Peter Gerard Kavanagh (June 12, 1953 – September 7, 2016) was a Canadian

radio producer A radio producer oversees the making of a radio show. The job title covers several different job descriptions: *Content producers or executive producers oversee and orchestrate a radio show or feature. The content producer might organize music cho ...

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon acce ...

, and writer with the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

(CBC) and

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

. Kavanagh was the creator of

Canada Reads ''Canada Reads'' is an annual "battle of the books" competition organized and broadcast by Canada's public broadcaster, the CBC. The program has aired in two distinct editions, the English-language ''Canada Reads'' on CBC Radio One, and the Fre ...

, an annual "battle of the books" competition which was first broadcast on CBC Radio in 2002. Kavanagh first conceived of the idea for what would become Canada Reads after learning of a similar program on public radio in the United States. On the Canada Reads program, five prominent Canadians, known as "advocates," each select a book. CBC Radio listeners then choose the winner. Past winners of the competition have included

Michael Ondaatje Philip Michael Ondaatje (; born 12 September 1943) is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer and essayist. Ondaatje's literary career began with his poetry in 1967, publishing ''The Dainty Monsters'', and then in 1970 the critically a ...

Joseph Boyden Joseph Boyden (born October 31, 1966) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer. He is best known for writing about First Nations culture. '' Three Day Road'', a novel about two Cree soldiers serving in the Canadian military during World War ...

and

Kim Thúy Kim Thúy Ly Thanh, CM CQ (born 1968 in Saigon, South Vietnam)

. Kavanagh was a co-producer on the first season of Canada Reads before leaving the show to pursue other CBC projects. Kavanagh was born in Deep River, Ontario, on June 12, 1953, as the third of five children of Cyril and Thelma Kavanagh. He contracted paralytic poliomyelitis when he was just two months old and spent much of his early infancy and childhood as a patient at

The Hospital for Sick Children ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

in Toronto. He endured medical procedures and surgeries throughout his life. When he was 60-years old, Kavanagh underwent a surgery to lengthen one of his legs, making both legs the same length for the first time. As a result of the operation, he had to learn how to walk again. He documented his experience in his

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

, ''The Man Who Learned to Walk Three Times'', which was published in 2013. Kavanagh retired from the CBC in 2013. Peter Kavanagh died of a heart attack on September 7, 2016, at the age of 63. He was survived by his wife, Debi Goodwin, and their daughter, Jane.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kavanagh, Peter 1953 births 2016 deaths Canadian radio producers Canadian television producers 21st-century Canadian memoirists Canadian Broadcasting Corporation people