Montreal — Regina resident Dianne Warren has won a Governor General’s Literary Award for her debut novel “Cool Water,” about a small Saskatchewan town.
Kathleen Winter’s “Annabel” had also been in the running for the prize. The tale of a hermaphrodite growing up in Newfoundland, Winter’s book was the only title to be nominated for all three major Canadian literary prizes this fall, but failed to win any of them.
The Governor General’s award for poetry, meanwhile, was won by Newfoundland native Richard Greene, who now lives in Cobourg, Ont., for “Boxing the Compass.”
Another Newfoundland writer, Robert Chafe, picked up the drama prize for “Afterimage,” and Allan Casey of Saskatoon nabbed the non-fiction award for “Lakeland: Journeys into the Soul of Canada.”
A total of 70 books were finalists for the Governor General’s awards, which are funded and administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.
Each winner receives $25,000 and a special leather-bound copy of his or her book.
The publisher of each winning book gets $3,000 to support promotional activities, while non-winning finalists will each receive $1,000.
Here is the complete list of winners:
Fiction:
- Dianne Warren, Regina, “Cool Water” (Phyllis Bruce Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers; distributed by HarperCollins Canada)
Poetry:
- Richard Greene, Cobourg, Ont., “Boxing the Compass” (Signal Editions, an imprint of Vehicule Press; distributed by LitDistCo)
Drama
- Robert Chafe, St. John’s, N.L., “Afterimage” (Playwrights Canada Press; distributed by the publisher)
Non-fiction
- Allan Casey, Saskatoon, “Lakeland: Journeys into the Soul of Canada” (Greystone Books, an imprint of D&M Publishers / David Suzuki Foundation; distributed by HarperCollins Canada)
Children’s Literature - Text
- Wendy Phillips, Richmond, B.C., “Fishtailing” (Coteau Books; distributed by Publishers Group of Canada)
Children’s Literature - Illustration
- Jon Klassen, Los Angeles, (originally from Niagara Falls, Ontario), “Cats’ Night Out,” text by Caroline Stutson (Simon & Schuster / A Paula Wiseman Book; distributed by Simon & Schuster Canada)
Translation
- Linda Gaboriau, Montreal, “Forests,” (Playwrights Canada Press; distributed by the publisher); English translation of “Forets” by Wajdi Mouawad (Lemeac Editeur / Actes Sud)
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