The 2008

Governor General's Award 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 ...

s for Literary Merit: Finalists in 14 categories (73 books) were announced October 21, winners announced November 18. The prize for writers and illustrators was $25,000 and "a specially bound copy of the winning book".

Controversy

The

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 ...

, the award program's administrator, faced some criticism around its nomination of the

graphic novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...

'' Skim'' in the Children's Literature category. The nomination was credited to Mariko Tamaki, who wrote the graphic novel's text, but not to her cousin and co-creator

Jillian Tamaki Jillian Tamaki (born April 17, 1980) is a Canadian American illustrator and comic artist known for her work in ''The New York Times'' and ''The New Yorker'' in addition to the graphic novels ''Boundless'', as well as ''Skim (comics), Skim'', ''T ...

, who drew the illustrations. Two prominent Canadian graphic novelists,

Chester Brown Chester William David Brown (born 16 May 1960) is a Canadian cartoonist. Brown has gone through several stylistic and thematic periods. He gained notice in alternative comics circles in the 1980s for the surreal, scatological '' Ed the Happy Clo ...

and

Seth Seth, in the Abrahamic religions, was the third son of Adam and Eve. The Hebrew Bible names two of his siblings (although it also states that he had others): his brothers Cain and Abel. According to , Seth was born after Abel's murder by Cain, ...

, circulated an open letter to the Canada Council asking them to revise the nomination, arguing that unlike a more traditional illustrated book, a graphic novel's text and illustration are inseparable parts of the work's narrative, and that both women should accordingly be credited as equal co-authors. Their letter was also endorsed by other prominent Canadian and American graphic novelists, including

Lynda Barry Linda Jean Barry (born January 2, 1956), known professionally as Lynda Barry, is an American cartoonist. Barry is best known for her weekly comic strip '' Ernie Pook's Comeek''. She garnered attention with her 1988 illustrated novel ''The Good T ...

Dan Clowes Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...

Art Spiegelman Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman ( ; born February 15, 1948), professionally known as Art Spiegelman, is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel ''Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazin ...

Chris Ware Franklin Christenson "Chris" Ware (born December 28, 1967) is an American cartoonist known for his ''Acme Novelty Library'' series (begun 1994) and the graphic novels ''Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth'' (2000), ''Building Stories'' (2012 ...

and

Julie Doucet Julie Doucet (born December 31, 1965)
is a Canadian

, as well as by Chris Oliveros of Canadian comic and graphic novel publisher

Drawn & Quarterly Drawn & Quarterly (D+Q) is a publishing company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, specializing in comics. It publishes primarily comic books, graphic novels and comic strip collections. The books it publishes are noted for their artistic con ...

and Peter Birkemore of Toronto comic store The Beguiling. Melanie Rutledge, a spokesperson for the Canada Council, responded that it was too late to revise the nominations for the 2008 awards, but that the council would take the feedback into account in the future. The Canada Council later faced controversy over its selection of

Jacob Scheier Jacob Scheier (born February 2, 1980) is a Canadians, Canadian poet born in Toronto. His debut poetry collection, ''More to Keep Us Warm'', was published by ECW Press in 2007 and was named the winner of the 2008 Governor General's Awards, 2008 Gove ...

's ''More to Keep Us Warm'' as the winner in the poetry category.

Di Brandt Di Brandt (''née'' Janzen; 31 January 1952) often stylized as di brandt, is a Canadian poet and scholar from Winnipeg, Manitoba. She became Winnipeg's first Poet Laureate in 2018. Life and career Brandt grew up in Reinland, a Mennonite farming ...

, one of the poetry award's jurors, was credited by Scheier as a friend and mentor in the book's creation, resulting in debate over whether Brandt should have recused herself from the judging panel.

André Alexis André Alexis is a Canadian writer who was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, grew up in Ottawa, and now lives in Toronto, Ontario.

"Literary prizes and judgment calls"
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', November 29, 2008. (purchase required) Lead paragraph archived
2008-12-17. Retrieved 2015-08-20.

English

French

References

{{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 ...