Canada Reads is an annual "battle of the books" competition organized and broadcast by Canada's public broadcaster, the CBC. The program has aired in two distinct editions, the English-language Canada Reads on CBC Radio One, and the French-language Le Combat des livres on Ici Radio-Canada Première.

Jian Ghomeshi is a Canadian broadcaster, writer, musician, producer and former CBC personality. From 1990 to 2000, he was a vocalist and drummer in the Thornhill-based folk-pop band Moxy Früvous. In the 2000s, he became a television and radio broadcaster. He hosted, among others, the CBC Newsworld program Play (2002–2005), the CBC Radio One program The National Playlist (2005–2006), and the CBC Radio One program Q, which he co-created and hosted from 2007 to 2014, until he was fired by the CBC.