Congratulations to this year's GG Books winners! From the hundreds of submissions come fourteen outstanding books in seven categories and both official languages.
Founded in 1936, the Governor General's Literary Awards have an annual value of $450,000. Each winner receives $25,000, non-winning finalists receive $1,000, and publishers of winning titles receive $3,000 for promotional activities. Since 1936, the awards have been given for more than 700 works by 500 authors, poets, playwrights, translators, and illustrators. The awards are administered by the Canada Council for the Arts, which champions and invests in artistic excellence so that Canadians may enjoy and participate in a rich cultural life.
More information about the GG's and Canada Council for the Arts can be found on the Governor General's Literary Awards website.
It has been a pleasure to work with the Canada Council for the Arts to bring you the 2018 winners in accessible formats. As they have in previous years, the Council granted us early access to the winners' list, which made it possible for us to have them here for you today.
We hope you enjoy these books! Please check out all the 2018 nominations we have in our collection, as well as wonderful books from previous years: 2017, 2016, 2015.
Fiction
The Red Word, by Sarah Henstra, published by ECW Press
Available from NNELS in EPUB and live-narration MP3.
As her sophomore year begins, Karen enters into the back-to-school revelry--particularly at Gamma Beta Chi. When she wakes up one morning on the lawn of Raghurst, a house of radical feminists, she gets a crash course in the state of feminist activism on campus. The frat known as GBC is notorious, she learns, nicknamed 'Gang Bang Central' and a prominent contributor to a list of rapists compiled by female students. Despite continuing to party there and dating one of the brothers, Karen is equally seduced by the intellectual stimulation and indomitable spirit of the Raghurst women, who surprise her by wanting her as a housemate and recruiting her into the upper-level class of a charismatic feminist mythology scholar they all adore. As Karen finds herself caught between two increasingly polarized camps, ringleader housemate Dyann believes she has hit on the perfect way to expose and bring down the fraternity as a symbol of rape culture--but the war between the houses will exact a terrible price. The Red Word captures beautifully the feverish binarism of campus politics and the headlong rush of youth toward new friends, lovers, and life-altering ideas. With strains of Jeffrey Eugenides's The Marriage Plot, Alison Lurie's Truth and Consequences, and Tom Wolfe's I Am Charlotte Simmons, Sarah Henstra's debut adult novel arrives on the wings of furies.
Romans et nouvelles
De synthèse, by Karoline Georges, published by Éditions Alto
Available from NNELS in EPUB.
L’une s’immobilise devant les fenêtres de sa maison en banlieue avec le poids de la mort au creux du ventre; l’autre cherche à traverser l’écran pour se transformer en image grâce à son avatar numérique, en quête d’absolu. L’une a donné naissance à l’autre, qui tente maintenant de renaître à travers un corps virtuel, loin de la morosité du nid familial. Récit d’une lumineuse lucidité propre à ouvrir les consciences et à faire vibrer les âmes, De synthèse met en lumière l’aboutissement d’une relation filiale du point de vue d’une femme-image renouant avec sa famille au moment où sa mère entre en phase terminale, au terme d’une longue période de dégénérescence. C’est une histoire de corps, de disparition, de reflets, de composition et de décomposition. C’est l’histoire d’une image à parfaire, par-delà le désastre de la chair.
Poetry
Wayside Sang, by Cecily Nicholson, published by Talonbooks
Available from NNELS in live-narration MP3.
Wayside Sang concerns entwined migrations of Black-other diaspora coming to terms with fossil-fuel psyches in times of trauma and movement. This is a poetic account of economy travel on North American roadways, across the Peace and Ambassador bridges and through the Fleetway tunnel, above and beneath Great Lake rivers between nation states. Nicholson reimagines the trajectories of her birth father and his labour as it criss-crossed these borders in a study that engages the automobile object, its industry, roadways and hospitality, through and beyond the Great Lakes region.
Poésie
La raison des fleurs, by Michaël Trahan, published by Le Quartanier
Available from NNELS in EPUB.
Pendant des années j’ai été hanté par les vagues, le ressac, le souvenir d’un corps happé par le fond des eaux. Je cherchais à épuiser une scène dont je n’arrivais pas à revenir. J’ai ainsi habité un rêve qui ne m’appartenait pas, une photographie prise dans les années cinquante, puis oubliée ou perdue avant d’être développée. Quelqu’un en a découvert le négatif par hasard dans une brocante un demi-siècle plus tard. Une femme se tient debout sur la plage. Le soleil tombe, l’horizon est bleu, rose, mauve. La mer roule à ses pieds. La femme regarde au loin. C’est à peine si on voit le profil de son visage. Ce n’est pas vraiment une réponse. C’est une fiction de la disparition, une enquête sur le silence de quelques images que je traîne depuis trop longtemps. C’est un requiem un chant qui ouvre le calme pour les morts et les vivants.
Non-fiction
Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age, by Darrel J. McLeod, published by Douglas & McIntyre
Coming to NNELS soon in live-narration MP3.
Growing up in the tiny village of Smith, Alberta, Darrel J. McLeod was surrounded by his Cree family’s history. In shifting and unpredictable stories, his mother, Bertha, shared narratives of their culture, their family and the cruelty that she and her sisters endured in residential school. Bertha taught him to be fiercely proud of his heritage and to listen to the birds that would return to watch over and guide him at key junctures of his life. However, in a spiral of events, Darrel’s mother turned wild and unstable, and their home life became chaotic. Sweet and innocent by nature, Darrel struggled to maintain his grades and pursue an interest in music while changing homes many times, witnessing violence, caring for his younger siblings and suffering abuse at the hands of his surrogate father. Meanwhile, his sibling’s gender transition provoked Darrel to deeply question his own sexual identity. Beautifully written, honest and thought-provoking, Mamaskatch—named for the Cree word used as a response to dreams shared—is ultimately an uplifting account of overcoming personal and societal obstacles.
Essais
Avant l’après : voyages à Cuba avec George Orwell, by Frédérick Lavoie, published by La Peuplade
Available from NNELS in EPUB.
Voir Cuba avant que ça change ; Voir Cuba avant l’après. Sur l’île des Caraïbes, le présent semble pencher vers l’avenir. Entre le réchauffement des relations avec les États-Unis et la fin annoncée du règne des Castro, le pays est « en transition ». En février 2016, une maison d’édition étatique lance une nouvelle traduction de 1984 de George Orwell. Curieux de découvrir qui a autorisé la publication, Frédérick Lavoie enquête. Une année s’écoule au cours de laquelle il effectue trois séjours à Cuba, cherchant non pas à prédire l’avenir de l’île, mais à encapsuler son présent pour un usage futur. Orwell, par le fait même, devient le compagnon de voyage idéal pour guider l’écrivain à travers les méandres du régime. Dans ce récit édifiant, Lavoie témoigne de ce flottement entre deux ères, parcourant le territoire et recueillant les aveux discrets de ses habitants.
Young People’s Literature (Text)
Sweep: The Story of a Girl and her Monster, by Jonathan Auxier, published by Puffin Canada/Penguin Random House Canada
Please request this book in audio format from your local public library. If you can't find it, please contact us.
It's been five years since the Sweep disappeared. Orphaned and alone, Nan Sparrow had no other choice but to work for a ruthless chimney sweep named Wilkie Crudd. She spends her days sweeping out chimneys. The job is dangerous and thankless, but with her wits and will, Nan has managed to beat the deadly odds time and time again. When Nan gets stuck in a chimney fire, she fears the end has come. Instead, she wakes to find herself unharmed in an abandoned attic. And she is not alone. Huddled in the corner is a mysterious creature—a golem—made from soot and ash. Sweep is the story of a girl and her monster. Together, these two outcasts carve out a new life—saving each other in the process. Lyrically told by one of today's most powerful storytellers, Sweep is a heartrending adventure about the everlasting gifts of friendship and wonder.
Littérature jeunesse (texte)
Ferdinand F., 81 ans, chenille, by Mario Brassard, published by Soulières éditeur
Available only in print; please log in to request this title.
Sans diplôme, sans emploi, sans but défini dans la vie, Ferdinand F. écumait la ville à la recherche de son destin. Il rêvait encore, à temps de plus en plus partiel, de devenir quelqu’un à qui il arriverait des aventures plus spectaculaires que les vertigineux édifices que l’on construisait alors à New York, Londres, Paris, y poussant le ciel dans ses derniers retranchements. Seulement, à chaque fois qu’il levait le petit doigt pour faire quelque chose qui le mènerait vers l’une de ces villes, le reste de sa main s’empressait de le rabattre. Sa vie devenait lisse, sans risque, et, mine de rien, il vieillissait : on dépassait les 6 000 jours. Ferdinand F. n’avait pas toujours été vieux, laid et triste. Bien au contraire. Enfant, on disait de lui qu’il avait le plus beau sourire au sud de la Lune.
Young People’s Literature (Illustrated Books)
They Say Blue, by Jillian Tamaki, published by Groundwood Books
Available from NNELS in EPUB.
They Say Blue follows a young girl as she contemplates colours in the known and the unknown, in the immediate world and the world beyond what she can see. The sea looks blue, yet water cupped in her hands is as clear as glass. Is a blue whale blue? She doesn’t know — she hasn’t seen one.
Littérature jeunesse (livres illustrés)
Le chemin de la montagne, by Marianne Dubuc, publishd by Comme des géants
Available only in print; please log in to request this title.
Madame Blaireau habite au pied de la montagne. Tous les dimanches, elle emprunte le sentier qui la mène tout là-haut, au sommet. Sur son chemin, elle prend le temps de saluer ses amis, de les aider, de contempler la nature et de récolter quelques trouvailles. Un matin, elle rencontre Lulu qui, curieux d'admirer le sommet du monde, décide de faire un bout de chemin avec elle.
Drama
Botticelli in the Fire & Sunday in Sodom, by Jordan Tannahill, published by Playwrights Canada Press
Available only in print; please log in to request this title.
Award-winning playwright Jordan Tannahill is back with modern-day queer and feminist retellings of two momentous events—one historic, one mythic. Botticelli in the Fire imagines the famed painter Sandro Botticelli as an irrepressible seeker of love and pleasure, caught in sexual and political brinkmanship. In Sunday in Sodom, Lot’s wife, Edith, tells of the Biblical destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, but set in the present day.
Théâtre
Venir au monde, by Anne-Marie Olivier, published by Atelier 10
Available from NNELS in EPUB.
Revivre une, puis plusieurs naissances. Raconter ce qui demeure un choc brutal, un moment imprévisible. Explorer comment cette arrivée spectaculaire, animale, violente, gluante peut se révéler comme une catharsis. Venir au monde se présente comme une rafale d’accouchements, tous issus de la cueillette de centaines d’histoires vraies. Un spectacle qui donne envie de vivre plus fort, plus consciemment, avec davantage de fougue et de courage. Un appel d’air qui célèbre la vie, toutes les vies.
Translation (French to English)
Descent into Night, translated by Phyllis Aronoff and Howard Scott, published by Mawenzi House Publishers. Original by Edem Awumey (Explication de la nuit).
Available from NNELS in DAISY and e-text.
Ito Baraka is going to die. In Gatineau, far from the sun, in a dark, shabby flat he shares with his Native girlfriend, Kimi. But before he can die, he has a book to finish, in which he recounts events in a country where the suns burns, burns the skin, burns the brain, burns the retina of those forced to look at it without blinking. A country where another sun blazes: a dictator in the grips of fear. Is magic not the most dangerous form of subversion? Ito makes the acquaintance of blind Koli Lem. In the middle of the blackest night, in the words they share, in their very flesh, they become each other's sole source of light.
Traduction (anglais au français)
Le Monde selon Barney, translated by Lori Saint-Martin et Paul Gagné, published by Les Éditions du Boréal. Original by Mordecai Richler (Barney's Version).
Available from NNELS in EPUB.
Le bouillant Barney Panofsky s’est toujours laissé guider par deux croyances : la vie est absurde et les humains sont incapables de se comprendre véritablement. Alors, pourquoi se priver ? Beuveries, parties de hockey et de jambes en l’air, amours impossibles… Du Paris de l’après-guerre à son Montréal natal, où il a fait fortune dans le cinéma et la télévision, Barney aura vécu intensément et sans jamais regarder derrière lui. Jusqu’au jour où son ennemi juré, un écrivain à succès, l’accusera publiquement d’être un batteur de femmes, un faux intellectuel et même un assassin. Forcé de se défendre, Barney, ivrogne et sénile, se plongera dans l’écriture de ses mémoires et son passé.