General

What will Stephen Harper read?

Yann Martel quits sending books to the PM

When Yann Martel visited the House of Commons in 2007, he hoped to catch the attention of Prime Minister Stephen Harper during an event acknowledging the 50th anniversary of the Canada Council for the Arts. But Harper did not speak, and according to Martel (the 2002 Booker Prize winner for Life of Pi), the prime minister barely looked up from his papers. Following the apparent snub, Martel vowed to send Harper a book every two weeks in the mail, to “make suggestions to his stillness.” The resulting endeavour could be followed at a website called ‘What is Stephen Harper Reading?’, where Martel vowed to post any response from the prime minister (that added up to five letters from the PMO over four years, but none from Harper himself). The campaign ended today, however, after Martel’s 100th book was sent to 80 Wellington Street. The final work Martel sent was a play, Scorched, by Wajdi Mouawad.

National Post

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