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 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 ...

, 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's '' Thirty Acres'', 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.

Winners and nominees

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

References

{{Governor General's Literary Awards Canadian fiction awards * Awards established in 1959 1959 establishments in Canada Fiction French-language literary awards