The 1959 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were the 24th rendition of the

Governor General's Awards The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the governor general of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

, Canada's annual national awards program, which then comprised literary awards alone. The awards recognized Canadian writers for new works published in Canada during 1959.

Canada Council for the Arts The Canada Council for the Arts (), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It is Canada's public arts funder, with a mandate to foster and promote the study a ...

took over administration of the program sometime during 1959 or 1960 – after the

1958 Governor General's Awards In Canada, the 1958 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were the twenty-second such awards. The awards in this period were an honour for the authors but had no monetary prize. Winners *Fiction: Colin McDougall, ''Execution''. *Poetry or ...

that recognized 1958 publications. Canada Council arranged for the first cash prizes to award-winning writers, "at least 6 prizes of $1000 each for fiction, nonfiction, and drama or poetry in English and French". Thus, the program was expanded to cover French- as well as English-language works. Otherwise, the number of award categories was reduced from five to three – the juvenile category eliminated after 10 years, the double recognition of non-fiction after 17 years. In the event, only four awards were conferred for 1959 publications, two for English-language and two for French.

Winners

English Language

*Fiction:

Hugh MacLennan John Hugh MacLennan (March 20, 1907 – November 9, 1990) was a Canadian writer and professor of English at McGill University. He won five Governor General's Awards and a Royal Bank Award. Family and childhood MacLennan was born in Glace B ...

, '' The Watch That Ends the Night''. *Poetry or Drama:

Irving Layton Irving Peter Layton, OC (March 12, 1912 – January 4, 2006) was a Romanian-born Canadian poet. He was known for his "tell it like it is" style which won him a wide following but also made him enemies. As T. Jacobs notes in his biography (2001 ...

, ''A Red Carpet for the Sun''.

French Language

*Fiction: André Giroux, ''Malgré tout, la joie''. *Non-Fiction:

Félix-Antoine Savard Félix-Antoine Savard, (August 31, 1896 – August 24, 1982) was a Canadian priest, academic, poet, novelist and folklorist. Born in Quebec City, he grew up in Chicoutimi, Quebec. He received a Bachelor of Arts in 1918 and was ordained a pri ...

, ''Le barachois''.

References

{{GovernorGeneralsAwards Governor General's Awards