Women the big winners
Thomas and Huyghebaert take home top Governor General’s literature prizes
Winnipeg author Joan Thomas has won the Governor General’s Literary Award for English-language fiction for her novel Five Wives. Montreal author Céline Huyghebaert is the winner in French-language fiction for her novel Le drap blanc.
They are two of 15 winners the Canada Council for the Arts announced in Ottawa on Tuesday.
Judges chose winners in seven categories each in both English and French. Two authors shared the award this year in one category in French, for illustrated literature for young people. The seven categories in each language are fiction, poetry, drama, non-fiction, young people’s literature (text), young people’s literature (illustrated) and translation. Of the 15 winners this year, 13 are women.
“I am delighted by the fact that so many writers, illustrators and translators who are women have distinguished themselves through their excellent work this year ,” said Simon Brault director and chief executive of the arts council. “Never in the history of these awards have we had so many women as winners. I salute their talent and their significant thought-provoking contributions.”
Founded in 1936, the awards are one of Canada’s oldest and most prestigious literary award programs, with a total annual prize value of $450,000. The council has funded, administered and promoted the awards since 1959.
Category-specific, language-based peer assessment committees select the finalists. For the 2019 long list, the judges considered eligible books published between Sept. 1, 2018 and Sept. 30, 2019 for English-language entries and between July 1, 2018 and June 30, 2019 for French-language entries. Each winner will receive $25,000, with the publisher receiving and additional $3,000 to promote the winning book. Finalists receive $1,000 each.
The general public is invited to meet with this year’s winners at public readings in Ottawa Dec. 11 and 12, and Gov. Gen. Julie Payette will host an awards ceremony on Dec. 12 at her official residence, Rideau Hall in Ottawa.
For complete list of winners, see GGbooks.ca.