Governor General’s Literary Awards finalists include prominent B.C. names
Among the nominated writers and artists with local connections are Kim Fu, Brandi Bird, Julie Morstad, and Jovanni Sy
Kim Fu. Author photo by JP Lobos
THE CANADA COUNCIL for the Arts has announced the finalists for the 2026 Governor General’s Literary Awards, and there are a few B.C.–associated names among the nominees.
The awards recognize books published in Canada in both English and French, highlighting the work of writers, translators, and illustrators.
Up for the English-language fiction award is Kim Fu’s The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts (HarperCollins Canada). Although Fu is currently based in Seattle, she was born in Vancouver to immigrant parents from Hong Kong and studied creative writing at UBC. Fu’s third novel, The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts is up against Sharon Bala’s Good Guys (McClelland & Stewart), Sara Peters’s Mother of God (McClelland & Stewart), Kaye Cayley’s Property (Coach House Books), and Nina Dunic’s Suddenly Light (Invisible Publishing).
In the English-language poetry category, Burnaby’s Brandi Bird received a nomination for Pitiful: Poems (House of Anansi Press). This is the Saulteaux, Cree, and Métis poet’s second nomination in this category; the first came in 2024 for their collection The All + Flesh.
Vancouver-based artist Julie Morstad received a nomination, alongside Toronto-based author Kyo Maclear, in the Young People’s Literature—Illustrated Books category for A Door Is to Open (Tundra Books).
Illustration by Julie Morstad from A Door Is to Open
Jovanni Sy is a familiar name to local theatre audiences. From 2012 to 2109, he was the artistic director of Richmond’s Gateway Theatre. During that time, Sy premiered the play Nine Dragons in 2018, in a staging coproduced by Gateway, Vertigo Theatre and Winnipeg’s Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre. That play won a Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for Outstanding Original Script, and a Winnipeg Theatre Award for Outstanding New Work. He also penned Lasa Ng Imperyo (A Taste of Empire, a PuSh International Performing Arts Festival and Boca Del Lupo presentation in 2025.
Currently based in Montreal, Sy cowrote the play Salesman in China with his wife and artistic collaborator Leanna Brodie; it’s a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama, along with Jordan Tannahill’s Prince Faggot, Susanna Fournier’s PYPER, and Hannah Moscovitch’s Red Like Fruit (which played here at this year’s Warrior Festival at The Cultch). (All the nominated plays were published by Playwrights Canada Press.)
Although none of the nonfiction nominees have B.C. roots, at least one does have a local connection. Trina Moyles, the Whitehorse-based author of Black Bear (Knopf Canada) graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC in 2023.
Other finalists in the category include Miriam Toews’s A Truce That Is Not Peace (Knopf Canada), Greg Mercer’s The Lobster Trap (McClelland & Stewart), Adrian Sutherland’s The Work of Our Hands (Viking Canada), and Saeed Teebi’s You Will Not Kill Our Imagination (Scribner Canada).
The 14 winning books will be announced on November 12. For the full list of finalists, visit the Canada Council website. 
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