“Of all the elements of Canadian culture, literature may be the most definitive. Canadians are voracious readers of their own writers – from the founding ‘CanLit’ boom featuring Margaret Atwood and Mordecai Richler to, more recently, Barbara Gowdy, Rohinton Mistry and Yann Martel – and Canadian writing tops bestseller lists and wins awards internationally. How is the next generation carrying on this legacy and how is their work affected by such factors as Canada’s racial diversity, media saturation and changing values?”