News: (Ottawa) Governor General's Literary Awards finalists announced (Press release)

Get ready to read the GGreat books of 2013

Ottawa, October 2, 2013 – The Canada Council for the Arts today announced the list of finalists for the 2013 Governor General’s Literary Awards. The GGs are awarded in both official languages, in seven categories: fiction, poetry, drama, nonfiction, children’s literature (text and illustration) and translation. 

“Get ready for late nights!” said Robert Sirman, Director and CEO of the Canada Council for the Arts. “Great books abound among this year’s GG finalists and you won’t be able to put them down. Further proof of the prolific and potent Canadian literary scene.”

Downloadable images of the shortlisted books and additional information are available on the Canada Council’s website. Follow the conversation on Twitter through @CanadaCouncil and by using the hashtag #GGbooks. Like the Canada Council’s Facebook page for all the latest updates.

English-language finalists

Fiction 

Kenneth Bonert (Toronto), The Lion Seeker (Random House of Canada – Knopf)

Joseph Boyden (New Orleans, La.), The Orenda (Hamish Hamilton Canada)

Eleanor Catton (Iowa City, Iowa), The Luminaries (McClelland & Stewart)

Colin McAdam (Toronto), A Beautiful Truth (Hamish Hamilton Canada)

Shyam Selvadurai (Toronto), The Hungry Ghosts (Doubleday Canada)

Poetry 

Austin Clarke (Toronto), Where The Sun Shines Best (Guernica Editions)

Adam Dickinson (St. Catharines, Ont.), The Polymers (House of Anansi Press)

Don Domanski (Halifax), Bite Down Little Whisper (Brick Books)

Russell Thornton (Vancouver), Birds, Metals, Stones & Rain (Harbour Publishing)

Katherena Vermette (Winnipeg), North End Love Songs (The Muses’ Company)

Drama 

Nicolas Billon (Montreal), Fault Lines (Coach House Books)

Meg Braem (Calgary), Blood: A Scientific Romance (Playwrights Canada Press)

Kate Hewlett (Stratford, Ont.), The Swearing Jar (Scirocco Drama)

Lawrence Jeffery (Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.), Frenchtown (Exile Editions)

Joseph Jomo Pierre (Toronto), Shakespeare’s Nigga (Playwrights Canada Press)

Non-fiction 

Carolyn Abraham (Toronto), The Juggler’s Children: A Journey into Family, Legend and the Genes that Bind Us (Random House of Canada)

Sandra Djwa (Vancouver), Journey with No Maps: A Life of P.K. Page (McGill-Queen’s University Press)

Nina Munk (New York), The Idealist: Jeffrey Sachs and the Quest to End Poverty (Signal)

Allen Smutylo (Wiarton, Ont.), The Memory of Water (Wilfrid Laurier University Press)

Priscila Uppal (Toronto), Projection (Thomas Allen Publishers)

Children’s Literature — Text 

Beverley Brenna (Saskatoon), The White Bicycle (Red Deer Press)

Shane Peacock (Baltimore, Ont.), Becoming Holmes: The Boy Sherlock Holmes, His Final Case (Tundra Books)

Jean E. Pendziwol (Thunder Bay, Ont.), Once Upon a Northern Night (Groundwood Books)

Valerie Sherrard (Miramichi, N.B.) Counting Back From Nine (Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited)

Teresa Toten (Toronto), The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B (Doubleday Canada)

Children’s Literature — Illustration 

Rachel Berman (Toronto), Miss Mousie’s Blind Date, text by Tim Beiser (Tundra Books)

Gary Clement (Toronto), Oy, Feh, So?, text by Cary Fagan (Groundwood Books)

Matt James (Toronto), Northwest Passage, text by Stan Rogers (Groundwood Books)

Jon Klassen (Los Angeles), The Dark, text by Lemony Snicket (HarperCollins Publishers)

Julie Morstad (Vancouver), How To, text by Julie Morstad (Simply Read Books)

Translation – French to English 

Robert Majzels (Calgary), For Sure (House of Anansi Press)

English translation of Pour sûr by France Daigle

Rhonda Mullins (Montreal), And the Birds Rained Down (Coach House Books)

             English translation of Il pleuvait des oiseaux by Jocelyne Saucier 

George Tombs (Montreal), Canada’s Forgotten Slaves: Two Hundred Years of Bondage (Véhicule Press)

English translation of Deux siècles d’esclavage au Québec by Marcel Trudel

Luise von Flotow (Ottawa), The Stalinist’s Wife (Guernica Editions Inc.)

English translation of La femme du stalinien by France Théoret

Donald Winkler (Montreal), The Major Verbs (Signal Editions)

English translation of Les verbes majeurs by Pierre Nepveu 

French-language finalists

Fiction

Sergio Kokis (Montreal), Culs-de-sac (Lévesque éditeur)

Roger Magini (Peyriac-de-Mer, France), Ilitch, mort ou vif  (Grasset)

Stéphanie Pelletier (Métis-sur-Mer, Que.), Quand les guêpes se taisent (Leméac Éditeur)

Marc Séguin (Hemmingford, Que.), Hollywood (Leméac Éditeur)

Gérald Tougas (St-Césaire, Que.), Le deuxième train de la nuit (Éditions Druide)

Poetry

Mario Brassard (Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, Que.), Le livre clairière (Les Herbes rouges)

Marie-Andrée Gill (L’Anse-Saint-Jean, Que.), Béante (Éditions La Peuplade)

René Lapierre (Saint-Antoine-sur-Richelieu, Que.), Pour les désespérés seulement (Les Herbes rouges)

Diane Régimbald (Montreal), L’insensée rayonne (Éditions du Noroît)

Rodney Saint-Éloi (Montreal), Jacques Roche, je t’écris cette lettre (Mémoire d’encrier)

Drama

Michel Marc Bouchard (Montreal), Christine, la reine-garçon (Leméac Éditeur)

Fanny Britt (Montreal), Bienveillance (Leméac Éditeur)

Olivier Choinière (Montreal), Nom de domaine (Leméac Éditeur)

Véronique Côté (Quebec), Tout ce qui tombe (Leméac Éditeur)

Érika Tremblay-Roy (Montreal), Petite vérité inventée (Dramaturges Éditeurs)

Non-fiction 

Alain Deneault (Montreal) «Gouvernance» /  Le management totalitaire (Lux Éditeur)

Jean-Jacques Pelletier (Quebec), La fabrique de l’extrême / Les pratiques ordinaires de l’excès (Éditions Hurtubise)

Dominique Perron (Calgary), L’Alberta autophage / Identités, mythes et discours du pétrole dans l’Ouest canadien (University of Calgary Press)

Yvon Rivard (Montreal), Aimer, enseigner (Les Éditions du Boréal)

Joseph Yvon Thériault (Mont St-Hilaire, Que.) Évangéline: Contes d’Amérique (Éditions Québec Amérique)

Children’s Literature – Text 

Camille Bouchard (Quebec), D’or et de poussière (Éditions Hurtubise)

Fanny Britt (Montreal), Jane, le renard & moi (Les éditions de la Pastèque)

Emmanuelle Caron (Montreal), Gladys et Vova (L’école des loisirs)

Lili Chartrand (Montreal), Le monde fabuleux de Monsieur Fred (Dominique et compagnie) 

Geneviève Mativat (Laval), À l’ombre de la grande maison (Les éditions Pierre Tisseyre)

Children’s Literature – Illustration

Isabelle Arsenault (Montreal), Jane, le renard & moi, text by Fanny Britt (Les Éditions de la Pastèque)

Jacinthe Chevalier (Montreal), Aujourd’hui, le ciel, text by Rhéa Dufresne (Éditions de l’Isatis)

Marianne Dubuc (Montreal, Au carnaval des animaux, text by Marianne Dubuc (Éditions de la courte échelle)

Stéphane Jorisch (Montreal), Quand je serai grand, text by François Gravel (Éditions Hurtubise)

Rogé (Havre-aux-maisons, Que.),  Mingan, mon village, text by Innu students from Teueikan school, Mingan (Les éditions de la Bagnole)

Translation (English to French)

Rachel Martinez (Montreal), Les maux d’Ambroise Bukowski (Éditions de la courte échelle)

French translation of Word Nerd by Susin Nielsen

Daniel Poliquin (Ottawa), Du village à la ville / Comment les migrants changent le monde (Les Éditions du Boréal)

French translation of Arrival City/The Final Migration and Our Next World by Doug Saunders

Hélène Rioux (Montreal), Le cousin (Lévesque éditeur)

French translation of The Cousin by John Calabro

Lori Saint-Martin et Paul Gagné (Montreal), Jamais je ne t’oublierai (Les Éditions du Boréal)

French translation of Swing Low: A Life by Miriam Toews

Sophie Voillot (Montreal) L’enfant du jeudi (Les Éditions du Boréal)

French translation of Far to Go by Alison Pick

The peer assessment committees
The finalists for the Governor General’s Literary Awards are chosen by peer assessment committees appointed by the Canada Council. The committees consider all eligible books published between September 1, 2012 and September 30, 2013 for English-language books and between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013 for French-language books. This year, 979 titles in the English-language categories and 624 titles in the French-language categories were submitted.

English-language committees

Fiction: Kyo Maclear (Toronto), Beth Powning (Markhamville, N.B.), Thomas Wharton (Edmonton)
Poetry: Hugh MacDonald (Montague, P.E.I.), Lee Maracle (Toronto), Rachel Zolf (Calgary)
Drama: Marcia Johnson (Toronto), Bryden MacDonald (Antigonish, N.S.), Charles Tidler (Victoria)
Non-fiction: Denise Chong (Ottawa), Madeline Sonik (Victoria), Jack Todd (Greenfield Park, Que.)
Children’s Literature (Text): Deirdre F. Kessler (Charlottetown), Mahtab Narsimhan (Toronto), Arthur Slade (Saskatoon)
Children’s Literature (Illustration): Kady MacDonald Denton (Peterborough, Ont.), Maritza Miari (Dartmouth, N.S.), Scot Ritchie (Vancouver)
Translation (French to English): Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood (Montreal), Louise Forsyth (Calgary), Mark Stout (Winnipeg)

French-language committees

Fiction: Daniel Castillo Durante (Ottawa), Christiane Frenette (Lévis, Que.), Hélène Rioux (Montreal)
Poetry: Franz Benjamin (Montreal), Margaret Michèle Cook (Ottawa), Philippe Haeck (Montreal)
Drama: Louise Bombardier (Montreal), Emma Haché (Ste-Marie St-Raphaël, N.B.), Serge Mandeville (Montreal)
Non-fiction: Martin Jalbert (Montreal), Gisèle Kayata Eid (Montreal), Mariel O’Neill-Karch (Toronto)
Children’s Literature (Text) : Marie-Célie Agnant (Montreal), Alain Beaulieu (Quebec), Aurélie Resch (Toronto)
Children’s Literature (Illustration): Édith Bourget (Saint-Jacques, N.B.), France Brassard (Cowansville, Que.), Jean-Paul Eid (Montreal)
Translation (English to French): Yolande Amzallag (Montreal), Michel Gaulin (Ottawa), Carole Noël (Quebec) 

Governor General’s Literary Awards
The Canada Council for the Arts funds, administers and promotes the Governor General’s Literary Awards. Each winner will receive $25,000. The publisher of each winning book will receive $3,000 to support promotional activities. Non-winning finalists each receive $1,000, bringing the total value of the awards to approximately $450,000.

Winners’ announcement
The winners will be announced Wednesday, November 13 at 10 am at the Betty Oliphant Theatre at Canada’s National Ballet School, 404 Jarvis Street in Toronto.

Awards presentation at Rideau Hall
His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, will present the 2013 GG Literary Awards on Thursday, November 28 at 6 pm at Rideau Hall, in Ottawa. Media representatives wishing to cover the awards presentation should contact Mélanie Villeneuve at the Rideau Hall Press Office, 613-998-7280 or melanie.villeneuve@gg.ca.