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POLL: How many of these #GGBooks finalists have you read?

Victoria and Sooke authors among 70 finalists for prestigious Governor General’s Literary Awards
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Two local authors are among the finalists for the 2018 Governor General’s Literary Awards: Eva Campbell from Victoria for Africville and Darrel J. McLeod from Sooke for Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age. (File photo)

The Canada Council for the Arts has just released the finalists for the 2018 Governor General’s Literary Awards.

Two local authors are among the finalists: Eva Campbell from Victoria for Africville and Darrel J. McLeod from Sooke for Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age.

The awards recognize Canada’s best English and French books in seven categories: Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, Drama, Young People’s Literature (Text), Young People’s Literature (Illustrated Books), and Translation.

How many have you read?

The 14 winning books will be announced on Oct. 30.

English-language finalists (seven categories)

Fiction:

  • Beirut Hellfire Society – Rawi Hage (Montréal, Quebec) - Knopf Canada/Penguin Random House Canada
  • Jonny Appleseed – Joshua Whitehead (Calgary, Alberta) - Arsenal Pulp Press
  • The Red Word – Sarah Henstra (Toronto, Ontario) - ECW Press
  • Women Talking – Miriam Toews (Toronto, Ontario) - Knopf Canada/Penguin Random House Canada
  • Zolitude – Paige Cooper (Montréal, Quebec) - Biblioasis

Poetry:

  • Because: A Lyric Memoir – Joshua Mensch (Prague, Czech Republic) - W.W. Norton & Company
  • Night Became Years – Jason Stefanik (Winnipeg, Manitoba) - Coach House Books
  • The Blue Clerk – Dionne Brand (Toronto, Ontario) - McClelland & Stewart/Penguin Random House Canada
  • This Wound is a World – Billy-Ray Belcourt (Edmonton, Alberta) - Frontenac House
  • Wayside Sang – Cecily Nicholson (Burnaby, British Columbia) - Talonbooks

Drama:

  • Botticelli in the Fire & Sunday in Sodom – Jordan Tannahill (London, United Kingdom) - Playwrights Canada Press
  • Gertrude and Alice – Anna Chatterton and Evalyn Parry with Karin Randoja (Hamilton, Ontario, Toronto, Ontario and Toronto, Ontario) - Playwrights Canada Press
  • Paradise Lost – Erin Shields (Montréal, Quebec) - Playwrights Canada Press
  • The Men in White – Anosh Irani (North Vancouver, British Columbia) - House of Anansi Press
  • This Is How We Got Here – Keith Barker (Toronto, Ontario) - Playwrights Canada Press

Non-fiction:

  • Dead Reckoning: How I Came to Meet the Man Who Murdered My Father – Carys Cragg (Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) - Arsenal Pulp Press
  • Heart Berries - Terese Marie Mailhot (Evansville, Indiana) - Doubleday Canada/Penguin Random House Canada
  • Homes: A Refugee Story – Abu Bakr al Rabeeah with Winnie Yeung (Edmonton, Alberta) - Freehand Books
  • Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age – Darrel J. McLeod (Sooke, British Columbia) - Douglas & McIntyre
  • The Wife’s Tale: A Personal History – Aida Edemariam (Oxford, United Kingdom) - Knopf Canada

Young People’s Literature – Text:

  • Ebb & Flow – Heather Smith (Waterloo, Ontario) - Kids Can Press
  • Learning to Breathe – Janice Lynn Mather (Delta, British Columbia) - Simon & Schuster
  • Sweep: The Story of a Girl and her Monster – Jonathan Auxier (Swissvale, Pennsylvania) - Puffin Canada/Penguin Random House Canada Young Readers
  • The Journey of Little Charlie – Christopher Paul Curtis (Windsor, Ontario) - Scholastic Canada
  • Winnie’s Great War – Lindsay Mattick and Josh Greenhut (Toronto, Ontario) - HarperCollins Publishers

Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Books:

  • Africville – Shauntay Grant and Eva Campbell (Halifax, Nova Scotia/Victoria, British Columbia) - Groundwood Books
  • At the Pond – Werner Zimmermann (Guelph, Ontario) - North Winds Press, an imprint of Scholastic Canada
  • Go Show the World: A Celebration of Indigenous Heroes – Wab Kinew and Joe Morse (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Toronto, Ontario) - Tundra Books/Penguin Random House Canada
  • Ocean Meets Sky – The Fan Brothers (Toronto, Ontario) - Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
  • They Say Blue – Jillian Tamaki (Toronto, Ontario) - Groundwood Book

Translation (from French to English):

  • Descent into Night – Translated by Phyllis Aronoff and Howard Scott (Montréal, Quebec) - Mawenzi House Publishers; translation of Explication de la nuit by Edem Awumey, Les Éditions du Boréal
  • Explosions : Michael Bay and the Pyrotechnics of the Imagination – Translated by Aleshia Jensen (Montréal, Quebec) - QC Fiction, an imprint of Baraka Books; translation of Des explosions by Mathieu Poulin, Les Éditions de Ta Mère
  • Jacob Isaac Segal: A Montreal Yiddish Poet and His Milieu – Translated by Vivian Felsen (Toronto, Ontario) - University of Ottawa Press; translation of Jacob-Isaac Segal (1896-1954) : un poète yiddish de Montréal et son milieu by Pierre Anctil, Les Presses de l’Université Laval
  • Little Beast – Translated by Rhonda Mullins (Montréal, Quebec) - Coach House Books; translation of Barbe by Julie Demers, Héliotrope
  • Songs for the Cold of Heart – Translated by Peter McCambridge (Cap-Rouge, Quebec) - QC Fiction, an imprint of Baraka Books; translation of La fiancée américaine by Eric Dupont, Marchand de feuilles

French-language finalists (seven categories)

Fiction:

  • De synthèse – Karoline Georges (Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec) - Éditions Alto
  • La bête creuse – Christophe Bernard (Burlington, Vermont) - Le Quartanier
  • Les noyades secondaires – Maxime Raymond Bock (Montréal, Quebec) - Le Cheval d’août
  • Manikanetish – Naomi Fontaine (Québec, Quebec) - Mémoire d’encrier
  • noms fictifs – Olivier Sylvestre (Montréal, Quebec) - Hamac, a division of Les éditions du Septentrion

Poetry:

  • Cruauté du jeu – France Théoret (Montréal, Quebec) - Écrits des Forges
  • La dévoration des fées – Catherine Lalonde (Montréal, Quebec) - Le Quartanier
  • La raison des fleurs – Michaël Trahan (Montréal, Quebec) - Le Quartanier
  • Le revers – Roxane Desjardins (Montréal, Quebec) - Les Herbes rouges
  • Ne faites pas honte à votre siècle – Daria Colonna (Montréal, Quebec) - Poètes de brousse

Drama:

  • Enfant insignifiant! – Michel Tremblay (Montréal, Quebec) - Leméac Éditeur
  • Invisibles – Guillaume Lapierre-Desnoyers (Montréal, Quebec) - L’instant même
  • J’aime Hydro – Christine Beaulieu (Montréal, Quebec) - Atelier 10
  • Os : la montagne blanche – Steve Gagnon (Montréal, Quebec) - L’instant même
  • Venir au monde – Anne-Marie Olivier (Québec, Quebec) - Atelier 10

Non-fiction:

  • Avant l’après : voyages à Cuba avec George Orwell – Frédérick Lavoie (Montréal, Quebec) - La Peuplade
  • Histoire des Juifs du Québec – Pierre Anctil (Montréal, Quebec) - Les Éditions du Boréal
  • Le piège de la liberté : les peuples autochtones dans l’engrenage des régimes coloniaux – Denys Delâge and Jean-Philippe Warren (St-Antoine-de-Tilly, Quebec/Verdun, Quebec) - Les Éditions du Boréal
  • Les chants du mime : en compagnie d’Étienne Decroux – Gabrielle Giasson-Dulude (Montréal, Quebec) - Éditions du Noroît
  • Mégantic : une tragédie annoncée – Anne-Marie Saint-Cerny (Val-David, Quebec) - Les Éditions Écosociété

Young People’s Literature – Text:

  • 13 000 ans et des poussières – Camille Bouchard (Fortierville, Quebec) - Soulières éditeur
  • Ferdinand F., 81 ans, chenille – Mario Brassard (Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, Quebec) - Soulières éditeur
  • Les Marées – Brigitte Vaillancourt (Eastman, Quebec) - Les Éditions du Boréal
  • Maman veut partir – Jonathan Bécotte (Montréal, Quebec) - Leméac Éditeur
  • Un dernier songe avant le grand sommeil – Jocelyn Boisvert (Havre-aux-Maisons, Quebec) - Soulières éditeur

Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Books:

  • Jules et Jim : frères d’armes – Jacques Goldstyn (Mont-Royal, Quebec) - Bayard Canada
  • Le chemin de la montagne – Marianne Dubuc (Montréal, Quebec) - Comme des géants
  • Les mots d’Eunice – Gabriella Gendreau and Nahid Kazemi (Montréal, Quebec) - Éditions de l’Isatis
  • Lili Macaroni : je suis comme je suis! – Nicole Testa and Annie Boulanger (Rimouski, Quebec/Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec) - Dominique et compagnie
  • Une histoire de cancer qui finit bien – Marianne Ferrer and India Desjardins (Lasalle, Quebec/Montréal, Quebec) - Les Éditions de la Pastèque

Translation (from English to French):

  • De l’utilité de l’ennui : textes de balle – Translated by Daniel Grenier and William S. Messier (Québec, Quebec/Sherbrooke, Quebec) - Les Éditions de Ta Mère; translation of The Utility of Boredom: Baseball Essays by Andrew Forbes, Invisible Publishing
  • Le Monde selon Barney – Translated by Lori Saint-Martin and Paul Gagné (Montréal, Quebec) - Les Éditions du Boréal; translation of Barney’s Version by Mordecai Richler, Knopf Canada
  • Le saint patron des merveilles – Translated by Catherine Leroux (Montréal, Quebec) - Éditions Alto; translation of Fabrizio’s Return by Mark Frutkin, Vintage Canada
  • Naissances – Translated by Laurence Gough (Montréal, Quebec) - Marchand de feuilles; translation of How You Were Born by Kate Cayley, Pedlar Press
  • Sweetland – Translated by Éric Fontaine (Montréal, Quebec) - Leméac Éditeur; translation of Sweetland by Michael Crummey, Doubleday Canada


 
keri.coles@oakbaynews.com

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