Welcome to The 49th Shelf

Since our launch in June 2011, Canadian readers have used our site to keep up with the latest news in Canadian books, find out about new releases, receive great book recommendations from expert readers and to hear more from their favourite writers on a diverse range of subjects. Our users have rated and reviewed their favourite books, curated their own reading lists, and have contributed to the compilation of group-lists like “Canadian Black History Books” and “The New Generation of Canadian Literature.”

We’ve long been describing ourselves as “a discovery platform”, and the discovery has been ours as well. It has been fantastic to connect with our community through Twitter and Facebook, and to discover what kind of content our users are looking for. It has also been a pleasure working with writers including Charlotte Gill, Elizabeth Hay, Lawrence Hill, Marina Endicott, Margaret MacMillan, Alison Pick, Kevin Chong and Michael Winter, and featuring their essays, interviews and reading lists on our site.

Today, we are thrilled to announce the latest chapter in our story as we debut expanded listings and features on our site, as well as our brand new name The 49th Shelf.

The 49th Shelf is a distinct demarcation that says “This is Canada.” And the most exciting feature you’re going to encounter on the site is our listing of nearly 50,000 Canadian-authored books. Also new and not-to-be-missed is our Giveaways Page, a one-stop shop for you to get your hands on some of the hottest books going. Our new “Browse All” feature makes it possible for you to search through the remarkable array of reading lists on the site.

We’re also very pleased to announce Amazon.ca as our lead sponsor for 2012, and, with the help of our host and producer Julie Wilson, we will be rolling out more features in the months to come.

And to celebrate our proper arrival on the virtual literary scene, we are running an “I Love Canadian Books” campaign that starts today, so you can show your support for Canadian books and the Canadian reading community by posting one of our badges on your own website.

If you signed up long ago to be a member of our site, your membership has automatically transferred over to The 49th Shelf, and we’re so happy you’ve been along for the ride. If you haven’t signed up yet, we’d encourage you to do so in order to join a community of likeminded readers, to celebrate the books you love best with ratings and reviews, to create your own recommended reading lists, and receive our newsletter. Be sure also to become a member of our active Facebook group, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to our blog for regular updates. Which makes it all sound like a bit of a whirlwind, but there really is always something going on.

A whole lot of you know this already. 

If you love Canadian books and want to be a part of it, The 49th Shelf is the best place to be.