2007 Governor General's Awards
Encyclopedia
The shortlisted nominees for the 2007 Governor General's Award
s for Literary Merit were announced on October 16. Winning titles were announced on November 27. Each winner received a cheque for $25,000 and a copy of their book bound by Montreal bookbinder Lise Dubois.
Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, marking distinction in a number of academic, artistic and social fields. The first was conceived in 1937 by Lord Tweedsmuir, a prolific author of fiction and non-fiction who created the Governor...
s for Literary Merit were announced on October 16. Winning titles were announced on November 27. Each winner received a cheque for $25,000 and a copy of their book bound by Montreal bookbinder Lise Dubois.
Fiction
- Michael OndaatjeMichael OndaatjePhilip Michael Ondaatje , OC, is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist and poet of Burgher origin. He is perhaps best known for his Booker Prize-winning novel, The English Patient, which was adapted into an Academy-Award-winning film.-Life and work:...
, DivisaderoDivisadero (novel)Divisadero is a novel by Michael Ondaatje, first published on April 17, 2007 by McClelland and Stewart.-Synopsis:The novel centres on a single father and his children: Anna, his natural daughter; Claire, who was adopted as a baby when Anna was born; and Cooper , who was taken in "to stay and work... - David ChariandyDavid ChariandyDavid Chariandy is a Canadian writer. His debut novel Soucouyant was nominated for ten literary prizes and awards, including the 2009 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award , the 2007 Scotiabank Giller Prize , the 2007 Governor General's Award for Fiction , the 2007 ForeWord Book of the Year...
, Soucouyant - Barbara GowdyBarbara GowdyBarbara Gowdy, CM is a Canadian novelist and short story writer. Born in Windsor, Ontario, she is the long-time partner of poet Christopher Dewdney and resides in Toronto.-Literary career:...
, Helpless - Heather O'NeillHeather O'NeillHeather O'Neill is a Canadian novelist, poet, short story writer, screenwriter and journalist. She was born in Montreal, but spent part of her childhood in the American South. She currently lives in Montreal....
, Lullabies for Little CriminalsLullabies for Little CriminalsLullabies for Little Criminals is a 2006 novel by Heather O'Neill.The book was chosen for inclusion in the 2007 edition of Canada Reads, where it was championed by musician John K. Samson... - M. G. VassanjiM. G. VassanjiMoyez G. Vassanji, CM is a novelist and editor, who writes under the name M. G. Vassanji. A citizen of Canada, Vassanji's identity easily straddles three continents.M. G. Vassanji was born in Kenya and raised in Tanzania...
, The Assassin's SongThe Assassin's SongThe Assassin's Song is a novel by M. G. Vassanji, published in 2007 by Doubleday Canada. It is the story of a young Indian boy whose dream is to escape his family's religious legacy. He wants to be ordinary: to go to school, play cricket, talk to girls, and make his own choices...
Poetry
- Don DomanskiDon DomanskiDon Rusu Domanski is a Canadian poet who lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.Domanski was born and raised on Cape Breton Island. Published and reviewed internationally, his work has been translated into Czechoslovakian, Portuguese, and Spanish...
, All Our Wonder Unavenged - Margaret AtwoodMargaret AtwoodMargaret Eleanor Atwood, is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist. She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history; she is a winner of the Arthur C...
, The Door - Brian Henderson, Nerve Language
- Dennis LeeDennis Lee (author)Dennis Beynon Lee, OC, MA is a Canadian poet, teacher, editor, and critic born in Toronto, Ontario. He is also a children's writer, well known for his book of children's rhymes, Alligator Pie.-Life:...
, Yesno - Rob WingerRob WingerRob Winger is an Ontario-born poet.Winger received an MA in English literature from the University of Guelph in 2002 and a PhD from Carleton University in 2009....
, Muybridge's Horse
Drama
- Colleen Murphy, The December Man
- Salvatore AntonioSalvatore AntonioSalvatore Antonio is a Canadian actor and playwright. He was born to Italian-immigrant parents...
, In Gabriel's KitchenIn Gabriel's KitchenIn Gabriel's Kitchen is the debut play of Salvatore Antonio, centering on an Italian-Canadian family's reaction to their son's homosexuality. For Gabriel, the youngest son, falling in love leads to decisions which cannot be reversed... - Anosh IraniAnosh IraniAnosh Irani is an Indian-Canadian novelist and playwright. An Irani , he was born and raised in Mumbai, although he has indicated that he personally prefers the city's traditional English name, Bombay...
, The Bombay Plays: The Matka King and Bombay Black - Rosa Laborde, Léo
- Morris PanychMorris PanychStephen Morris Panych is a Canadian playwright, director and actor.Morris Panych was born in Calgary and grew up in Edmonton. He studied at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, and the University of British Columbia...
, What Lies Before Us
Non-fiction
- Karolyn Smardz Frost, I've Got a Home in Glory Land: A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad
- Rodrigo BascunanRodrigo BascunanRodrigo Salago Bascuñán is a Canadian author who is best known for his non-fiction book Enter The Babylon System: Unpacking Gun Culture from Samuel Colt to 50 Cent.- Biography :...
and Christian Pearce, Enter the Babylon System: Unpacking Gun Culture from Samuel Colt to 50 Cent - John English, Citizen of the World: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Volume One: 1919-1968
- Stephanie NolenStephanie NolenStephanie Nolen is a Canadian journalist and writer. She is currently the South Asia correspondent for The Globe and Mail. From 2003 to 2008, she was the Globe's Africa correspondent, and she has reported from more than 40 countries around the world...
, 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa - Bridget Stutchbury, Silence of the Songbirds: How We Are Losing the World's Songbirds and What We Can Do to Save Them
Children's literature (text)
- Iain LawrenceIain LawrenceIain Lawrence is a bestselling author for children and young adults. He studied journalism at Vancouver Community College, and spent the next ten years working for newspapers in northern BC. Near the town of Smithers, he was once charged by a bear, on a motorcycle...
, Gemini Summer - Hugh Brewster, Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose: The Story of a Painting
- Christopher Paul CurtisChristopher Paul CurtisChristopher Paul Curtis is an American children's author and a Newbery Medal winner who wrote The Watsons Go to Birmingham: 1963 and the critically acclaimed Bud, Not Buddy. Bud, Not Buddy is the first novel to receive both the Coretta Scott King Award and the Newbery Medal...
, Elijah of Buxton - John Wilson, The Alchemist's Dream
- Eva Wiseman, Kanada
Children's literature (illustration)
- Duncan WellerDuncan WellerDuncan Weller a writer and illustrator of children’s picture books, winning two of Canada’s top awards for his third and latest picture book, The Boy from the Sun. He is also a visual artist and writer of poetry and short stories for adults...
, The Boy from the Sun - Wallace EdwardsWallace EdwardsWallace Edwards is a Canadian children's illustrator who won the 2002 Governor General's Award for his book Alphabeasts. He is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art....
, The Painted Circus - Joanne Fitzgerald, The Blue Hippopotamus
- Jirina Marton, Marja's Skis
- Dusan Petricic, My New Shirt
French-to-English translation
- Nigel SpencerNigel Spencer (writer)Nigel Spencer is a writer, translator, and professor of English living in Montréal, Quebec, Canada. He has twice received the Canadian Governor General's Literary Award for translation, in 2002 and 2007...
, Augustino and the Choir of Destruction (Marie-Claire BlaisMarie-Claire BlaisMarie-Claire Blais, is a Canadian author and playwright.- Life :Born in Quebec City, Quebec, she was educated at a convent school and at Université Laval. It was at Laval that she met Jeanne Lapointe and Father Georges Lévesque, who encouraged her to write and, in 1959, to publish her first...
, Augustino et le chœur de la déstruction)This is the second consecutive book in the series to win the Governor General's Literary Award for Translation. - Sheila FischmanSheila FischmanSheila Leah Fischman, CM is a Canadian translator who specializes in the translation of works of contemporary Quebec literature....
, My Sister's Blue Eyes (Jacques PoulinJacques PoulinJacques Poulin is a Canadian novelist with a quiet and intimate style of writing.Poulin studied psychology and arts at the Université Laval in Quebec City; he started his career as commercial translator and later became a college guidance counselor...
, Les Yeux bleus de Mistassini) - Robert MajzelsRobert MajzelsRobert Majzels is a Canadian novelist, poet, playwright and translator.- Life :Majzels was born in Montreal. In 1986, he graduated with a Master's degree in English Literature from Concordia University in Montreal, where he would later teach creative writing for thirteen years. Between 2000 and...
and Erin MouréErin MouréErin Mouré is a Canadian poet and translator of poetry from languages which include, French, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish to English. Her mother Mary Irene was born 1924 in Galicia, Poland and moved to Canada in 1929. Erin’s father is William Moure born in Ottawa Canada in 1925...
, Notebook of Roses and Civilization (Nicole BrossardNicole BrossardNicole Brossard, O.C. is a leading French Canadian formalist poet and novelist.She lives in Outremont, a former city in Montreal, Quebec. She wrote her first collection in 1965, Aube à la maison. The collection L'Echo bouge beau marks a break in the evolution of her poetry...
, Cahier de roses et de civilisation) - Rhonda Mullins, The Decline of the Hollywood Empire (Hervé Fischer, Le déclin de l’empire hollywoodien)
- John MurrellJohn MurrellJohn Murrell may refer to:*John Murrell , 19th century river bandit*John Murrell , 1990s author and playwright...
, Two Plays: John and Beatrice; Helen's Necklace (Carole Fréchette, Jean et Béatrice and Le collier d’Hélène)
Fiction
- Sylvain Trudel, La mer de la tranquillité
- Esther Croft, Le reste du temps
- Robert Lalonde, Espèces en voie de disparition
- Anthony Phelps, La contrainte de l’inachevé
- Hélène Rioux, Mercredi soir au Bout du monde
Poetry
- Serge Patrice Thibodeau, Seul on est
- Martine Audet, Les manivelles
- Mario Brassard, La somme des vents contraires
- Catherine Fortin, Le silence est une voie navigable
- Rino Morin Rossignol, Intifada du cœur
Drama
- Daniel Danis, Le chant du Dire-Dire
- Sébastien Harrisson, Floes et D’Alaska
- Steve Laplante, Le Long de la Principale
- Suzanne Lebeau, Souliers de sable
- Wajdi MouawadWajdi MouawadWajdi Mouawad, OC is a Canadian writer, actor and director born in Lebanon in 1968. After living in France for a short time, he moved to Quebec in 1983.- Biography :He obtained his diploma from the National Theatre School of Canada in 1991....
, Assoiffés
Non-fiction
- Annette Hayward, La querelle du régionalisme au Québec (1904-1931): Vers l’autonomisation de la littérature québécoise
- Roland Bourneuf, Pierres de touche
- Michel CormierMichel CormierMichel Cormier is a Canadian journalist, lecturer and author. Cormier is currently the CBC News foreign correspondent based in Beijing, China. Cormier had previously been a foreign correspondent for CBC news in Moscow from 2000 to 2004 and in Paris from 2004 to 2006...
, La Russie des illusions: Regard d’un correspondent - Denise Brassard, Le souffle du passage: Poésie et essai chez Fernand Ouellette
- André Cellard, Une toupie sur la tête: Visages de la folie à Saint-Jean-de-Dieu
Children's literature (text)
- François Barcelo, La fatigante et le fainéant
- Sophie Gironnay, Philou, architecte et associés
- André LeblancAndré LeBlancAndré LeBlanc is a fictional character in DC Comics.-Fictional character biography:The self-styled "world's greatest jewel thief," arrogant André LeBlanc made the international most wanted list. André LeBlanc often clashed with the Russian super-hero Leonid Kovar...
, L’envers de la chanson: Des enfants au travail 1850-1950 - Sylvain Meunier, Piercings sanglants
- Hélène Vachon, Les saisons vues par Schouster
Children's literature (illustration)
- Geneviève Côté, La petite rapporteuse de mots
- Stéphane-Yves Barroux, Superbricoleur: Le roi de la clef à molette
- Manon Gauthier, Ma maman du photomaton
- Caroline Merola, Une nuit en ville
- Daniel Sylvestre, Ma vie de reptile
English-to-French translation
- Lori Saint-Martin and Paul Gagné, Dernières notes (Tamas Dobozy, Last Notes and Other Stories)
- Suzanne Anfossi, Trudeau: Citoyen du monde, tome 1: 1919-1968 (John English, Citizen of the World: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Volume One: 1919-1968)
- Marie Frankland, La chaise berçante (A. M. KleinA. M. KleinAbraham Moses Klein was a Canadian poet, journalist, novelist, short story writer, and lawyer. He has been called "One of Canada's greatest poets and a leading figure in Jewish-Canadian culture."...
, The Rocking Chair) - Claudine Vivier, Pas l’ombre d’une trace (Norah McClintockNorah McClintockNorah McClintock is a Canadian award winning Young-adult fiction writer.Born and raised in Montreal, McClintock received a degree in history from McGill University. She now lives in Toronto...
, Not a Trace) - Sophie Voillot, La fin de l’alphabet (C. S. Richardson, The End of the Alphabet)