Governor General's Literary Awards Winners Announced

The 2017 winners of the dignified elder statesmen of Canadian literary awards, the Governor General's, were announced on Wednesday. The awards were established in 1936 and serve to recognize writers and artists in both official languages in seven categories. Each winner receives $25,000.

English Fiction winner Joel Thomas Hynes' darkly comic We'll All Be Burnt in Our Beds Some Night (HarperCollins Canada) was called "unforgettable, tragic and ultimately transcendent" by the jury, which consisted of writers Robert Hough, Padma Viswanathan, and Darren Greer. 

2017 English Language Governor General's Literary Award Winners:

• Fiction: Joel Thomas Hynes for We'll All Be Burnt in Our Beds Some Night (HarperCollins)
• Non-fiction: Graeme Wood for The Way of the Strangers: Encounters with the Islamic State (Random House / Penguin Random House)
• Poetry: Richard Harrison for On Not Losing My Father's Ashes in the Flood (Buckrider Books / Wolsak and Wynn Publishers)
• Drama: Hiro Kanagawa for Indian Arm (Playwrights Canada Press)
• Young People's Literature (Text): Cherie Dimaline for The Marrow Thieves (Dancing Cat Books / Cormorant Books)
• Young People's Literature (Illustrated Books): David Alexander Robertson and Julie Flett for When We Were Alone (HighWater Press) 
• French-to-English Translation: Oana Avasilichioaei for Readopolis (BookThug), her translation of Bertrand Laverdure's Lectodôme (Le Quartanier)

On Wednesday, November 29, 6:00 pm, in her first official ceremony with the Canada Council, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette, Governor General of Canada, will present the 2017 Governor General’s Literary Awards at Rideau Hall, in Ottawa.

For more information on the GGs and the full list of French language winners, please visit the Governor General's Literary Awards website.