B.C. author Li Charmaine Anne among the winners of 2024 Governor General’s Literary Awards
New Westminster writer takes home award for young people’s literature—text with Crash Landing
Li Charmaine Anne. Photo by Edward Chang
A B.C. AUTHOR is among the recipients of the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Awards (GGBooks) announced by the Canada Council for the Arts on November 13.
Taking home the award for young people’s literature—text is Li Charmaine Anne, who wrote Crash Landing (Annick Press).
The other winners include Edmonton’s Jordan Abel, who won in the fiction category with Empty Spaces (McClelland & Stewart/Penguin Random House Canada) and Winnipeg’s Chimwemwe Undi for Poetry with Scientific Marvel (House of Anansi Press).
Calgary’s Caleigh Crow won in the drama category with There Is Violence and There Is Righteous Violence and There Is Death, or the Born-Again Crow (Playwrights Canada Press).
The prize for the non-fiction category went to Winnipeg writer Niigaan Sinclair for Wînipêk: Visions of Canada from an Indigenous Centre (McClelland & Stewart/Penguin Random House Canada).
The award for young people’s literature—illustrated books went to Skating Wild on an Inland Sea by Thunder Bay’s Jean E. Pendziwol and Montréal’s Todd Stewart (Groundwood Books/House of Anansi).
Winning the award for translation (from French to English) is Montréal’s Katia Grubisic with Nights Too Short to Dance (Second Story Press), a translation of Un cœur habité de mille voix by Marie-Claire Blais.
The writers, translators, and illustrators whose books are selected as the winner in a given category each receive a $25,000 prize. Publishers receive $3,000 to promote the winning book, and finalists win $1,000 each.
Finalists are selected by category-specific, language-based peer assessment committees (seven in English and seven in French). This year, the committees considered eligible books published between August 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024.
Founded in 1936, GGBooks are some of the oldest literary prizes in Canada, with a total annual prize value of $450,000. The Canada Council for the Arts has funded, administered, and promoted the awards since 1959. 
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