GG Books turns 80
2016 shortlist revealed
The Canada Council for the Arts today announced the 2016 shortlist for the Governor General’s Literary Awards.
This year, more than 1450 titles in both English and French were submitted for consideration. One of Canada’s longest-standing literary awards, GG Books remains among our country’s most diverse awards programs – honouring works in seven categories and two official languages.
Each year, for 80 years, the GG Books shortlist announcement has invited us to explore who we are today, and to dream of who we might become tomorrow. Canadian literature has a long history of excellence, and it continues to captivate us.
Simon Brault, Canada Council Director and CEO
Important dates
Tuesday, October 25, 6:00 am
The full list of winners will be unveiled at ggbooks.ca.
Wednesday, November 30, 6:00 pm
His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, will present the 2016 GG Literary Awards at Rideau Hall, in Ottawa.
Thursday, December 1 11:45 am – 1:00 pm
Readers are invited to meet the English-language GG winners at a public reading and book signing at the Canada Council, 150 Elgin St., Ottawa (event with French-language winners on Wednesday, November 30, 11:45 am – 1:00 pm).
About the Awards
- Founded in 1936, the Governor General’s Literary Awards are one of Canada's oldest and most prestigious literary awards program with a total value of $450,000. The Canada Council for the Arts has funded, administered and promoted the awards since 1959.
- GG Books finalists are chosen by peer assessment committees per category, per language (7 in English and 7 in French), who consider eligible books published between September 1, 2015 and September 30, 2016 for English-language books and between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016 for French-language books.
- Each winner receives $25,000. The publisher of each winning book receives $3000 to support promotional activities. Non-winning finalists each receive $1000.
- Over their 80 years, the Governor General’s Literary Awards have celebrated more than 700 works by over 500 authors, poets, playwrights, translators and illustrators.
Fiction
English-language finalists
Gary Barwin (Hamilton, Ont.)
Yiddish for Pirates
Random House Canada / Penguin Random House Canada
Kerry Lee Powell (Moncton, N.B.)
Willem de Kooning’s Paintbrush
HarperCollins Publishers
Katherena Vermette (Winnipeg)
The Break
House of Anansi Press
Anosh Irani (North Vancouver, B.C.)
The Parcel
Alfred A. Knopf Canada / Penguin Random House Canada
Madeleine Thien (Montreal)
Do Not Say We Have Nothing
Alfred A. Knopf Canada / Penguin Random House Canada
Poetry
English-language finalists
Joe Denham (Halfmoon Bay, B.C.)
Regeneration Machine
Nightwood Editions
Susan Holbrook (Leamington, Ont.)
Throaty Wipes
Coach House Books
Rachel Rose (Vancouver)
Marry & Burn
Harbour Publishing
Steven Heighton (Kingston, Ont.)
The Waking Comes Late
House of Anansi Press
Garry Thomas Morse (Winnipeg)
Prairie Harbour
Talonbooks
Drama
English-language finalists
Brad Fraser (Toronto)
Kill Me Now
Playwrights Canada Press
Donna-Michelle St. Bernard (Toronto)
A Man A Fish
Playwrights Canada Press
Mary Vingoe (Dartmouth, N.S.)
Refuge
Scirocco Drama / J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing
Colleen Murphy (Toronto)
Pig Girl
Playwrights Canada Press
Jordan Tannahill (Toronto)
Concord Floral
Playwrights Canada Press
Non-fiction
English-language finalists
Kamal Al-Solaylee (Toronto)
Brown: What Being Brown in the World Today Means (To Everyone)
HarperCollins Publishers
Harold R. Johnson (La Ronge, Sask.)
Firewater: How Alcohol is Killing My People (and Yours)
University of Regina Press
Bill Waiser (Saskatoon, Sask.)
A World We Have Lost: Saskatchewan Before 1905
Fifth House Publishers
Teva Harrison (Toronto)
In-Between Days: A Memoir About Living with Cancer
House of Anansi Press
Marc Raboy (Montreal)
Marconi: The Man Who Networked the World
Oxford University Press
Young People’s Literature (Text)
English-language finalists
Mikaela Everett (Lethbridge, Alta.)
The Unquiet
Greenwillow Books / HarperCollins Publishers
Trilby Kent (Toronto)
Once in a Town Called Moth
Tundra Books / Penguin Random House Canada
Tim Wynne-Jones (Perth, Ont.)
The Emperor of Any Place
Candlewick Press
E.K. Johnston (Kitchener, Ont.)
A Thousand Nights
Hyperion / Disney Book Group
Martine Leavitt (High River, Alta.)
Calvin
Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Press
Young People’s Literature (Illustrated Books)
English-language finalists
Jo Ellen Bogart and Sydney Smith (Guelph, Ont./Toronto)
The White Cat and the Monk
Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Press
Jon-Erik Lappano and Kellen Hatanaka (Guelph, Ont./ Stratford, Ont.)
Tokyo Digs a Garden
Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Press
Esmé Shapiro (New York)
Ooko
Tundra Books / Penguin Random House Canada
Lucy Ruth Cummings (New York)
A Hungry Lion or A Dwindling Assortment of Animals
Atheneum Books for Young Readers / Simon & Schuster
Mireille Messier and Pierre Pratt (Toronto / Montreal)
The Branch
Kids Can Press
Translation (French to English)
English-language finalists
Lazer Lederhendler (Montreal)
The Party Wall
Biblioasis; translation of Le mur mitoyen by Catherine Leroux, Éditions Alto
Neil Smith (Montreal)
The Goddess of Fireflies
Véhicule Press; translation of La déesse des mouches à feu by Geneviève Pettersen, Le Quartanier
Rhonda Mullins (Montreal)
Guano
Coach House Books, translation of Guano by Louis Carmain, Éditions de l'Hexagone
Fiction
French-language finalists
Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette (Montreal)
Marchand de feuilles
Éditions Les Herbes rouges
Martine Delvaux (Montreal)
Blanc dehors
Héliotrope
Daniel Grenier (Quebec City)
L'année la plus longue
Le Quartanier
Hugues Corriveau (Montreal)
Les enfants de Liverpool
Éditions Druide
Dominique Fortier (Montreal)
Au péril de la mer
Éditions Alto
Poetry
French-language finalists
Louise Bouchard (Montreal)
Personne et le Soleil
Éditions Les Herbes rouges
Antoine Dumas (Montreal)
Au monde. Inventaire
Les Éditions du passage
Rodney Saint-Éloi (Montreal)
Je suis la fille du baobab brûlé
Mémoire d'encrier
Normand de Bellefeuille (Montreal)
Le poème est une maison de bord de mer
Les Éditions du Noroît
Pierre Nepveu (Montreal)
La dureté des matières et de l'eau
Les Éditions du Noroît
Drama
French-language finalists
Hervé Bouchard (Jonquière, Que.)
Le faux pas de l'actrice dans sa traîne
Le Quartanier
Sébastien David (Montreal)
Les haut-parleurs
Leméac Éditeur
Wajdi Mouawad (France)
Inflammation du verbe vivre
Leméac Éditeur / Actes Sud
Michel Marc Bouchard (Montreal)
La divine illusion
Leméac Éditeur
Olivier Kemeid (Montreal)
Five kings : l'histoire de notre chute
Leméac Éditeur
Non-fiction
French-language finalists
André Habib (Montreal)
La main gauche de Jean-Pierre Léaud
Les Éditions du Boréal
Yvon Rivard (Montreal)
Exercices d'amitié
Leméac Éditeur
Louise Warren (Saint-Alphonse-Rodriguez, Que.)
La vie flottante
Les Éditions du Noroît
Young People’s Literature (Text)
French-language finalists
Camille Bouchard (Quebec City)
Nouvelle-Orléans
Éditions Québec Amérique
Amélie Dumoulin (Montreal)
Fé M Fé
Éditions Québec Amérique
Patrick Isabelle (Montreal)
Camille
Leméac Éditeur
Mario Brassard (Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, Que.)
Quand hurle la nuit
Soulières Éditeur
François Gilbert (Montreal)
Hare Krishna
Leméac Éditeur
Young People’s Literature (Illustrated Books)
French-language finalists
Jules Asselin and Ninon Pelletier (Montreal)
Le mystère des billes d'or
Les Éditions L'Interlinge
Stéphanie Lapointe and Rogé (Montreal)
Grand-père et la Lune
Les Éditions XYZ
Yayo (Côte Saint-Luc, Que.)
Pikiq
Les Éditions de la Bagnole
Simon Boulerice and Delphie Côté-Lacroix (Montreal)
Florence et Léon
Éditions Québec Amérique
Andrée Poulin and Marie Lafrance (Gatineau, Que./ Montreal)
Deux garçons et un secret
Les Éditions de la Bagnole
Translation (English to French)
French-language finalists
Christophe Bernard (Burlington, VT)
Les hautes montagnes du Portugal
Les Éditions XYZ; translation of The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel, Alfred A. Knopf Canada
Daniel Poliquin (Ottawa)
Le grand retour : le réveil autochtone
Les Éditions du Boréal; translation of The Comeback by John Ralston Saul, Viking
Madeleine Stratford (Gatineau, Que.)
Elle nage
Éditions La Peuplade; translation of Swim by Marianne Apostolides, BookThug
Catherine Ego (Montreal)
La destruction des Indiens des Plaines : maladies, famines organisées, disparition du mode de vie autochtone
Presses de l'Université Laval; translation of Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Aboriginal Life by James Daschuk, University of Regina Press
Lori Saint-Martin and Paul Gagné (Montreal)
Joshua
Les Éditions du Boréal; translation of Joshua Then and Now by Mordecai Richler, McClelland & Stewart
English-language peer assessment committees:
Fiction: Jaspreet Singh, Mary Swan, Sara Tilley
Poetry: Shane Book, Richard Lemm, Sandy Shreve
Drama: Robert Chafe, Kevin Kerr, Beatriz Pizano
Non-fiction: Kevin Chong, Mary Soderstrom, Christl Verduyn
Young People’s Literature (Text): Don Aker, Polly Horvath, Y.S. Lee
Young People’s Literature (Illustrated Books): Gary Clement, Chieri Uegaki, Ludmila Zeman
Translation (French to English): Deborah Blythe, David Edney, Don Wilson
French-language peer assessment committees:
Fiction: Edem Awumey, André Lamontagne, Francine Noël
Poetry: Bathélemy Bolivar, François Charron, Rachel Leclerc
Drama: Hanna Abd El Nour, David Baudemont, Carole Fréchette
Non-fiction: Samuel Archibald, Ying Chen, Jacques Julien
Young People’s Literature (Text): Andrée-Anne Gratton, Bernadette Renaud, Louise Royer
Young People’s Literature (Illustrated Books): Laila Héloua, Sylvie Nicolas, Réjean Roy
Translation (French to English): Patricia Godbout, Pierrot Lambert, Daniel Lauzon
Media Contact
Mireille Allaire
Manager, Communications and Engagement
150 Elgin St. P.O. Box 1047
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5V8
E-mail: media@canadacouncil.ca
Toll-free: 1-800-263-5533
For people who are Deaf, hard of hearing, or TTY users, please use your preferred MRS (Message Relay Service) or IP service to contact us.
Rideau Hall media contact for award ceremony:
Julie Rocheleau
613-998-7280
julie.rocheleau@gg.ca
To book interviews with the finalists:
Geneviève Blouin, Genesis PR
514-887-8187
gen@genesispr.com