Each winner of the 1989 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit received $5000 and a medal from the
Governor General of Canada
The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, ...
. The winners and nominees were selected by a panel of judges administered by the
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 i ...
.
English language
Fiction
Winner:
*
Paul Quarrington, ''
Whale Music''
Other Finalists:
*
Ann Copeland, ''The Golden Thread''
*
Helen Weinzweig, ''A View from the Roof''
Poetry
Winner:
*
Heather Spears, ''The Word for Sand''
Other Finalists:
*
Tim Lilburn, ''Tourist to Ecstasy''
*
Stephen Scobie
Stephen Scobie (born 31 December 1943) is a Canadian poet, critic, and scholar.
Born in Carnoustie, Scotland, Scobie relocated to Canada in 1965. He earned a PhD from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver after which he taught at the Un ...
, ''Dunino''
Drama
Winner:
*
Judith Thompson
Judith Clare Thompson, OC (born September 20, 1954) is a Canadian playwright who lives in Toronto, Ontario. She has twice been awarded the Governor General's Award for drama, and is the recipient of many other awards including the Order of Canad ...
, ''The Other Side of the Dark''
Other Finalists:
*
Tomson Highway
Tomson Highway (born 6 December 1951) is an Indigenous Canadian playwright, novelist, and children's author. He is best known for his plays ''The Rez Sisters'' and ''Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing'', both of which won the Dora Mavor Moore ...
, ''
Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing''
*
John Krizanc, ''
Tamara''
Non-fiction
Winner:
*
Robert Calder
Admiral Sir Robert Calder, 1st Baronet, (2 July 174531 August 1818) was a British naval officer who served in the Seven Years' War, the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. For much of his career ...
, ''Willie-The Life of W. Somerset Maugham''
Other Finalists:
*
Janice Boddy
Janice Boddy is a Canadian anthropologist. As Professor of Anthropology at the University of Toronto, Boddy specializes in medical anthropology, religion, gender issues, and colonialism in Sudan and the Middle East. She is the author or co-author ...
, ''Wombs and Alien Spirits''
*
Robert MacNeil
Robert Breckenridge Ware MacNeil, Order of Canada, OC (born January 19, 1931) is a Canadian-American journalist and writer. He is a retired television news anchor who partnered with Jim Lehrer to create ''The MacNeil/Lehrer Report'' in 1975.
E ...
, ''Wordstruck''
*
Dale A. Russell
Dale Alan Russell (27 December 1937 – 21 December 2019)
was an American-Canadian geologist and palaeontologist. Throughout his career Russell worked as the Curator of Fossil Vertebrates at the Canadian Museum of Nature, Research Professor at ...
, ''An Odyssey in Time: The Dinosaurs of North America''
Children's literature – text
Winner:
*
Diana Wieler, ''Bad Boy''
Other Finalists:
*
Kit Pearson
Kathleen Margaret "Kit" Pearson (born April 30, 1947) is a Canadian writer and winner of numerous literature awards. Pearson is perhaps best known for her linked novels '' The Sky Is Falling'' (1989), ''Looking at the Moon'' (1991), and ''The Li ...
, ''The Sky is Falling''
*
Eliane Corbeil Roe, ''Circle of Light''
Children's literature – illustration
Winner:
*
Robin Muller
Robin may refer to:
Animals
* Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae
* Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), including:
** European robin (''Erithacus rubecula'')
**Bush-robin
** Forest ...
, ''The Magic Paintbrush''
Other Finalists:
*
Michèle Lemieux, ''A Gift from Saint Francis''
*
Jan Thornhill
Jan Thornhill (born 1955 in Sudbury, Ontario) is a Canadian writer and illustrator of educational books on science and nature for children. She was the 2015 winner of the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People, a lifetime achievemen ...
, ''The Wildlife 123''
Translation (French to English)
Winner:
*
Wayne Grady
Wayne Desmond Grady (born 26 July 1957) is an Australian professional golfer.
Early life
Born in Brisbane, Grady turned professional in 1978.
Professional career
Grady began his career on the PGA Tour of Australia. He had much early suc ...
, ''On the Eighth Day''
Other Finalists:
*
Arlette Francière
Arlette is a given name. Notable people with the name include:
*Arlette or Herleva, the mother of William the Conqueror
*Arlette Alcock (born 1958), Métis-Canadian folk musician
* Marie-Arlette Carlotti (born 1952), French politician and Member of ...
, ''Kaleidoscope''
*
Donald Winkler
Donald Winkler (born 1940) is a Canadian documentary filmmaker and French-to-English literary translator. He lives in Montreal with his wife Sheila Fischman.
Life and career
Early life
Winkler was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and grew up loving th ...
, ''Rose and Thorn''
French language
Fiction
Winner:
*
Louis Hamelin, ''La Rage''
Other Finalists:
*
Robert Lalonde, ''Le Diable en personne''
*
Jacques Poulin
Jacques Poulin (born 23 September 1937 in Saint-Gédéon, Quebec) is a Canadian novelist with a quiet and intimate style of writing.
Poulin studied psychology and arts at the Université Laval in Quebec City; he started his career as commercial t ...
, ''Le Vieux Chagrin''
Poetry
Winner:
*
Pierre DesRuisseaux
Pierre DesRuisseaux (7 July 1945 – 18 January 2016) was a Canadian poet. He was named the fourth Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate on April 28, 2009.
DesRuisseaux graduated with a degree in philosophy from the Université de Montréal. DesRu ...
, ''Monème''
Other Finalists:
*
Christiane Frenette, ''Cérémonie mémoire''
*
Élise Turcotte, ''La Terre est ici''
Drama
Winner:
*
Michel Garneau, ''Mademoiselle Rouge''
Other Finalists:
*
Michel Marc Bouchard
Michel Marc Bouchard, (born February 2, 1958) is a Canadian playwright. He has received the Prix Journal de Montreal, Prix du Cercle des critiques de l'Outaouais, the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play, the Floyd S. Chalmers Canadi ...
, ''Les Muses orphelines''
*
Robert Claing, ''La Femme d'intérieur''
Non-fiction
Winner:
*
Lise Noël, ''L'Intolérance : une problématique générale''
Other Finalists:
*
Jean Éthier-Blais, ''Fragments d'une enfance''
*
Pierre Morency, ''L'Oeil américain''
Children's literature – text
Winner:
*
Charles Montpetit, ''Temps mort''
Other Finalists:
*
Jacques Lazure
Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...
, ''Le Domaine des Sans Yeux''
*
Joceline Sanschagrin, ''La Fille aux cheveux rouges''
Children's literature – illustration
Winner:
*
Stéphane Poulin, ''Benjamin et la saga des oreillers''
Other Finalists:
*
Frédéric Back
Frédéric Back (April 8, 1924 – December 24, 2013) was a Canadian artist and film director of short animated films.John L. Kennedy and Eugene Walz"Frédéric Back". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', November 4, 2007. During a long career with R ...
, ''L'Homme qui plantait des arbres''
*
Philippe Béha, ''Mais que font les fées avec toutes ces dents?''
Translation (English to French)
Winner:
*
Jean Antonin Billard
Jean may refer to:
People
* Jean (female given name)
* Jean (male given name)
* Jean (surname)
Fictional characters
* Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character
* Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations
* J ...
, ''Les Âges de l'amour''
Other Finalists:
*
Ronald Guévremont
Ronald is a masculine given name derived from the Old Norse ''Rögnvaldr'', Hanks; Hardcastle; Hodges (2006) p. 234; Hanks; Hodges (2003) § Ronald. or possibly from Old English '' Regenweald''. In some cases ''Ronald'' is an Anglicised form o ...
, ''Comme un vent chaud de Chine''
*
Christine Klein-Lataud
Christine may refer to:
People
* Christine (name), a female given name
Film
* ''Christine'' (1958 film), based on Schnitzler's play ''Liebelei''
* ''Christine'' (1983 film), based on King's novel of the same name
* ''Christine'' (1987 fi ...
, ''Un Oiseau dans la maison''
{{GovernorGeneralsAwards
Governor General's Awards
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 ...
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 ...