Television adaptations of the works of Margaret Atwood and Mordecai Richler and a new pilot based on Douglas Coupland's jPod are some of the works commissioned as part of a new programming initiative announced Monday by CBC Television.

The new initiative, entitled From Page & Stage, will earmark funds towards adaptations from both literature and theatrical works.

"CBC Television has long been Canada's prime destination for viewing our finest literary adaptations, some of which have ranked among CBC's most watched and celebrated dramas," said Richard Stursberg, executive vice-president, CBC English Television.

"By defining and branding this new programming strand, CBC Television is creating new opportunities for producers and writers to propose and develop projects that will make proven connections with Canadians everywhere," Stursberg said.

The first program in the new category will be Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride, which debuts Jan. 21 at 8 p.m.

Coupland's jPod is currently in production for a potential series, as is Mordecai Richler's novel St. Urbain's Horseman, which will run as a miniseries. Richler's Barney's Version is slated as a feature film.

Also scheduled to air in the next year are a miniseries based on Guy Vanderhaege's The Englishman's Boy, a live adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's children's novel Wind in the Willows and Iron Road, a miniseries inspired by the opera of the same name composed by Cha Ka Nin and written by Mark Brownell.

"In the last two years, the CBC has invested over $11 million to bring works of literature to the screen. In turn, that investment has generated more than $84 million in production. Without the CBC, that level of activity and investment would not occur," Stursberg added.

The CBC has derived success with many adaptations in the past, including Anne of Green Gables, Road to Avonlea and Random Passage. In six years, from 2001 to 2007, CBC television has aired, or will air, 19 dramas or other programs based on Canadian literary works.