Finalists announced for the 2010 Governor General's Literary Awards

From our friends at the Canada Council for the Arts:

The Canada Council for the Arts has announced the finalists for the 2010 Governor General’s Literary Awards. A total of 1,702 eligible books were submitted for this year’s awards, an increase of 161 books over last year. At least nine of the finalists are under the age of 35 and six of the finalists are Aboriginal or from culturally diverse backgrounds.

The winners will be announced in Montreal on November 16. Each winner will receive $25,000 and the publishers of each winning book will receive $3,000 for book promotion.

Congratulations to all of the finalists!

English Language Finalists
Fiction

• Sandra Birdsell, Regina, Waiting for Joe (Random House Canada; distributed by Random House of Canada)
• Emma Donoghue, London (Ontario), Room (HarperCollins Publishers; distributed by HarperCollins Canada)
• Drew Hayden Taylor, Curve Lake (Ontario), Motorcycles & Sweetgrass (Alfred A. Knopf Canada; distributed by Random House of Canada)
• Dianne Warren, Regina, Cool Water
  (Phyllis Bruce Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers; distributed by HarperCollins Canada)
• Kathleen Winter, Montreal, Annabel (House of Anansi Press; distributed by HarperCollins Canada)

Poetry

• Richard Greene, Cobourg (Ontario), Boxing the Compass (Signal Editions, an imprint of Véhicule Press; distributed by LitDistCo)
• Michael Harris, Westmount (Quebec), Circus (Signal Editions, an imprint of Véhicule Press; distributed by LitDistCo)
• Daryl Hine, Chicago [originally from New Westminster, British Columbia], &: A Serial Poem (Fitzhenry & Whiteside; distributed by the publisher)
• Sandy Pool, Toronto, Exploding into Night (Guernica Editions; distributed by University of Toronto Press)
• Melanie Siebert, Victoria, Deepwater Vee (McClelland & Stewart; distributed by Random House of Canada)

Drama

• Robert Chafe, St. John’s (Newfoundland and Labrador), Afterimage (Playwrights Canada Press; distributed by the publisher)
• Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman, Toronto, Scratch (Playwrights Canada Press; distributed by the publisher)
• Michael Healey, Toronto, Courageous (Playwrights Canada Press; distributed by the publisher)
• Judith Thompson, Toronto, Such Creatures (Playwrights Canada Press; distributed by the publisher)
• David Yee, Toronto, lady in the red dress (Playwrights Canada Press; distributed by the publisher)

Non-Fiction

• Elizabeth Abbott, Toronto, A History of Marriage (Penguin Group (Canada); distributed by the publisher)
• Ian Brown, Toronto, The Boy in the Moon: A Father’s Search for His Disabled Son (Random House Canada; distributed by Random House of Canada)
• Allan Casey, Saskatoon, Lakeland: Journeys into the Soul of Canada (Greystone Books, an imprint of D&M Publishers; distributed by HarperCollins Canada)
• Karen Connelly, Toronto, Burmese Lessons: A Love Story (Random House Canada; distributed by Random House of Canada)
• John English, Kitchener (Ontario), Just Watch Me: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 1968-2000 (Alfred A. Knopf Canada; distributed by Random House of Canada)

Children’s Literature - Text

• K.L. Denman, Powell River (British Columbia), Me, Myself and Ike (Orca Book Publishers; distributed by the publisher)
• Lesley Fairfield, Toronto, Tyranny (Tundra Books; distributed by Random House of Canada)
• Gina McMurchy-Barber, Surrey (British Columbia), Free as a Bird (Dundurn Press; distributed by University of Toronto Press)
• Wendy Phillips, Richmond (British Columbia), Fishtailing (Coteau Books; distributed by Publishers Group of Canada)
• Cheryl Rainfield, Toronto, Scars (WestSide Books; distributed by Chapters / Indigo)

Children’s Literature - Illustration

• Kristi Bridgeman, Victoria, Uirapurú: based on a Brazilian legend,
  text by P. K. Page (Oolichan Books; distributed by University of Toronto Press)
• Julie Flett, Vancouver, Owls See Clearly at Night: a Michif alphabet / Lii Yiiboo Nayaapiwak lii Swer: l’alfabet di Michif, text by Julie Flett (Simply Read Books; distributed by Publishers Group Canada)
• Matt James, Toronto, I Know Here, text by Laurel Croza (Groundwood Books / House of Anansi Press; distributed by HarperCollins Canada)
• Jon Klassen, Los Angeles [originally from Niagara Falls, Ontario], Cat’s Night Out, text by Caroline Stutson (Simon & Schuster / A Paula Wiseman Book; distributed by Simon & Schuster Canada)
• Renata Liwska, Calgary, The Quiet Book, text by Deborah Underwood
  (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; distributed by Thomas Allen & Son)

Translation – French to English

• Sheila Fischman, Montreal, The Blue Notebook (Talonbooks; distributed by Publishers Group Canada)
• Sheila Fischman, Montreal, On the Proper Use of Stars (McClelland & Stewart; distributed by Random House)
• Linda Gaboriau, Montreal, Forests (Playwrights Canada Press; distributed by the publisher)
• Liedewy Hawke, Toronto, High-Wire Summer (Cormorant Books; distributed by University of Toronto Press)
• Lazer Lederhendler, Montreal, The Breakwater House (House of Anansi Press; distributed by HarperCollins Canada)

For a list of the French-language finalists, the jury’s comments and additional information about the Governor General’s Awards, go to the Canada Council for the Arts website.