Governor General’s Literary Awards
Governor General’s Literary Awards
Throughout the year, our partners organize events that feature the books of our Governor General’s Literary Awards finalists and winners. Whether it be readings, discussions or other original activities, they are all opportunities to discover the best of Canadian literature. Check out this list of events!
Many events are taking place virtually and are available online. Watch them at your leisure and keep checking this page for updated events as they become available.
Available now
Amuse-bouches is a literary tasting that whets readers’ appetites. Writings by Canadian authors are read by actor Valérie Laroche over a soundtrack by Frédéric Brunet and broadcast online as audio clips, to the delight of word lovers. The Maison de la littérature’s fall 2021 Amuse-bouches focusses on the winners of the 2020 Governor General’s Literary Awards and their authors.
French Event
Virtual event
Access the podcasts Visit the Maison de la littérature website for details
September 25, 2021
Mermen, ogres, centaurs and witches dwell on the pages of Amanda Leduc’s novel, The Centaur’s Wife, and Therese Estacion’s poetry collection, Phantompains. In these two unique and beautifully crafted works, the narrator navigates trauma, grief, pain and hope through a surreal and fantastical landscape. But these fabled figures also provide a lens into the lives of other bodies―marginalized, disabled or otherwise unconventional in their aspect, feared for their difference, but imbued with their own power and beauty. In conversation with Erin Ball, at the Kingston WritersFest.
English event
Virtual event
Visit the Kingston WritersFest website for details
October 24, 2021
When Dimaline’s The Marrow Thieves was published in 2017, it won multiple awards and established Dimaline as an astonishing new literary voice. Now she releases her sequel to much anticipation, continuing the adventure in a dystopian world where the Indigenous people of North America are being hunted for their bone marrow and ability to dream. In this intimate conversation with Robertson (famous for his own GGBooks-nominated series), Dimaline shares the themes and writing process behind this latest work, at the Vancouver WritersFest.
English Event
Virtual event
Watch the event on-demand beginning in December 2021 on the WritersFest website
November 15, at 1:30 p.m. EST
November 15, 4:00 p.m. EST
November 16, 2:30 p.m. EST
November 16, 5:00 p.m. EST
Celebrate the Governor General’s Literary Awards (GGBooks) with four virtual events featuring the finalists from the Non-fiction category, at the Toronto International Festival of Authors.
English event
Virtual event
Visit the TIFA website for details
December 9, 2021, at 7 p.m. MT
Imagine On Air’s The Way We storytelling series presents our annual The Way We GG event, featuring three past finalists or winners of the Governor General’s Award for Fiction: Francesca Ekwuyasi, Tessa McWatt, and Guy Vanderhaeghe. Each will perform an open mic-style monologue related to their work as well as answer questions from the host, Pam Rocker.
English event
Virtual event
Visit the Wordfest website for details
Saturday, May 7, 2022
With new knowledge and updated visions, our stance on the past continues to evolve. In recent years, various perspectives (postcolonial, feminist, Indigenous) have profoundly impacted our reading of history. Novelists, who translate life, and essayists, who reflect on the questions it brings up, inevitably echo this shift. Thanks to the quality of their work, a number of writers addressing such subjects have also retained the attention of Governor General's Literary Awards peer assessment committees, whether in 2021 or in preceding years. For its 24th edition, in person May 5 to 8, 2022, the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival will bring some of them together in Montréal to discuss a contentious subject: with what state of mind should we revisit the past? What are the present’s blind spots? Simply put, how might we translate life—all of life?
French event
Grande Bibliothèque, 475 Maisonneuve Blvd. East, Montréal
Visit the Metropolis bleu website for details
April 24, 2021
Two writers, two translators and two books that muddle fiction and reality. A conversation at the Frye Festival about carrying stories across languages and cultures and what it takes to create #GGBooks winners.
Bilingual event
Virtual event
Watch the video on the Frye Festival YouTube channel
The Canada Council for the Arts thanks its media partners for contributing to the promotion of literature.
Publishers can submit works they consider to be outstanding. The guidelines and eligibility requirements are accessible through the button below.