories
- 1984: A Novel by George Orwell, Classic fiction
- Interpreter of Maladies: Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri, Short stories
- The Hawthorne Legacy (Inheritance Games #2) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Myseries and crime stories
Service tip
Did you know you can now listen to audiobooks on your Amazon Alexa smart speaker? Thanks to the Accessible Reading Canada skill, you can use your Alexa-enabled smart speaker by activating the Accessible Reading Canada skill and connecting your CELA account to start reading.
Need help getting started? Register for our upcoming webinar where you can learn all about this new feature.
Listen to CELA audiobooks with Alexa:
Monday Oct. 6, 2025 2:30-3:30pm EDT
You can also find out more on our Accessible Reading Canada help page.
Holiday hours
CELA will be closed Tuesday, September 30 to recognize the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. We will reopen on Wednesday, October 1.
We will also be closed Monday, October 13 for Thanksgiving and will reopen on Tuesday, October 14. Have a safe holiday!
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.