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 (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the federal government's principal in ...

took over administration of the program sometime during 1959 or 1960 – after the 1958 Governor General's Awards 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 Ba ...

, ''

The Watch That Ends the Night ''The Watch That Ends the Night'' is a novel by Canadian author and academic Hugh MacLennan. The title refers to a line in Psalm 90. It was first published in 1958 by Macmillan of Canada. Plot summary George and Catherine Stewart share not on ...

''. *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 prie ...

, ''Le barachois''.

References

{{GovernorGeneralsAwards Governor General's Awards