Lawrence Hill’s ‘The Illegal’ wins CBC’s ‘Canada Reads’ competition

TORONTO – Acclaimed author Lawrence Hill’s novel “The Illegal,” about the plight of refugees in a country that doesn’t want them, has won this year’s “Canada Reads” competition.

Olympian Clara Hughes was representing the book in CBC’s annual literary showdown, in which celebrity panellists each defend a title until one is declared the winner.

“The Hero’s Walk” by Anita Rau Badami was the runner-up.

This is the second “Canada Reads” victory for Hill after his Commonwealth Writers’ Prize-winning novel “The Book of Negroes” clinched it in 2009.

He later adapted that novel into a miniseries and is doing the same with “The Illegal,” in which a man flees his dictatorship homeland and goes into hiding.

Hill was recently appointed a professor at the University of Guelph. He’s also the jury chairman for this year’s Scotiabank Giller Prize.

This year’s “Canada Reads” theme was “Starting Over.”

The other books in the competition were “Minister Without Portfolio” by Michael Winter, “Bone and Bread” by Saleema Nawaz and “Birdie” by Tracey Lindberg.