One eRead Canada is a national, bilingual digital book club connecting readers to one another and to their libraries.

This year’s pick is Kim Thúy’s celebrated novel, Vi, published by Libre Expression in French and Penguin Random House Canada in English. This masterful book about the lives and experiences of Vietnamese refugees in Canada was a finalist for the 2019 Governor General’s Literary Award in translation and longlisted for the 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

From January 1 through January 31, 2021, download a copy of Vi, in e-book or downloadable audio format in Overdrive, with no waitlists or limits on the number of copies borrowed.

You can connect with other Canadians online to discuss the book in the One eRead Canada Book Club Facebook Group. Every week, there will be a new question discussing the themes, characters, and overall impressions of the book. On January 19 and 20, One eRead Canada will be streaming a live author event with Kim Thúy, one in French and one in English, on the Facebook Group page.

Access to eBooks is more critical than ever since the pandemic has curtailed many people’s ability to acquire print books and afford digital versions of the books they want to read. One eRead Canada is an important initiative undertaken by Candian Urban Libaries Council (CULC), which is striving to resolve the prohibitive costs and purchasing restrictions public libraries face related to eContent.

CULC’s eContent for Libraries drew attention to major multinational publishers’ excessively high prices and restrictive purchasing models for eBooks and eAudiobooks. One eRead Canada and similar programs introduce readers and listeners to new titles and authors, positively impacting sales of digital content – to the benefit of publishers, authors, and readers.