For the second year in a row Weakerthans singer / songwriter John K. Samson has come out on top in CBC Radio One's Canada Reads competition. Samson appeared in the "all star" edition of the program, which has Canadian artists champion books by Canadian authors through several rounds of debate and voting. Samson's winning pick was the novel Lullabies For Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill. The other panelists this year were Steven Page of the Barenaked Ladies, journalist and author Denise Bombardier, Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy, and author Donna Morrissey. You can check out their picks at the Canada Reads website. Last year Samson won his fellow panelists over with A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews. The show is not his only involvement in the literary world, as Samson is a founding member of Arbeiter Ring Publishing, which specializes in books with an emphasis on social and political issues.As for his band, a recent Radio 3 blog posting suggested October as a tentative release date for the Weakerthans' follow up to 2003's Reconstruction Site.

More...