Each winner of the 1990 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit received $10000 and a specially bound edition of his or her book. The winners 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 in ...
.
English Language
Fiction
Winner:
*
Nino Ricci
Nino Pio Ricci (born 1959) is a Canadian novelist who lives in Toronto, Ontario.Nino Ricci's ...
, ''
Lives of the Saints
A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might ...
''
Other Finalists:
*
Sky Lee
Sky Lee (born September 15, 1952 as Sharon Lee) is a Canadian artist and novelist. Lee has published both feminist fiction and non-fiction and identifies as lesbian.
Personal life
Lee was born September 15, 1952 in Port Alberni, British Columbia ...
, ''Disappearing Moon Café''
*
Alice Munro
Alice Ann Munro (; ; born 10 July 1931) is a Canadian short story writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013. Munro's work has been described as revolutionizing the architecture of short stories, especially in its tendency to move f ...
Diane Schoemperlen
Diane Mavis Schoemperlen (born July 9, 1954) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer.
Early life and education
Schoemperlen was born in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and educated at Lakehead University.
Career
Schoemperlen's first novel, ''In the ...
, ''Man of My Dreams''
Poetry
Winner:
*
Margaret Avison
Margaret Avison, (April 23, 1918 – July 31, 2007) was a Canadian poet who twice won Canada's Governor General's Award and has also won its Griffin Poetry Prize.Michael Gnarowski,Avison, Margaret" ''Canadian Encyclopedia'' (Edmonton: Hurtig ...
, ''No Time''
Other Finalists:
*
Dionne Brand
Dionne Brand (born 7 January 1953) is a Canadian poet, novelist, essayist and documentarian. She was Toronto's third Poet Laureate from September 2009 to November 2012. She was admitted to the Order of Canada in 2017
, ''No Language Is Neutral''
* Patrick Lane, ''Winter''
Drama
Winner:
*
Ann-Marie MacDonald
Ann-Marie MacDonald (born October 29, 1958) is a Canadian playwright, author, actress, and broadcast host who lives in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. MacDonald is the daughter of a member of Canada's military; she was born at an air force base near ...
, ''
Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)
''Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)'' is a 1988 comedic play by Ann-Marie MacDonald in which Constance Ledbelly, a young English literature professor from Queen's University, goes on a subconscious journey of self-discovery.
Constance ...
''
Other Finalists:
* Audrey Butler, ''Black Friday?''
*
John Mighton
John Mighton, OC (born October 2, 1957) is a Canadian mathematician, author, and playwright.
Education and career
Mighton was born in Hamilton, Ontario on and lives in Toronto, Ontario with partner Pamela Sinha and daughter Chloe.
In 1998 M ...
Christina McCall
Christina McCall (29 January 193527 April 2005) was a Canadian political writer.
Biography
Christina McCall was born on 29 January 1935 in Toronto, Ontario, to Orlie Alma (Freeman) and Christopher Warnock McCall. She studied English language an ...
Eugene Forsey
Eugene Alfred Forsey (May 29, 1904 – February 20, 1991) served in the Senate of Canada from 1970 to 1979. He was considered to be one of Canada's foremost constitutional experts.
Biography
Forsey was born on May 29, 1904, in Grand Bank in ...
, ''A Life on the Fringe: The Memoirs of Eugene Forsey''
* Ron Graham, ''God's Dominion: A Sceptic's Quest''
* James King, ''The Last Modern: A Life of Herbert Read''
Children's Literature – Text
Winner:
* Michael Bedard, ''Redwork''
Other Finalists:
*
Jan Andrews
Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to:
Acronyms
* Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN
* Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code
* Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group
* Japanese Article Numb ...
, ''The Auction''
* Brian Doyle, ''Covered Bridge''
*
Welwyn Wilton Katz
Welwyn Wilton Katz (born June 7, 1948) is a Canadian children's author who has lived in Kitchener and Toronto, Ontario. In 1994 she was awarded the Vicky Metcalf Award. She currently lives in London, Ontario.
She gave an interview.
Works
*'' ...
, ''Whale Singer''
Children's Literature – Illustration
Winner:
* Paul Morin, ''The Orphan Boy''
Other Finalists:
* Warabé Aska, ''Seasons''
*
Frances Tyrrell
Frances Tyrrel was an English courtier.
She was a daughter of Edward Tyrrell of Thornton and Margaret, daughter of John Aston, and widow of Thomas Egerton of Walgrave. Her sister Bridget married the author William Sanderson or Saunderson.
She ...
, ''The Huron Carol''
Translation (from French to English)
Winner:
*
Jane Brierley
Jane Brierley (born 1935) is a Canadian translator, translating from French to English.
She received a B.A. from Bishop's University in 1956. During the early 1960s, while her husband was completing a degree at the University of Paris, Brierley ...
, ''Yellow-Wolf and Other Tales of the Saint Lawrence''
Other Finalists:
* Patricia Claxton, ''Letters to Bernadette''
*
Sheila Fischman
Sheila Leah Fischman (born 1 December 1937) is a Canadian translator who specializes in the translation of works of contemporary Quebec literature from French to English.
Born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, she was brought up in Ontario. She hold ...
Susan Usher
Susan is a feminine given name, from Persian "Susan" (lily flower), from Egyptian '' sšn'' and Coptic ''shoshen'' meaning "lotus flower", from Hebrew ''Shoshana'' meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "rose" and a flower in general), ...
Jean Marcel
Jean Marcel (died December 1980) was the seventh Anglican Bishop of Madagascar from 1961 to 1969 when the diocese split into three. Marcel then became Bishop of Antananarivo until 1975.
Marcel trained for the priesthood at Dorchester Missionary ...
, ''Jérôme ou de la traduction''
* France Vézina, ''Osther, le chat criblé d'étoiles''
Poetry
Winner:
*
Jean-Paul Daoust
Jean-Paul Daoust (born January 30, 1946) is a Canadian poet. He won the Governor General's Award for French-language poetry at the 1990 Governor General's Awards for ''Les Cendres bleues''.
Life
Daoust has published thirty collections of poetry ...
, ''Les Cendres bleues''
Other Finalists:
*
Geneviève Amyot
Geneviève Amyot (January 10, 1945 – June 11, 2000) was a Canadian poet and novelist.
Amyot was born in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Quebec. She studied pedagogy at the École Normale Notre-Dame-De-Foy from 1961 to 1965, and then French at Laval ...
, ''Le Voyage magnifique d'Emily Carr''
Other Finalists:
*
René-Daniel Dubois
René-Daniel Dubois, OC (born July 20, 1955, in Montreal) is a Québécois playwright and actor.
Biography
Movie career
He is best known for his 1985 play ''Being at Home with Claude'', which was adapted into an award-winning film in 1992 and th ...
, ''Le Troisième fils du professeur Yourolov''
*
Anne Hébert
Anne Hébert (pronounced in French) (August 1, 1916 – January 22, 2000), was a Canadian author and poet. She won Canada's top literary honor, the Governor General's Award, three times, twice for fiction and once for poetry.
Early life
Hébe ...
, ''L'Île de la Demoiselle''
Non-fiction
Winner:
*
Jean-François Lisée
Jean-François Lisée (born February 13, 1958) is a Quebec nationalist politician who served as the leader of the Parti Québécois from October 2016 until October 2018. He was first elected a member of the National Assembly of Quebec in the 2 ...
, ''Dans l'oeil de l'aigle''
Other Finalists:
*
Gérard Bergeron
Gérard (French: ) is a French masculine given name and surname of Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constitue ...
Christiane Duchesne
Christiane Duchesne (born August 12, 1949) is a Quebec researcher, educator, illustrator, translator and writer.
Biography
She was born in Montreal and was educated at the Collège Jésus-Marie d'Outremont, at the Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf and at ...
, ''La Vraie histoire du chien de Clara Vic''
Other Finalists:
*
José Fréchette
José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ).
In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...
, ''L'Automne à 15 ans''
*
Philippe Gauthier Philippe is a masculine sometimes feminin given name, cognate to Philip. It may refer to:
* Philippe of Belgium (born 1960), King of the Belgians (2013–present)
* Philippe (footballer) (born 2000), Brazilian footballer
* Prince Philippe, Count ...
, ''L'Héritage de Qader''
*
Johanne Massé
{{Infobox given name
, name = Johanne
, image=
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, gender = Female
, meaning =
, region = French
, origin =
, related names = Johanna, Joanna, Johannes, John Joan, Jane
, footnotes =
Johanne is ...
, ''Le Passé en péril''
Children's Literature – Illustration
Winner:
*
Pierre Pratt
Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...
, ''Les Fantaisies de l'oncle Henri''
Other Finalists:
*
Mireille Levert
Mireille Levert (born December 20, 1956) is a Canadian writer and illustrator of children's books, living in Quebec.
She was born in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and studied plastic arts at the Université du Québec à Montréal, graduating in 1979. ...
, ''Jérémie et Mme Ming'',
* Stéphane Poulin, ''Les Amours de ma mère'',
Translation (from English to French)
Winner:
*
Charlotte
Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...
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 ...