Singer Sara Quin will defend graphic novel Essex County by Jeff Lemire. (CBC)

CBC's 2011 Canada Reads book panel will for the first time consider a graphic novel, after panellist Sara Quin chose Essex County by Jeff Lemire.

Quin, who is part of the music duo Tegan and Sara, is defending the graphic novel about the trials of a Canadian rural community.

Quin said she knows the graphic novel genre well and believes Essex County can be considered literature because of its "incredible characters and wonderful stories."

"The illustrations are so beautiful and so profound and tell a story all on their own," she said, speaking via video link at a press conference Wednesday.

Canada Reads announced its panellists and their choice of books for 2011 at the press conference.

The other panellists are:

• Actor Lorne Cardinal, who will defend Unless by Carol Shields.
• Former hockey pro Georges Laraque, who will defend The Bone Cage by Angie Abdou.
• TV personality Debbie Travis, who will champion The Birth House by Ami McKay.
• CNN journalist Ali Velshi, who will argue in favour of The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis.

Each of the 2011 panellists chose books from a list of 10 created after Canadians weighed in on the most significant Canadian books of the last 10 years.

Travis, whose show Allfor One just finished its first season on CBC-TV, chose The Birth House, a debut novel that became a No. 1 bestseller in 2007. It follows a girl from a Nova Scotia village who becomes a midwife at a time when traditional midwifery clashes with modern medicine.

Former hockey player Georges Laraque will defend The Bone Cage by Angie Abdou. (CBC)

Cardinal, who appeared in Wolf Canyon and Corner Gas, is defending Unless, Shields' book about a family coping with a crisis in the life of their daughter.

It is the first time a book by Shields, one of Canada's finest novelists, has been considered during Canada Reads.

"Unless is her last novel," Cardinal said. "She's an alchemist with words and this invites you into this world of Unless."

Edmonton-based Laraque has chosen The Bone Cage, about the gruelling world of amateur athletics. He recently completed a bruising sojourn on CBC's Battle of the Blades, where he needed stitches after being cut by a skate blade.

"This is a book to me that is a big reflection of what I do ... as an athlete," Laraque said. "You understand that Olympic athletes, they don't have any money and you see the constant struggle they have."

Velshi grew up in Toronto and began his career there before becoming host of the CNN daytime news show, CNN Newsroom.

He has chosen The Best Laid Plans, winner of the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour, a satire about a political strategist who backs an honest man for MP, only to be shocked when he wins the seat.

Writer Fallis had left a career as a political strategist and self-published the book before winning the Leacock Award for it. He immediately got a publishing contract.

"It appeals to people like me who love politics and breathe politics and are steeped in politics, but it also appeals to people who don't like politics," Velshi said.

The Canada Reads debate will be hosted in February by Q 's Jian Ghomeshi. It will continue for one week, with one book chosen as the overall winner on the final day.