Governor General’s short list revealed

One of the most prestigious book prizes in the country, the Governor General’s Literary Awards, has just announced its short lists: 70 finalists in seven categories in both English and French.

In the high-profile fiction category, won last year by Madeleine Thien for Do Not Say We Have Nothing , the finalists are All the Beloved Ghosts, Alison MacLeod; Lost in September, Kathleen Winter; The Water Beetles, Michael Kaan; Uncertain Weights and Measures, Jocelyn Parr; We’ll All Be Burnt in Our Beds Some Night, Joel Thomas Hynes.

In the English nonfiction category, won last year by Bill Waiser for A World We Have Lost, the list includes All We Leave Behind: A Reporter’s Journey into the Lives of Others, Carol Off; The Handover: How Bigwigs and Bureaucrats Transferred Canada’s Best Publisher and the Best Part of our Literary Heritage to a Foreign Multinational, Elaine Dewar; The Way of the Strangers: Encounters with the Islamic State, Graeme Wood; Where I Live Now: A Journey through Love and Loss to Healing and Hope, Sharon Butala; Where It Hurts, Sarah de Leeuw.

The remaining five English-language categories include poetry, drama, French to English translation and young people’s literature, both text and illustrated books.

Go to www.ggbooks.ca for more information on all finalists.

The winners of this year’s 14 prizes, seven each in English and French, will be announced on Nov. 1.

The awards have been in place for 81 years.

Each of the winners gets $25,000 and their publisher receives $3,000 to promote the book.

The remaining finalists receive $1,000 each for a total awards value of $450,000.