Finalists announced for the Governor General’s Literary Awards

The Governor General’s Literary Awards are the oldest significant literary prizes for published books in Canada. They’ve lost a little of their lustre, as the Giller Prize for fiction is $50,000 as against $25,000 for a GG, but the GG’s are still an extremely prestigious award and also has several other categories besides fiction and gives out awards in all the categories for books published in French, as well.

This year, I’m interested to see that there’s no overlap between the finalists for the Giller and for the GG’s and if you add in the third big award – the Roger’s Writers’ Trust Prize – there’s still only a few books up for more than one of them. I think that's better than last year when many of the same books popped up on two or three of the lists. It looked downright incestuous.

Below are the finalists that Quick Brown Fox readers might be most interested in. If anyone would like to review any of these (or any of the finalists for theWriters' Trust or the Giller prize), I’d be glad to post your review. Email it to me at brianhenry@sympatico.ca – Brian

Fiction

Siege 13 by Tamas Dobozy of Kitchener, Ont. (Also on the short list for the Roger’s Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize; see here.)

Dr. Brinkley's Tower by Robert Hough of Toronto

The Headmaster's Wager by Vincent Lam of Toronto

The Juliet Stories by Carrie Snyder of Waterloo, Ont.)

The Purchase by Linda Spalding of Toronto. (Also on the short list for the Roger’s Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize; see here.)

Nonfiction

A Thousand Farewells: A Reporter's Journey from Refugee Camp to the Arab Spring by Nahlah Ayed of Toronto

The Pursuit of Perfection: A Life of Celia Franca by Carol Bishop-Gwyn of Toronto

Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest by Wade Davis of Vancouver

Leonardo and the Last Supper by Ross King of Woodstock, UK; originally from North Portal, Sask.

What We Talk About When We Talk About War by Noah Richler of Toronto

Children's Literature, Text

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman of Vancouver (Random House)

Under the Moon by Deborah Kerbel of Thornhill, Ont. (Dancing Cat Books)

The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen by Susin Nielsen of Vancouver (Tundra Books)

The Umbrella by Judd Palmer of Victoria (Bayeux Arts)

The Grave Robber's Apprentice by Allan Stratton of Toronto (HarperCollinsCanada)

For more information and a full list of the finalists in all categories for the Governor General’s Award, see here.

For the finalists for the Rogers’ Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize see here.

For the finalists for the Scotiabank Giller Prize see here. 

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