The Canada Council for the Arts has announced the winners of 2017 Governor General’s Literary Awards. Touted as one of Canada oldest and most prestigious awards, the GGs, as they are called, come with prizes of $25,000 for each of the winning authors in each category as well as $3,000 to the publishers to promote the works. Non-winning finalist authors each get $1,000.
The winning English-language novel was We’ll All Be Burnt in Our Beds Some Night by Joel Thomas Hynes. The judges described it this way: “Hynes’s portrait of Johnny Keough is an act of full-throttle imagination and narrative invention. Johnny is a startlingly original creation. His hilarious yet disturbing journey from St. John’s to Vancouver is unforgettable, tragic and ultimately transcendent.”
The other English-language winners were:
Poetry: On Not Losing my Father’s Ashes in the Flood — Richard Harrison
Drama: Indian Arm — Hiro Kanagawa
Non-fiction: The Way of the Strangers: Encounters with the Islamic State — Graeme Wood
Young People’s Literature- Text: The Marrow Thieves — Cherie Dimaline
Young People’s Literature- Illustrated books: When We Were Alone — David Alexander Robertson and Julie Flett
The French-Language winners were:
Fiction: Le poids de la neige – Christian Guay-Poliquin
Poetry: La main hantée – Louise Dupré
Drama: Dimanche napalm – Sébastien David
Non-fiction: Les Yeux tristes de mon camion – Serge Bouchard
Young People’s Literature – Text: L’importance de Mathilde Poisson – Véronique Drouin
Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Books: Azadah – Jacques Goldstyn
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