Canada Council for the Arts unveils selection of 70 finalists for 2023 Governor General's Literary Awards
Among the finalists from B.C. are Angela Sterritt’s Unbroken, Susan Musgrave’s Exculpatory Lilies, and Harrison Mooney’s Invisible Boy: A Memoir of Self-Discovery
THE CANADA COUNCIL FOR the Arts has just announced the 70 finalists for this year’s Governor General’s Literary Awards—nine of which are by authors from B.C., including Indigenous investigative journalist Angela Sterritt’s nonfiction novel Unbroken.
Also known as GGBooks, the awards span seven categories of Canadian-published books in both English and French. Categories include Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Non-fiction, Young People’s Literature (Text), Young People’s Literature (Illustrated Books), and Translation (from English to French, and vice-versa). Five books in English and five in French are selected for each group.
In Poetry, B.C. finalists include Exculpatory Lilies by Susan Musgrave from Masset (McClelland & Stewart, Penguin Random House Canada), and The Ridge by Robert Bringhurst from Heriot Bay (Harbour Publishing).
Forgiveness by Port Moody, B.C. author Hiro Kanagawa (Playwrights Canada Press) is a finalist in the Drama category. The stage adaptation of Mark Sakamoto’s memoir details the traumatic experiences of his grandparents during World War II, including the time spent by his European-Canadian grandfather in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, and his Japanese-Canadian grandmother’s internment by the Canadian government.
There are two B.C. finalists in the nonfiction category: Invisible Boy: A Memoir of Self-Discovery by Vancouver author Harrison Mooney (HarperCollins Canada), and Sterritt’s Unbroken (Greystone Books), an investigative journalism memoir which centres missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
In Young People’s Literature (Text) from B.C., there’s Fire on Headless Mountain by Gabriola Island author Iain Lawrence (Margaret Ferguson Books, Penguin Random House Canada), and Weird Rules to Follow by Kim Spencer (Orca Book Publishers).
Finally, the Young People’s Literature (Illustrated Books) category includes Boobies by Nancy Vo (Groundwood Books), and Still This Love Goes On by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie and Victoria-based author Julie Flett (Greystone Kids, Greystone Books).
You can find the full list of finalists here.
Stay tuned for November 8, when Canada Council for the Arts will announce the 14 award-winners.
Related Articles
