GG Literary Awards 2008

http://www.canadacouncil.ca/prizes/ggla/2008/eh128686361169042140.htm

Winners of 2008 Governor General’s Literary Awards Announced

Toronto, October 21, 2008 – The Canada Council for the Arts today announced the finalists for the 2008 Governor General’s Literary Awards. The finalists include authors from ages 28 to 77, several previous finalists and three first-time finalists who are journalists. The awards are in the categories of fiction, non‑fiction, poetry, drama, children’s literature (text and illustration) and translation.  

A total of 1,469 books were nominated for this year’s awards. Thirty-two of the 73 finalists are nominated for the first time. At least nine of the finalists are under the age of 35. The themes of mortality, war and place figure prominently in several of the books.

The names of the finalists and the titles of their works are listed below, together with the juries’ citations for each work. The names of the members of the 14 juries (seven English and seven French) are listed at the conclusion of this release.

Canada Council for the Arts funds, administers and promotes the Governor General’s Literary Awards. Each winner will receive $25,000 and a specially-bound copy of the winning book.  The publisher of each winning book will receive $3,000 to support promotional activities.
Non-winning finalists will each receive $1,000 in recognition of their selection as finalists, bringing the total value of the Awards to approximately $450,000.

Fiction

Nino Ricci, The Origin of Species
(Doubleday Canada; distributed by Random House of Canada) (ISBN 978-0-385-66360-1)

Biography

Nino Ricci's first novel, Lives of the Saints, won the 1990 Governor General's Award, spent 75 weeks on the Globe and Mail's best-seller list, and garnered international acclaim. This book was extended over the following years into a trilogy about the experiences of an Italian family before and after they emigrated to Canada. In 2003, the trilogy was adapted for a miniseries staring Sophia Loren. An active member of Toronto's writing community, Nino Ricci is past president of PEN Canada, a human rights organization that assists writers around the world who are persecuted for their work. Born in Leamington, Ontario, he lives in Toronto.

Jury's comment

Alex Fratarcangeli, a modern Prufrock, must survive in the multiethnic complexity of Montreal in the 1980s. The Origin of Species is written with great humanity, realism and wit. Told in windowpane prose, this story reads as if it has come up through our collective memory. With the shock of recognition, we gain a new understanding of our fragility and our strength.

Non-fiction

Christie Blatchford, Fifteen Days: Stories of Bravery, Friendship, Life and Death from Inside the New Canadian Army
(Doubleday Canada; distributed by Random House of Canada) (ISBN 978-0-385-66466-0)

Biography

Christie Blatchford is a high-profile columnist with The Globe and Mail. Over her 25-year career she has worked with other major dailies. Notably, she covered sports, lifestyle, current affairs and crime at the Toronto Sun. She is a winner of the National Newspaper Award for column writing and is known for her ability to connect emotionally with her subjects and readers on a wide range of topics. In 2006 she took three trips to Afghanistan's Kandahar province to report on the experiences of Canadian soldiers, which formed the basis of Fifteen Days. A first-time winner of the Governor General's Award, Christie Blatchford was born in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec and now lives in Toronto.

Jury's comment

Christie Blatchford's Fifteen Days: Stories of Bravery, Friendship, Life and Death from Inside the New Canadian Army is a dramatic and vivid chronicle that proves reportage and the language of common speech can rise to the challenge of literature. Blatchford's writing allows the soldiers and their families to speak to us in their own voices, without adornment.

Children’s Literature - text

 

John Ibbitson, The Landing
(Kids Can Press; distributed by University of Toronto Press) (ISBN 978-1-55453-234-6 (bound) / 978-1-55453-238-4 (pbk))

Biography

A laureate in children's literature, John Ibbitson is probably best known as a journalist. At present the Globe and Mail's Washington correspondent and columnist, he has worked for major dailies for the past 20 years and was nominated for a National Newspaper Award for his coverage of the inner workings of Paul Martin's government. He is the author of three books on Ontario and Canadian politics, including, most recently, The Polite Revolution: Perfecting the Canadian Dream (2005). John Ibbitson has also written several novels for young adults, and this year wins his first GG. Born in Gravenhurst, Ontario, and formerly living in Ottawa and Toronto, he is currently based in Washington, D.C.

Jury's comment

A superbly crafted story, The Landing takes us to the Ontario Muskoka region of the 1930s. As an interpretation of a place and time, and a young man's coming-of-age, it never falters. It is a novel as timeless as the music and the adolescent imagination that lie at its centre.

  Children’s Literature - illustration

Stéphane Jorisch, The Owl and the Pussycat
Text by Edward Lear. (Kids Can Press; distributed by University of Toronto Press) (ISBN 978-1-55337-828-0 (bound) / 978-1-55453-232-2 (pbk))

_________________________________________The winners will be announced on Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 10 a.m. EST at the McCord Museum of Canadian History in Montreal.

Montreal, November 18, 2008 – Two four-time winners are among the list of winners of the 2008 Governor General’s Literary Awards announced today by the Canada Council for the Arts. The awards are given in the categories of fiction, poetry, drama, non-fiction, children’s literature (text and illustration) and translation, in English and in French.

Five of this year’s winners are previous recipients and ten are receiving the award for the first time. For Marie-Claire Blais, winner in
French-language fiction, it is her fourth award. Stéphane Jorisch, nominated in two categories in 2008, has also won his fourth award as the winner in children’s literature ‑ illustration. For Nino Ricci, winner of the award in English-language fiction, this is his second award. Other previous winners include: Pierre Ouellet (French-language non-fiction), and Janice Nadeau (children’s illustration - French).

“Reading is discovering that our roots encompass the world. It also means stepping outside of ourselves and reaching the Other. Reading allows us to find our truth and share it with all of humanity. We need to live to read and read to live,” said Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada.

Her Excellency will present the winners with their awards at Rideau Hall on December 10. This year marks the 72^nd presentation of the
Governor General’s Literary Awards, Canada’s oldest and most prestigious awards for English- and French-language Canadian literature.

Winners

Fiction

Nino Ricci, Toronto, The Origin of Species.
(Doubleday Canada)
Alex Fratarcangeli, a modern Prufrock, must survive in the multiethnic complexity of Montreal in the 1980s. The Origin of Species is written with great humanity, realism and wit. Told in windowpane prose, this story reads as if it has come up through our collective memory. With the shock of recognition, we gain a new understanding of our fragility and our strength.

Marie-Claire Blais, Westmount, Quebec,
Naissance de Rebecca à l’ère des tourments.
(Les Éditions du Boréal)
The heart of a world in all its maledictions and beauty, the inexhaustible outpouring of life in the darkness of an end that began a long time ago, this breathtaking paroxysm of a novel turns any commonly held vision upside down. Marie-Claire Blais’ transcendental prose illuminates the depths of the characters with an extraordinary light of survival.

Poetry

Jacob Scheier, Toronto, More to Keep Us Warm.
(ECW Press)
More to Keep Us Warm invites the reader into a world of hope, pain, laughter and forgiveness – elements that reconcile the human drama through the power of love and sheer poetic invention. With deep affection for his work, Jacob Scheier manages his debut collection with precision, grace and stunning metaphor. 

Michel Pleau, Quebec City, La lenteur du monde.
(Les Éditions David)
In La lenteur du monde, Michel Pleau uses simple, moving images that go straight to the heart. He shapes words like a sculptor carves, with painstaking care, to give us moments of pure beauty and flashes of luminous landscape. He evokes the nostalgia of childhood in language as refreshing and bracing as the wind.

Drama

Catherine Banks, Halifax, Bone Cage.
(Playwrights Canada Press)
With her expert command of dramatic metaphor, Catherine Banks shows us the life-blood of rural Canada flowing through the conflicted, bone-caged human heart. What is the cost to the human spirit, she asks, when good people are forced by circumstance to kill the thing they love – in this case, the Canadian wilderness? The playwright finds that which is most noble in unexpected places, the heroic in what appears to be the simplest of lives.

Jennifer Tremblay, Sorel, Quebec, La liste.
(Les Éditions de la Bagnole)
Absolutely inspired. The author proposes a simple, syncopated tale of everyday to-do lists in which the essential and the ordinary are inextricably entwined. Jennifer Tremblay achieves the universal with economy and lucidity.

Non-fiction

Christie Blatchford, Toronto, Fifteen Days: Stories of Bravery, Friendship, Life and Death from Inside the New Canadian Army.
(Doubleday Canada)
Christie Blatchford's Fifteen Days: Stories of Bravery, Friendship, Life and Death from Inside the New Canadian Army is a dramatic and vivid chronicle that proves reportage and the language of common speech can rise to the challenge of literature. Blatchford's writing allows the soldiers and their families to speak to us in their own voices, without adornment.

Pierre Ouellet, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec,
Hors-temps: poétique de la posthistoire.
(VLB éditeur)
Pierre Ouellet does an exceptional job of combining the inspiration of poetry with the rigours of philosophy. He positions himself at the dawn of post-history and, through the power of language, reveals a dazzling vision of the future. He blends the political, dreams and intimacy into a critical reflection of immense lucidity.

Children’s Literature - Text

John Ibbitson, Washington (D.C.), formerly of Ottawa and Toronto, The Landing.
(Kids Can Press)
A superbly crafted story, The Landing takes us to the Ontario Muskoka region of the 1930s. As an interpretation of a place and time and a young man’s coming-of-age, it never falters. It is a novel as timeless as the music and the adolescent imagination that lie at its centre.             

Sylvie Desrosiers, Longueuil, Quebec, Les trois lieues.
(Les éditions de la courte échelle)
Sylvie Desrosiers has written a profoundly moving story about the difficult relationship between a father and son. The book takes us on an extraordinary adventure in the far North, a place where magic is closely connected to reality. A gentle reflection on courage, forgiveness, life, love and death.

Children’s Literature – Illustration

Stéphane Jorisch, Montreal, The Owl and the Pussycat, text by Edward Lear.
(Kids Can Press)
Light, poetic, playful, imaginative, bizarre and ingenious illustrations match the text superbly. Stéphane Jorisch’s art brings new colour and depth to this well-known poem. Sit down in an armchair with this book and let it transport you into its magical world.

Janice Nadeau, Montreal, Ma meilleure amie, text by Gilles Tibo.
(Québec Amérique)
Janice Nadeau uses a quiet, sober approach to illustrate the delicate subject of death. Her brushstroke evokes ashes and dust, and the restrained use of colour imbues Ma meilleure amie with an emotional charge that goes straight to the heart.

Translation

Lazer Lederhendler, Montreal, Nikolski.
(Knopf Canada)
English translation of Nikolski by Nicolas Dickner (Éditions Alto)
One senses the affinity between the translator and his writer in this English-language version of Nikolski, a delightfully light-hearted,
deeply-rooted story. The wonderful magic in the original is also present in the translation. Lederhendler is clearly a translator with imagination and a terrific sense of language. His work remains wickedly faithful to the original.

Claire Chabalier, Notre-Dame-de-l’Île-Perrot, Quebec, and
Louise Chabalier, Mascouche, Quebec, Tracey en mille morceaux
(Les éditions Les Allusifs)
French translation of The Tracey Fragments by Maureen Medved (House of Anansi Press)
This extraordinary feat of fragmentation, already a tour-de-force in English, ran the risk in translation of appearing juxtaposed, assembled artificially in an attempt to reproduce the original welter of words. But the fluidity is natural, and the tension is constant and palpable. The translation avoids any vulgarity or obscenity – a work utterly lacking in complacency or concession.

http://www.canadacouncil.ca/prizes/ggla/2008/eh128686361169042140.htm

Comments

[Marcia]

Thank you for these insightful reviews. I'm especially looking forward to reading Sylvie Desrosiers' book.

Marcia Calhoun Forecki
Better Than Magic
www.eloquentbooks.com/BetterThanMagic.html