For the first time, in quite some time, Newfoundland has been shut out of Canada’s Three Big Book Awards for fiction: The Giller, the Rogers Writers Trust, and now the Governor Generals … but hey, the books on all lists are still great.
And Andy Jones and Michael Harris save the day on a GG Award shut-out: Jones’s children’s book, Jack, the King of Ashes, is up for a children’s book award, and Michael Harris’s Party of One: Stephen Harper and Canada’s Radical Makeover is up for a prize in the non-fiction category.
Newfoundland-based publisher, Pedlar Press, have a novel shortlisted in the fiction category — Kate Cayley’s How You Were Born.
“Our literature reflects who we are as a society,” reads today’s GG Award press release. “Our authors, illustrators, and translators challenge us to learn more about ourselves and the world, whether through novels, works of non-fiction or translation, poetry, drama or books for children and young adults.”
And as Canada Council Director and CEO Simon Brault says, “The Governor General’s Literary Awards shortlist is a great place to start putting together a fascinating reading list.” Below are this year’s English language shortlists.
| Author | Book |
|---|---|
| Kate Cayley | How You Were Born |
| Rachel Cusk | Outline |
| Helen Humphreys | The Evening Chorus |
| Clifford Jackman | The Winter Family |
| Guy Vanderhaeghe | Daddy Lenin and Other Stories |
| Author | Book |
|---|---|
| Kayla Czaga | For Your Safety Please Hold On |
| Liz Howard | Infinite Citizen of the Shaking Tent |
| M. Travis Lane | Crossover |
| Patrick Lane | Washita, |
| Robyn Sarah | My Shoes Are Killing Me |
| Author | Book |
|---|---|
| Beth Graham | The Gravitational Pull of Bernice Trimble |
| Tara Grammy and Tom Arthur Davis | Mahmoud |
| Bryden MacDonald | Odd Ducks |
| David Yee | carried away on the crest of a wave |
| Marcus Youssef and James Long | Winners and Losers |
| Author | Book |
|---|---|
| Ted Bishop | The Social Life of Ink: Culture, Wonder, and Our Relationship with the Written Word |
| David Halton | Dispatches from the Front: Matthew Halton, Canada’s Voice at War |
| Michael Harris | Party of One: Stephen Harper and Canada’s Radical Makeover |
| Armand Garnet Ruffo | Norval Morrisseau: Man Changing into Thunderbird |
| Mark L. Winston | Bee Time: Lessons from the Hive |
| Author | Book |
|---|---|
| Dan Bar-el | Audrey (cow) |
| Darren Groth | Are You Seeing Me? |
| Susin Nielsen | We Are All Made of Molecules |
| Caroline Pignat | The Gospel Truth |
| Emil Sher | Young Man with Camera |
| Author | Book |
|---|---|
| Andy Jones and Darka Erdelji | Jack, the King of Ashes |
| JonArno Lawson and Sydney Smith | Sidewalk Flowers |
| Kyo Maclear and Marion Arbona | The Good Little Book |
| John Martz | A Cat Named Tim and Other Stories |
| Mélanie Watt | Bug in a Vacuum |
| Author | Book |
|---|---|
| David Scott Hamilton | Captive, House of Anansi Press, English translation of Anabiose by Claudine Dumont |
| Lazer Lederhendler | The Lake, House of Anansi Press, English translation of Malabourg by Perrine Leblanc |
| Rhonda Mullins | Twenty-One Cardinals, Coach House Books, English translation of Les héritiers de la mine by Jocelyne Saucier |
| Susan Ouriou and Christelle Morelli | Stolen Sisters: The Story of Two Missing Girls, Their Families and How Canada Has Failed Indigenous Women, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, English translation of Soeurs volées: enquête sur un féminicide au Canada by Emmanuelle Walter |
| Donald Winkler | Montcalm & Wolfe: Two Men Who Forever Changed the Course of Canadian History, HarperCollins Publishers, English translation of Montcalm et Wolfe by Roch Carrier |
