2020 winners and finalists

Governor General’s Literary Awards

2020 English-language winners and finalists 2020 French-language winners and finalists

English-language books French-language books

Fiction

Butter Honey Pig Bread

Francesca Ekwuyasi

Arsenal Pulp Press

Book cover for Five Little Indians by Michelle Good

Winner

Indians on Vacation

Thomas King

HarperCollins Canada

Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

House of Anansi Press

The Baudelaire Fractal

Lisa Robertson

Coach House Books

Autobiographie de l’étranger

Marie-Ève Lacasse

Flammarion Québec

Book cover for Chasse à l’homme by Sophie Létourneau

Winner

Chienne

Marie-Pier Lafontaine

Héliotrope

Menthol

Jennifer Bélanger

Héliotrope

Shuni

Naomi Fontaine

Mémoire d’encrier

PEER ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE

Anne Fleming

Ariela Freedman

Rabindranath Maharaj

PEER ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE

Simone Chaput

Daniel Grenier

Olivia Tapiero

Poetry

Eight Track

Oana Avasilichioaei

Talonbooks

Book cover for Norma Jeane Baker of Troy by Anne Carson

Winner

Orrery

Donna Kane

Harbour Publishing

Render

Sachiko Murakami

Arsenal Pulp Press

The Dyzgraph^xst

Canisia Lubrin

McClelland & Stewart / Penguin Random House Canada

Déblais

Paul Bélanger

Éditions du Noroît

Et là, mon père suivi de Et là, ma mère

Hugues Corriveau

les éditions du passage

L’amour des oiseaux moches

Symon Henry

Éditions Omri

Book cover for La société des cendres suivi de Des lames entières by Martine Audet

Winner

Les visages de la terre

Louis-Karl Picard-Sioui

Éditions Hannenorak

PEER ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE

David Groulx

Clea Roberts

Johanna Skibsrud

PEER ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE

Sonia Cotten

Mona Latif-Ghattas

David Ménard

Drama

bug

Yolanda Bonnell

Scirocco Drama / J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing

Guarded Girls

Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman

Playwrights Canada Press

Book cover for Kamloopa: An Indigenous Matriarch Story by Kim Senklip Harvey

Winner

Quick Bright Things

Christopher Cook

Playwrights Canada Press

Sound of the Beast

Donna-Michelle St. Bernard

Playwrights Canada Press

Aalaapi : faire silence pour entendre quelque chose de beau

Collectif Aalaapi

Atelier 10

AmericanDream.ca : L’intégrale

Claude Guilmain

Les Éditions L’Interligne

Book cover for Cœur minéral by Martin Bellemare

Winner

Sucré Seize [Huit filles]

Suzie Bastien

Lansman Editeur

Zoé

Olivier Choinière

Atelier 10

PEER ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE

Catherine Banks

Andrew Moodie

Kenneth T. Williams

PEER ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE

Marie Louise Bibish Mumbu

Matthieu Girard

Anne-Marie Provencher

Non-fiction

A History of My Brief Body

Billy-Ray Belcourt

Hamish Hamilton / Penguin Random House Canada

Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space

Amanda Leduc

Coach House Books

Rebent Sinner

Ivan Coyote

Arsenal Pulp Press

Shame on Me: An Anatomy of Race and Belonging

Tessa McWatt

Random House Canada / Penguin Random House Canada

Book cover for This Red Line Goes Straight to Your Heart: A Memoir in Halves by Madhur Anand

Winner

De préférence la nuit

Stanley Péan

Les Éditions du Boréal

Book cover for Hantises. Carnet de Frida Burns sur quelques morceaux de vie et de littérature by Frédérique Bernier

Winner

Le rapt ontologique. Penser l’être des singularités

Thomas Dommange

Nota bene, Groupe Nota bene

Nous sommes le soleil. Femmes sous la dictature (Argentine 1976-1983)

Guylaine Massoutre

Varia, Groupe Nota bene

Une épine empourprée

Michaël La Chance

Triptyque, Groupe Nota bene

PEER ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE

Deni Ellis Béchard

Helen Humphreys

Sally Ito

PEER ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE

Joël Des Rosiers

Benoit Doyon-Gosselin

Catherine Mavrikakis

Young People's Literature – Text

Harvey Holds His Own

Colleen Nelson

Pajama Press

Nevers

Sara Cassidy

Orca Book Publishers

Pine Island Home

Polly Horvath

Puffin Canada / Penguin Random House Canada Young Readers

The Barren Grounds

David A. Robertson

Puffin Canada / Penguin Random House Canada Young Readers

Book cover for The King of Jam Sandwiches by Eric Walters

Winner

Cicatrices

Camille Bouchard

Les Éditions du Boréal

Il faut de tout pour faire un monstre

Johanne Mercier

Éditions FouLire

L’ogre et l’enfant

Magali Laurent

Bayard Canada Livres

Book cover for Lac Adélard by François Blais

Winner

Rap pour violoncelle seul

Maryse Pagé

Leméac Éditeur

PEER ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE

Catherine Austen

Cary Fagan

Shenaaz Nanji

PEER ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE

Anne Bernard-Lenoir

Mario Brassard

Diya Lim

Young People's Literature – Illustrated Books

I Talk Like a River

Jordan Scott and Sydney Smith

Neal Porter Books / Holiday House

Our Little Kitchen

Jillian Tamaki

Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Press

Swift Fox All Along

Rebecca Thomas and Maya McKibbin

Annick Press

Book cover for The Barnabus Project by The Fan Brothers

Winner

Weekend Dad

Naseem Hrab and Frank Viva

Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Press

copine et Copine

Kim Nunès, Marie-Chantal Perron, Tammy Verge and Amélie Dubois

Les Éditions de l’Homme, division du Groupe Sogides

Le grand méchant loup dans ma maison

Valérie Fontaine and Nathalie Dion

Éditions Les 400 coups

Le pays aux mille soleils

Mireille Levert

Les Éditions de la Bagnole

Mimose & Sam : Mission hibernation

Cathon

Comme des géants

Book cover for Pet et Répète : la véritable histoire by Katia Canciani and Guillaume Perreault

Winner

PEER ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE

Wallace Edwards

Bonnie Farmer

Kyo Maclear

PEER ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE

Marie-Louise Gay

Mireille Messier

Sylvain Rivard

Translation

Amaryllis & Little Witch

Translated by Alexis Diamond

Playwrights Canada Press; translation of Vipérine and Petite sorcière by Pascal Brullemans

Back Roads

Translated by J.C. Sutcliffe

Arachnide Editions / House of Anansi Press; translation of Routes secondaires by Andrée A. Michaud

Book cover for If You Hear Me, translated by Lazer Lederhendler

Winner

The Country Will Bring Us No Peace

Translated by Pablo Strauss

Coach House Books; translation of Ici, ailleurs by Matthieu Simard

The Neptune Room

Translated by Oana Avasilichioaei

Book*hug Press; translation of La chambre Neptune by Bertrand Laverdure

Jonny Appleseed

Translated by Arianne Des Rochers

Mémoire d’encrier; translation of Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

L’accoucheuse de Scots Bay

Translated by Sonya Malaborza

Éditions Prise de parole; translation of The Birth House by Ami McKay

La Société du feu de l’enfer

Translated by Sophie Voillot

Éditions Alto; translation of Beirut Hellfire Society by Rawi Hage

Book cover for Océan, translated by Georgette LeBlanc

Winner

On pleure pas au bingo

Translated by Daniel Grenier

Éditions Hannenorak; translation of Nobody Cries at Bingo by Dawn Dumont

PEER ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE

Angela Carr

Jo-Anne Elder

Nigel Spencer

PEER ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE

Sophie M. Lavoie

Daniel Poliquin

Anne-Marie Regimbald

Media partners

The Canada Council for the Arts thanks the GGBooks media partners for contributing to the promotion of literature from Canada.

Submitting a book

Publishers can submit works they consider to be outstanding. The guidelines and eligibility requirements are accessible through the button below.

How to submit a nomination

2020 English-language winners and finalists 2020 French-language winners and finalists

Butter Honey Pig Bread

Indians on Vacation

Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies

The Baudelaire Fractal

Autobiographie de l’étranger

Chienne

Menthol

Shuni

Eight Track

Orrery

Render

The Dyzgraphxst

Déblais

Et là, mon père suivi de Et là, ma mère

L’amour des oiseaux moches

Les visages de la terre

bug

Guarded Girls

Quick Bright Things

Sound of the Beast

Aalaapi : faire silence pour entendre quelque chose de beau

AmericanDream.ca : L’intégrale

Sucré Seize [Huit filles]

Zoé

A History of My Brief Body

Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space

Rebent Sinner

Shame on Me: An Anatomy of Race and Belonging

De préférence la nuit

Le rapt ontologique. Penser l’être des singularités

Nous sommes le soleil. Femmes sous la dictature (Argentine 1976-1983)

Une épine empourprée

Harvey Holds His Own

Nevers

Pine Island Home

The Barren Grounds

Cicatrices

Il faut de tout pour faire un monstre

L’ogre et l’enfant

Rap pour violoncelle seul

I Talk Like a River

Our Little Kitchen

Swift Fox All Along

Weekend Dad

copine et Copine

Le grand méchant loup dans ma maison

Le pays aux mille soleils

Mimose & Sam : Mission hibernation

Amaryllis & Little Witch

Back Roads

The Country Will Bring Us No Peace

The Neptune Room

Jonny Appleseed

L’accoucheuse de Scots Bay

La Société du feu de l’enfer

On pleure pas au bingo

Media partners

Submitting a book

The Dyzgraph^xst