Suzette Mayr, Iain Reid among finalists for $25K Governor General’s Literary Awards | CBC Books

Calgary writer Suzette Mayr and Ontario writer Iain Reid are among the finalists for the 2023 Governor General’s Literary Awards.

The prizes, administered by the Canada Council for the Arts, are awarded in seven English-language categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, young people’s literature — text, young people’s literature — illustration, drama and French-to-English translation. Seven French-language awards are also given out  in the same categories. A total of $450,000 is awarded across all the prizes annually.

The winner in each category will receive $25,000. The remaining finalists will each receive $1,000.

Books published between Aug. 1, 2022 and July 31, 2023 were eligible for the 2023 awards. The finalists and winners are chosen by a peer assessment committee for each category.

The winners will be announced on Nov. 8, 2023.

Mayr and Reid are both finalists in the fiction category.

Mayr is nominated for her novel The Sleeping Car Porter, which won the 2022 Scotiabank Giller Prize. She is also on the jury for the 2024 CBC Short Story Prize. The Canada Council is a partner with CBC Books on the CBC Literary Prizes.

The Sleeping Car Porter, Mayr’s sixth novel, tells the story of Baxter, a Black man in 1929 who works as a sleeping-car porter on a train that travels across the country. He smiles and tries to be invisible to the passengers, but what he really wants is to save up and go to dentistry school. On one particular trip out west, the train is stalled and Baxter finds a naughty postcard of two gay men. The postcard reawakens his memories and longings and puts his job in jeopardy. 

Reid is nominated for his novel, We Spread, which was on the Canada Reads 2023 longlist.

In the thriller We Spread, Penny, an artist, finds herself in a long-term care residence after she’s had one too many incidents. Initially surrounded by peers, conversing and painting, Penny begins to lose her grip on time and her place in the world. 

Kim Spencer, a writer and member of the Ts’msyen Nation, is nominated in the young people’s literature category for her novel Weird Rules to Follow. Geared for ages 9-12, Weird Rules to Follow is set in the coastal fishing town of Prince Rupert in the 1980s. Pre-teens Mia and Lara have known each other since kindergarten, but Mia lives a very different life than her non-Indigenous, middle-class best friend. While this never seemed to matter to the girls, Mia begins to notice that adults treat her differently, just because she is Indigenous. 

Weird Rules to Follow recently won the 2023 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award — the largest cash prize in Canadian children’s literature, the 2023 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People and the 2023 Jean Little First-Novel Award. The book was also shortlisted for a 2023 Indigenous Voices Award. 

Michel Jean’s Kukum, translated by Susan Ouriou, is nominated in the French-to-English translation category. Kukum is a novel that traces the journey of Almanda Siméon, an orphan living in the Innu Nation of the Pekuakamiulnuatsh. Written with intimacy, the coming-of-age story is about love and acceptance, the history of colonial violence, and the traditional values of the Innu community. It won Combat national des livres 2021.  

Other notable finalists include Jon Klassen in the illustrated books category for The Skull, past Governor General’s Literary Award winner Kyo Maclear in the nonfiction category for Unearthing, journalist and writer Angela Sterritt in the nonfiction category for Unbroken, poet Susan Musgrave in the poetry category for Exculpatory Lilies, past Governor General’s Literary Award winner Jordan Tannahill in the drama category for Is My Microphone On? and playwright Cliff Cardinal in the drama category for William Shakespeareʼs As You Like It: A Radical Retelling.

In partnership with the Canada Council for the Arts, CBC Books commissioned a writing series with the 2022 winners, in which they reflect on healing in a post-pandemic era. 

The Governor General’s Literary Awards were created in 1936. Past winners include Thomas King, Madeleine Thien, Michael Ondaatje, Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood.

The Canada Council for the Arts is also a partner of the CBC Literary Prizes. The 2024 CBC Short Story Prize is currently open for submissions until Nov. 1, 2023.

You can see the finalists in all seven English-language categories below. The French-language categories are available on the Canada Council for the Arts website.

Fiction

The fiction finalists are:

The peer assessment committee is Carleigh Baker, Neil Bissoondath and Jessica Westhead.

The 2022 fiction winner was Pure Colour by Sheila Heti.

Nonfiction

The nonfiction finalists are:

The peer assessment committee is KatłĮà Lafferty, Lorri Neilsen Glenn and Rinaldo Walcott.

The 2022 nonfiction winner was Aki-wayn-zih by Eli Baxter.

Poetry

The poetry finalists are:

The peer assessment committee is Mary Dalton, Moez Surani and Gillian Sze.

The 2022 poetry winner was Shadow Blight by Annick MacAskill.

Young people’s literature — text

The young people’s literature — text finalists are:

The peer assessment committee is Cheryl Foggo, June Hur and Tom Ryan.

The 2022 winner of young people’s literature — text was The Summer of Bitter and Sweet by Jen Ferguson.

Young people’s literature — illustrated books

The young people’s literature — illustrated books finalists are:

The peer assessment committee is Marianne Ferrer, Lee Edward Födi and Mahak Jain.

The 2022 winner of young people’s literature — illustrated books was The Sour Cherry Tree, which was written by Naseem Hrab and illustrated by Nahid Kazemi.

Translation

The French-to-English translation finalists are:

The peer assessment committee is Bilal Hashmi, Melissa Bull and Pablo Strauss.

The 2022 translation winner was History of the Jews in Quebec by Judith Weisz Woodsworth. A translation of Histoire des Juifs du Québec by Pierre Anctil. 

Drama

The drama finalists are:

The peer assessment committee is Aaron Bushkowsky, Tai Amy Grauman and Julie Tamiko Manning.

The 2022 drama winner was The Piano Teacher: A Healing Key by Dorothy Dittrich.