Meet the Canada Reads 2019 contenders

What do a musician, a model, a science journalist, an actor and a fashion guru have in common? They are all panellists for Canada Reads 2019. Over four days in March, the five defenders will bring their diverse perspectives to this year's theme:One Book to Move You.

• Canada Reads 2019 Day One: Watch the livestream here at 11 a.m. ET on March 25

The contenders and their chosen books are:

• Chuck Comeau defending Homesby AbuBakralRabeeahwith WinnieYeung
• Lisa Ray defending Brotherby DavidChariandy
• Ziya Tongdefending By Chance Aloneby MaxEisen
• Yanic Truesdale defending SuzannebyAnasBarbeau-Lavalette, translated byRhondaMullins
• Joe Zee defending The Woo-Wooby Lindsay Wong

Ali Hassan returns to host for a thirdyear.

The debates take place March 25-28, 2019.

They will airon CBC Radio One at 11 a.m. (1 p.m. AT/1:30 p.m. NT), on CBC at 4p.m. (4:30 NT), live streamed online atCBC Booksat 11 a.m. ET and will be available on the free CBC Gem streaming service. Find the links and information you need on how to tune in here.

If you're in Toronto, you can get tickets to be part of the live studio audience.

Get to know the Canada Reads 2019 contenders below.

Homesby Abu Bakr al Rabeeah with Winnie Yeung, defended by Chuck Comeau

Chuck Comeau and his bandmates formed Simple Plan in 1999. The band has sold over 15 million albums and performed in more than 70 countries around the world. Early on,they started the Simple Plan Foundation, which raises money for charitable causes devoted to helping young people in need from suicide prevention, to poverty, mental health awareness, musical education and drug addiction.

• Read an excerpt fromHomes

Homesis a memoir ofAbu Bakr al Rabeeah's childhood in Iraq and Syria. Just before civil war broke out, the alRabeeahfamily left Iraq for safety inHoms, Syria.AlRabeeahwas 10 years old when the violence began in his new home. He remembers attacks on his mosque and school, car bombings and firebombs. Now a high school student in Edmonton, Alta.,al Rabeeahshares his story with writerWinnie Yeungin hopes it will bring greater understanding of Syria.

• Abu Bakr al Rabeeah, teenage refugee from Syria, tells his story with help from his teacher Winnie Yeung

Brother by David Chariandy, defended by Lisa Ray

Lisa Ray is one of India's most successful cover models and an award-winning actress whose work spans multiple countries in film (the Oscar-nominated Water) television (Top Chef Canada), theatre (John Murrels's Taj) and modelling. Rayhas become a high profile global advocate for cancer and stem cell awareness and was honoured with a Diamond Jubilee Medal for service to Canada. Her Amazon Prime series Four Shots More Please is out now and her next film release is A. R. Rahman's 99 Songs.

• Read an excerpt from Brother

David Chariandy'sBrothertakes us inside the lives of the mixed heritage sons of Trinidadian immigrants. Rooted inChariandy's own experience growing up as a person of colour in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, the novel is a beautiful meditation on discrimination, agency, grief and the power of human relationships.

• How David Chariandy brought his novel Brother to life

By Chance Alone by Max Eisen, defended by Ziya Tong

Ziya Tong is best known as the longtime co-host of the Discovery Channel's Daily Planet, which she anchored for a decade from 2008-2018. Before Daily Planet, Tong hosted ZeD on CBC, earning a Gemini Award for viewer's choice for lifestyle host. In 2007, she hosted and produced Wired Science on PBS and The Leading Edge on The Knowledge Network. Her book, The Reality Bubble,comes out in May 2019.

• Read an excerpt from By Chance Alone

WhenMax Eisenwas 15 years old, he and his family were taken from their home to Auschwitz, whereEisenworked as a slave labourer. He survived the Holocaust and emigrated to Canada in 1949.Eisenhas toured the world, educating people about the horrors he survived during the Second World War. He has recorded his memories in the deeply moving memoirBy Chance Alone.

• How a promise to his father inspired Holocaust survivor Max Eisen to tell his story

Suzanne by Anas Barbeau-Lavalette, translated by Rhonda Mullins, defended by Yanic Truesdale

Yanic Truesdale is a Montreal-born actor best known for his portrayal of Michel Gerard in the much loved television series Gilmore Girls.He began his television career in the long-running Canadian series He Shoots, He Scores and was nominated for a Gemini Award for his role on the Qubcois sitcom Majeurs et vaccins.Truesdalelives part-time in Los Angeles and part-time in his native Montreal, where he opened a spin studio called Spin nergie in 2011.

• Read an excerpt from Suzanne

An English translation of the celebrated 2015 novel,La femme quifuit,SuzanneisAnasBarbeau-Lavalette'simagined account of the life of her estranged grandmother. A novel that blurs the lines between fact and fiction,Suzannetells the story of more than eight decades of art and political history through its portrait of a conflicted woman and her granddaughter's search for understanding. Suzanne was translated by RhondaMullins.

• Why Anas Barbeau-Lavalette wrote a novel inspired by the grandmother that abandoned her family

The Woo-Woo by Lindsay Wong, defended by Joe Zee

Joe Zee is a resident judge on the television show Stitched in Canada, has appeared on ABC's Good Morning America and their annual Oscars pre-show, NBC's Today, CNN, The Oprah Winfrey Showand was previously the special fashion correspondent for Entertainment Tonight.He's also known for the seven plus years he spent as creative director at Ellemagazine. In 2018 he launched the original Netflix documentary series 7 Days Out, as its executive producer.

• Read the beginning of The Woo-Woo

The Woo-Woois adark, witty and touching memoir by Vancouver-based writerLindsay Wong, who gives an honest account ofthe impact of mental illness on her family.Wongdelivers a raw and emotional look at whispered secrets, dysfunctional relationships and how her grandmother, mother, aunt and even herself initially blamed the mythical "woo-woo," Chinese spirits that plague the living, for their mental health issues.

• Why Lindsay Wong wrote about her family's mental health