The Governor General's Award for French-language fiction is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian writer for a fiction book written in French. It is one of fourteen Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit, seven each for creators of English- and French-language books. The Governor General's Awards program is 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 ...
.
The program was created and inaugurated in 1937, for 1936 publications in two categories, conventionally called the 1936 awards. French-language works were first recognized by the
1959 Governor General's Awards
The 1959 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were the 24th rendition of the Governor General's Awards, Canada's annual national awards program which then comprised literary awards alone. The awards recognized Canadian writers for new work ...
. Prior to 1959, the Canada Council did not present any awards for French-language literature, although four works originally published in French —
Ringuet
Philippe Panneton (or Joseph-Philippe Panneton, pseudonym Ringuet, which was his mother's maiden name; April 30, 1895 – December 28, 1960) was a Canadian physician, academic, diplomat and writer.
Born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, he received a de ...
's ''
Thirty Acres
''Thirty Acres'' (french: Trente arpents) is a novel by Canadian writer Philippe Panneton, published under the pen name Ringuet.Germaine Guèvremont's ''The Outlander'', and
Gabrielle Roy
Gabrielle Roy (March 22, 1909July 13, 1983) was a Canadian author from St. Boniface, Manitoba and one of the major figures in French Canadian literature.
Early life
Roy was born in 1909 in Saint-Boniface (now part of Winnipeg), Manitoba, and ...
's ''
The Tin Flute
''The Tin Flute'' (original French title ''Bonheur d'occasion'', literally "secondhand happiness") is the first novel by Canadian author Gabrielle Roy and a classic of Canadian fiction. Imbued with Roy's brand of compassion and understanding, th ...
'' and ''
Street of Riches
''Street of Riches'' ('' fr.'' ''Rue Deschambault'') is a novel by the Canadian author Gabrielle Roy. It was originally published in French as ''Rue Deschambault'' by Beauchemin in 1955. An English translation by Harry L. Binsse, ''Street of Ri ...
'' — won the
Governor General's Award for English-language fiction
The Governor General's Award for English-language fiction is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian writer for a fiction book written in English.shortlist
A short list or shortlist is a list of candidates for a job, prize, award, political position, etc., that has been reduced from a longer list of candidates (sometimes via intermediate lists known as "long lists"). The length of short lists varie ...
of three nominees. Since then, the advance shortlist has numbered three to six; from 2002, always five.