Daily Show correspondent Samantha Bee, sprinter Donovan Bailey and former UN ambassador Stephen Lewis have signed on to the CBC Canada Reads competition.

Actress Sarah Gadon and journalist/hip-hop artist Wab Kinew round out the new panel for the annual CBC Radio event, in which each celebrity debates the merits of a different novel.

The field is whittled down until a winner is declared.

The theme of the 2014 debates, which kick off in March, is inspiring social change in Canada.

Comic and author Bee will go to bat for Cockroach by Rawi Hage while two-time Olympic champion Bailey backs Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan, which won the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Author, diplomat and humanitarian Lewis will defend The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood, Gadon has Annabel by Kathleen Winter and Kinew will push The Orenda by Joseph Boyden.

The panellists chose the books from a short list of 10, which was determined by fans.

The debates will air March 3 to March 6 on CBC Radio and CBC-TV, and will be streamed online on CBC Books.

Source: The Province