Canada Council Announces Governor General's Literary Award Winners, with a Great Showing for Small Presses

This morning the Canada Council for the Arts announced the winners of seven English language and seven French language prizes for the 2021 Governor General's Literary Awards. 

It's an excellent year for small presses, with six of the seven English awards going to independent publishing houses, and the remaining award going to an imprint of Penguin Random House Canada. 

2021 English-language Governor General's Award winners

Fiction:

Tainna: The Unseen Ones by Norma Dunning (Edmonton, Alberta), published by Douglas & McIntyre

Poetry

The Junta of Happenstance by Tolu Oloruntoba (Surrey, British Columbia), published by Anstruther Books/Palimpsest Press

Drama

Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes by Hannah Moscovitch (Halifax, Nova Scotia), published by Playwrights Canada Press

Nonfiction

alfabet/alphabet: a memoir of a first language by Sadiqa de Meijer (Kingston, Ontario), published by Anstruther Books/Palimpsest Press

Young People’s Literature – Text

Firefly by Philippa Dowding (Toronto, Ontario), published by DCB/Cormorant Books

Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Books

On the Trapline by David A. Robertson and Julie Flett (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Vancouver, British Columbia), published by Tundra Books/Penguin Random House Canada

Translation (from French to English):

This Radiant Life Translated by Erín Moure (Montréal, Quebec), published by Book*hug Press; translation of La vie radieuse, by Chantal Neveu

For more information, including the seven French language winners, visit the Canada Council's website.