So, We’re Not Alone

A recent article in the National Post calls its Candian readers to task for not being able to name six Candian authors. The headline reads: “Half of us can’t identify a Canadian writer. What can we do about it? The results of the poll were widely reported, but what do we do about the fact we don’t know our authors?” Following the release of the 2008 Canadian Books Readership Study, the response concerning Canadian writers that is most troubling to the industry: 46% of the 1,502 people polled last June could not name a single author when asked: “Please name some Canadian authors you have heard of.”

So, the U.S. may not be alone in its decline of book readership, although the article does mention that some respondents, while they knew the name of the books, didn’t know the name of the author. I guess it will be a worse state of concern when the response becomes, “What’s an author?”