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Seventy Canadian books up for the Governor General’s Literary Awards

Canada Council for the Arts revealed the 2018 finalists for the prestigious Governor General’s Literary Awards (GGBooks) today.

These 70 Canadian books are among the best published this year in seven categories, both in English and in French. They are the works that stood out to peer assessment committees from close to 1,400 titles submitted for consideration.

Quote :

“Innovative, troubling, surprising and emotional. This year’s GGBooks finalists have once again proven just how rich, bold, diverse and strong our literature is. Whether they offer exciting ideas, extraordinary illustrations, inspiring verse or outstanding translations, the GGBooks finalists are sure to impress.”

Simon Brault, Director and CEO of the Canada Council for the Arts

About GGBooks:

Founded in 1936, the Governor General’s Literary Awards are one of Canada’s oldest and most prestigious literary awards program, with a total annual prize value of $450,000.

The Canada Council for the Arts has funded, administered and promoted the awards since 1959.

Finalists are chosen by category-specific, language-based peer assessment committees (seven in English and seven in French), who consider eligible books published between September 1, 2017 and September 30, 2018 for English-language books and between July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018 for French-language books.

Each winner receives $25,000. The publisher of each winning book receives $3,000 to support promotional activities. Non-winning finalists each receive $1,000.

In their 82 years, the Governor General’s Literary Awards have celebrated more than 700 works by over 500 authors, poets, playwrights, translators and illustrators.

English-language finalists (seven categories)

Fiction:

Beirut Hellfire Society – Rawi Hage (Montréal, Quebec)
Knopf Canada/Penguin Random House Canada

Jonny Appleseed – Joshua Whitehead (Calgary, Alberta)
Arsenal Pulp Press

The Red Word – Sarah Henstra (Toronto, Ontario)
ECW Press

Women Talking – Miriam Toews (Toronto, Ontario)
Knopf Canada/Penguin Random House Canada

Zolitude – Paige Cooper (Montréal, Quebec)
Biblioasis

Poetry:

Because: A Lyric Memoir – Joshua Mensch (Prague, Czech Republic)
W.W. Norton & Company

Night Became Years – Jason Stefanik (Winnipeg, Manitoba)
Coach House Books

The Blue Clerk – Dionne Brand (Toronto, Ontario)
McClelland & Stewart/Penguin Random House Canada

This Wound is a World – Billy-Ray Belcourt (Edmonton, Alberta)
Frontenac House

Wayside Sang – Cecily Nicholson (Burnaby, British Columbia)
Talonbooks

 

Drama:

Botticelli in the Fire & Sunday in Sodom – Jordan Tannahill (London, United Kingdom)
Playwrights Canada Press

Gertrude and Alice – Anna Chatterton and Evalyn Parry with Karin Randoja (Hamilton, Ontario, Toronto, Ontario and Toronto, Ontario)
Playwrights Canada Press

Paradise Lost – Erin Shields (Montréal, Quebec)
Playwrights Canada Press

The Men in White – Anosh Irani (North Vancouver, British Columbia)
House of Anansi Press

This Is How We Got Here – Keith Barker (Toronto, Ontario)

Playwrights Canada Press

 

Non-fiction:

Dead Reckoning: How I Came to Meet the Man Who Murdered My Father – Carys Cragg (Port Coquitlam, British Columbia)
Arsenal Pulp Press

Heart Berries – Terese Marie Mailhot (Evansville, Indiana)
Doubleday Canada/Penguin Random House Canada

Homes: A Refugee Story – Abu Bakr al Rabeeah with Winnie Yeung (Edmonton, Alberta)
Freehand Books

Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age – Darrel J. McLeod (Sooke, British Columbia,
Douglas & McIntyre

The Wife’s Tale: A Personal History – Aida Edemariam (Oxford, United Kingdom
 Knopf Canada

 

Young People’s Literature – Text:

Ebb & Flow – Heather Smith (Waterloo, Ontario)
Kids Can Press

Learning to Breathe – Janice Lynn Mather (Delta, British Columbia)
Simon & Schuster

Sweep: The Story of a Girl and her Monster – Jonathan Auxier (Swissvale, Pennsylvania)
Puffin Canada/Penguin Random House Canada Young Readers

The Journey of Little Charlie – Christopher Paul Curtis (Windsor, Ontario)
Scholastic Canada

Winnie’s Great War – Lindsay Mattick and Josh Greenhut (Toronto, Ontario)
HarperCollins Publishers

 

Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Books:

Africville – Shauntay Grant and Eva Campbell (Halifax, Nova Scotia/Victoria, British Columbia)
Groundwood Books

At the Pond – Werner Zimmermann (Guelph, Ontario)
North Winds Press, an imprint of Scholastic Canada

Go Show the World: A Celebration of Indigenous Heroes – Wab Kinew and Joe Morse (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Toronto, Ontario)
Tundra Books/Penguin Random House Canada

Ocean Meets Sky – The Fan Brothers (Toronto, Ontario)
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

They Say Blue – Jillian Tamaki (Toronto, Ontario)
Groundwood Books

 

Translation (from French to English):

Descent into Night – Translated by Phyllis Aronoff and Howard Scott (Montréal, Quebec)

Mawenzi House Publishers; translation of Explication de la nuit by Edem Awumey, Les Éditions du Boréal

Explosions : Michael Bay and the Pyrotechnics of the Imagination – Translated by Aleshia Jensen (Montréal, QC)

QC Fiction, an imprint of Baraka Books; translation of Des explosions by Mathieu Poulin, Les Éditions de Ta Mère

Jacob Isaac Segal: A Montreal Yiddish Poet and His Milieu – Translated by Vivian Felsen (Toronto, Ontario)

University of Ottawa Press; translation of Jacob-Isaac Segal (1896-1954) : un poète yiddish de Montréal et son milieu by Pierre Anctil, Les Presses de l’Université Laval

Little Beast – Translated by Rhonda Mullins (Montréal, Quebec)

Coach House Books; translation of Barbe by Julie Demers, Héliotrope

Songs for the Cold of Heart– Translated by Peter McCambridge (Cap-Rouge, Quebec)

QC Fiction, an imprint of Baraka Books; translation of La fiancée américaine by Eric Dupont, Marchand de feuilles

French-language finalists (seven categories)

 

Fiction:

De synthèse – Karoline Georges (Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec)
Éditions Alto

La bête creuse – Christophe Bernard (Burlington, Vermont)
Le Quartanier

Les noyades secondaires – Maxime Raymond Bock (Montréal, Quebec)
Le Cheval d’août

Manikanetish – Naomi Fontaine (Québec, Quebec)
Mémoire d’encrier

noms fictifs – Olivier Sylvestre (Montréal, Quebec)
Hamac, a division of Les éditions du Septentrion

 

Poetry:

Cruauté du jeu – France Théoret (Montréal, Quebec)
 Écrits des Forges

La dévoration des fées – Catherine Lalonde (Montréal, Quebec)
Le Quartanier

La raison des fleurs – Michaël Trahan (Montréal, Quebec)
Le Quartanier

Le revers – Roxane Desjardins (Montréal, Quebec)
Les Herbes rouges

Ne faites pas honte à votre siècle – Daria Colonna (Montréal, Quebec
Poètes de brousse

 

Drama:

Enfant insignifiant! – Michel Tremblay (Montréal, Quebec)
Leméac Éditeur

Invisibles – Guillaume Lapierre-Desnoyers (Montréal, Quebec)
L’instant même

J’aime Hydro – Christine Beaulieu (Montréal, Quebec
Atelier 10

Os : la montagne blanche – Steve Gagnon (Montréal, Quebec)
 L’instant même

Venir au monde – Anne-Marie Olivier (Québec, Quebec)
Atelier 10

 

Non-fiction:

Avant l’après : voyages à Cuba avec George Orwell – Frédérick Lavoie (Montréal, Quebec)
La Peuplade

Histoire des Juifs du Québec – Pierre Anctil (Montréal, Quebec)
Les Éditions du Boréal

Le piège de la liberté : les peuples autochtones dans l’engrenage des régimes coloniaux – Denys Delâge and Jean-Philippe Warren (St-Antoine-de-Tilly, Quebec / Verdun, Quebec)
Les Éditions du Boréal

Les chants du mime : en compagnie d’Étienne Decroux – Gabrielle Giasson-Dulude (Montréal, Quebec)
Éditions du Noroît

Mégantic : une tragédie annoncée – Anne-Marie Saint-Cerny (Val-David, Quebec)
 Les Éditions Écosociété

 

Young People’s Literature – Text:

13 000 ans et des poussières – Camille Bouchard (Fortierville, Quebec)
 Soulières éditeur

Ferdinand F., 81 ans, chenille – Mario Brassard (Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, Quebec)
Soulières éditeur

Les Marées – Brigitte Vaillancourt (Eastman, Quebec)
Les Éditions du Boréal

Maman veut partir – Jonathan Bécotte (Montréal, Quebec)
Leméac Éditeur

Un dernier songe avant le grand sommeil – Jocelyn Boisvert (Havre-aux-Maisons, Quebec)
Soulières éditeur

 

Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Books:

Jules et Jim : frères d’armes – Jacques Goldstyn (Mont-Royal, Quebec)
Bayard Canada

Le chemin de la montagne – Marianne Dubuc (Montréal, Quebec)
Comme des géants

Les mots d’Eunice – Gabriella Gendreau and Nahid Kazemi (Montréal, Quebec)
Éditions de l’Isatis

Lili Macaroni : je suis comme je suis! – Nicole Testa and Annie Boulanger (Rimouski, Quebec/Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec)
 Dominique et compagnie

Une histoire de cancer qui finit bien – Marianne Ferrer and India Desjardins (Lasalle, Quebec/Montréal, Quebec)
Les Éditions de la Pastèque

 

Translation (from English to French):

De l’utilité de l’ennui : textes de balle – Translated by Daniel Grenier and William S. Messier (Québec, Quebec / Sherbrooke, Quebec)

Les Éditions de Ta Mère; translation of The Utility of Boredom: Baseball Essays by Andrew Forbes, Invisible Publishing

Le Monde selon Barney – Translated by Lori Saint-Martin and Paul Gagné (Montréal, Quebec)

Les Éditions du Boréal; translation of Barney’s Version by Mordecai Richler, Knopf Canada

Le saint patron des merveilles – Translated by Catherine Leroux (Montréal, Quebec)

Éditions Alto; translation of Fabrizio’s Return by Mark Frutkin, Vintage Canada

Naissances – Translated by Laurence Gough (Montréal, Quebec)

Marchand de feuilles; translation of How You Were Born by Kate Cayley, Pedlar Press

Sweetland – Translated by Éric Fontaine (Montréal, Quebec)

Leméac Éditeur; translation of Sweetland by Michael Crummey, Doubleday Canada

 

English-language peer assessment committees:

Fiction: Andrea MacPherson, Shani Mootoo, Craig Francis Power

Poetry: Garry Gottfriedson, Sachiko Murakami, Patrick Warner

Drama: Rosa Laborde, Ian Ross, Kent Stetson

Non-fiction: Ted Bishop, Leslie Shimotakahara, Merrily Weisbord

Young People’s Literature – Text: Shelley Hrdlitschka, Philip Roy, Sarah Tsiang

Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Books: Adwoa Badoe, Renata Liwska, Hugh MacDonald

Translation (from French to English): Dawn M. Cornelio, Peter Feldstein, Kathryn Gabinet-Kroo

 

French-language peer assessment committees:

Fiction: Martine Batanian, Carole David, André Girard

Poetry: Jean-Marc Desgent, Lise Gaboury-Diallo, Marie-Andrée Gill

Drama: Nathalie Boisvert, Herménégilde Chiasson, Dave Jenniss

Non-fiction: Ralph Elawani, Lucie Hotte, Jean-Jacques Pelletier

Young People’s Literature – Text: Simon Boulerice, Michèle Laframboise, Hada López

Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Books: Oussama Mezher, Paul Roux, Danielle Simard

Translation (from English to French) : Christophe Bernard, Rose Després, Geneviève Letarte

 

Important dates:

October 30: The 14 winning books will be announced.

November 28: Her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette, Governor General of Canada, will present the awards at Rideau Hall, in Ottawa.

November 28 and 29: Public readings will take place at the Canada Council, located at 150 Elgin St., Ottawa, where attendees will have the opportunity to meet the GGBooks winners.

 

About the Canada Council for the Arts

The Canada Council for the Arts is Canada’s national arts funder. Its grants and payments to artists and arts organizations benefit Canadians by ensuring a vibrant arts sector in Canada. In 2016-17, the Canada Council allocated 196.8 million dollars towards artistic creation and innovation through its grants, prizes and payments. It also conducts research, convenes activities and works with partners to advance the sector and help embed the arts more deeply in communities across the country. The Canada Council Art Bank is a national collection of over 17,000 Canadian contemporary artworks – all accessible to the public through rental, loan and outreach programs. The Canada Council also distributes payments to over 17,000 Canadian authors annually through the Public Lending Right (PLR) Program as compensation for free public access to their books in Canadian public libraries. Furthermore, the Canadian Commission for UNESCO operates under the general authority of the Canada Council.

 

Media contacts

To book interviews with the finalists:

Charlene Coy, C2C Communications
416-451-1471
charlene@c2ccommunications.com

 

Canada Council for the Arts

Joly-Anne Ricard

Public Relations and Social Media Advisor

1-800-263-5588, ext. 4166 or
343-998-2627 (cell)
joly-anne.ricard@canadacouncil.ca

 

Rideau Hall contact:

Marie-Ève Létourneau

Senior Communications Advisor

Office of the Secretary to the Governor General 
613-998-0287
marie-eve.letourneau@gg.ca

 

 

 

 

 

 

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