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Esi Edugyan at her home on Dec. 13, 2018.Alana Paterson/The Globe and Mail

Two-time Giller Prize-winner Esi Edugyan is the next host of the Globe Book Club, which will kick off later this fall and culminate in an event featuring Edugyan in Vancouver.

Edugyan – who has never been a member of a book club – said she’s delighted The Globe will be her first foray into this world. “It couldn’t get any more big and exciting than this,” said the author of Washington Black and Half-Blood Blues. “I’m really looking forward to sharing my book with the larger audience, and getting feedback and talking about it. It’s going to be really exciting.”

Margaret Atwood, who teamed up with The Globe and Mail to host the first book club, chose Edugyan together with Globe staff as her successor. “Canada has produced more than its share of excellent authors; the Globe Book Club creates a space in which our books can be explored in the depth they merit. I am delighted that Esi Edugyen has agreed to be the next host and look forward to her book choice,” said Atwood, whose pick was Barbara Gowdy’s The White Bone.

Globe Book Club: Watch Margaret Atwood in conversation with Barbara Gowdy, and catch up on our coverage of The White Bone

The Globe and Mail launched the Globe Book Club in April, with authors such as Russell Smith, Elizabeth Renzetti and Britt Wray contributing essays and features about themes in The White Bone. Subscribers were thrilled to have a space to debate a great Canadian book and contributed feedback throughout the four-week process. It concluded with a live event featuring Atwood and Gowdy at The Globe and Mail Centre in Toronto, with more than 250 subscribers attending.

Subscriber Bill Jermyn, who attended the event, enjoyed “the repartee between Atwood and Gowdy. It’s a great skill to talk about such serious subjects as climate change and conservation with such a light touch."

He added that it’s rare to get a chance to see two titans of the Canadian publishing world together on stage and relished the opportunity to network with fellow Globe and Mail Books readers. “I’m happy The Globe is expanding its coverage of Canadian literature,” Jermyn said. “There are so many new, young writers that are exceptional, and they need to be introduced to us and the world.”

If you haven’t already, subscribe to our Books newsletter or check tgam.ca/bookclub to learn about Edugyan’s book pick, which will come later this year, as well as details on how to register for the Vancouver event.

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