POLL: How many of these #GGBooks finalists have you read?

The Canada Council for the Arts has just released the finalists for the 2018 Governor General’s Literary Awards.

Two local authors are among the finalists: Eva Campbell from Victoria for Africville and Darrel J. McLeod from Sooke for Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age.

The awards recognize Canada’s best English and French books in seven categories: Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, Drama, Young People’s Literature (Text), Young People’s Literature (Illustrated Books), and Translation.

How many have you read?

The 14 winning books will be announced on Oct. 30.

English-language finalists (seven categories)

Fiction:

• Beirut Hellfire Society – Rawi Hage (Montréal, Quebec) - Knopf Canada/Penguin Random House Canada
• Jonny Appleseed – Joshua Whitehead (Calgary, Alberta) - Arsenal Pulp Press
• The Red Word – Sarah Henstra (Toronto, Ontario) - ECW Press
• Women Talking – Miriam Toews (Toronto, Ontario) - Knopf Canada/Penguin Random House Canada
• Zolitude – Paige Cooper (Montréal, Quebec) - Biblioasis

Poetry:

• Because: A Lyric Memoir – Joshua Mensch (Prague, Czech Republic) - W.W. Norton & Company
• Night Became Years – Jason Stefanik (Winnipeg, Manitoba) - Coach House Books
• The Blue Clerk – Dionne Brand (Toronto, Ontario) - McClelland & Stewart/Penguin Random House Canada
• This Wound is a World – Billy-Ray Belcourt (Edmonton, Alberta) - Frontenac House
• Wayside Sang – Cecily Nicholson (Burnaby, British Columbia) - Talonbooks

Drama:

• Botticelli in the Fire & Sunday in Sodom – Jordan Tannahill (London, United Kingdom) - Playwrights Canada Press
• Gertrude and Alice – Anna Chatterton and Evalyn Parry with Karin Randoja (Hamilton, Ontario, Toronto, Ontario and Toronto, Ontario) - Playwrights Canada Press
• Paradise Lost – Erin Shields (Montréal, Quebec) - Playwrights Canada Press
• The Men in White – Anosh Irani (North Vancouver, British Columbia) - House of Anansi Press
• This Is How We Got Here – Keith Barker (Toronto, Ontario) - Playwrights Canada Press

Non-fiction:

• Dead Reckoning: How I Came to Meet the Man Who Murdered My Father – Carys Cragg (Port Coquitlam, British Columbia) - Arsenal Pulp Press
• Heart Berries - Terese Marie Mailhot (Evansville, Indiana) - Doubleday Canada/Penguin Random House Canada
• Homes: A Refugee Story – Abu Bakr al Rabeeah with Winnie Yeung (Edmonton, Alberta) - Freehand Books
• Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age – Darrel J. McLeod (Sooke, British Columbia) - Douglas & McIntyre
• The Wife’s Tale: A Personal History – Aida Edemariam (Oxford, United Kingdom) - Knopf Canada

Young People’s Literature – Text:

• Ebb & Flow – Heather Smith (Waterloo, Ontario) - Kids Can Press
• Learning to Breathe – Janice Lynn Mather (Delta, British Columbia) - Simon & Schuster
• Sweep: The Story of a Girl and her Monster – Jonathan Auxier (Swissvale, Pennsylvania) - Puffin Canada/Penguin Random House Canada Young Readers
• The Journey of Little Charlie – Christopher Paul Curtis (Windsor, Ontario) - Scholastic Canada
• Winnie’s Great War – Lindsay Mattick and Josh Greenhut (Toronto, Ontario) - HarperCollins Publishers

Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Books:

• Africville – Shauntay Grant and Eva Campbell (Halifax, Nova Scotia/Victoria, British Columbia) - Groundwood Books
• At the Pond – Werner Zimmermann (Guelph, Ontario) - North Winds Press, an imprint of Scholastic Canada
• Go Show the World: A Celebration of Indigenous Heroes – Wab Kinew and Joe Morse (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Toronto, Ontario) - Tundra Books/Penguin Random House Canada
• Ocean Meets Sky – The Fan Brothers (Toronto, Ontario) - Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• They Say Blue – Jillian Tamaki (Toronto, Ontario) - Groundwood Book

Translation (from French to English):

• Descent into Night – Translated by Phyllis Aronoff and Howard Scott (Montréal, Quebec) - Mawenzi House Publishers; translation of Explication de la nuit by Edem Awumey, Les Éditions du Boréal
• Explosions : Michael Bay and the Pyrotechnics of the Imagination – Translated by Aleshia Jensen (Montréal, Quebec) - QC Fiction, an imprint of Baraka Books; translation of Des explosions by Mathieu Poulin, Les Éditions de Ta Mère
• Jacob Isaac Segal: A Montreal Yiddish Poet and His Milieu – Translated by Vivian Felsen (Toronto, Ontario) - University of Ottawa Press; translation of Jacob-Isaac Segal (1896-1954) : un poète yiddish de Montréal et son milieu by Pierre Anctil, Les Presses de l’Université Laval
• Little Beast – Translated by Rhonda Mullins (Montréal, Quebec) - Coach House Books; translation of Barbe by Julie Demers, Héliotrope
• Songs for the Cold of Heart – Translated by Peter McCambridge (Cap-Rouge, Quebec) - QC Fiction, an imprint of Baraka Books; translation of La fiancée américaine by Eric Dupont, Marchand de feuilles

French-language finalists (seven categories)

Fiction:

• De synthèse – Karoline Georges (Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec) - Éditions Alto
• La bête creuse – Christophe Bernard (Burlington, Vermont) - Le Quartanier
• Les noyades secondaires – Maxime Raymond Bock (Montréal, Quebec) - Le Cheval d’août
• Manikanetish – Naomi Fontaine (Québec, Quebec) - Mémoire d’encrier
• noms fictifs – Olivier Sylvestre (Montréal, Quebec) - Hamac, a division of Les éditions du Septentrion

Poetry:

• Cruauté du jeu – France Théoret (Montréal, Quebec) - Écrits des Forges
• La dévoration des fées – Catherine Lalonde (Montréal, Quebec) - Le Quartanier
• La raison des fleurs – Michaël Trahan (Montréal, Quebec) - Le Quartanier
• Le revers – Roxane Desjardins (Montréal, Quebec) - Les Herbes rouges
• Ne faites pas honte à votre siècle – Daria Colonna (Montréal, Quebec) - Poètes de brousse

Drama:

• Enfant insignifiant! – Michel Tremblay (Montréal, Quebec) - Leméac Éditeur
• Invisibles – Guillaume Lapierre-Desnoyers (Montréal, Quebec) - L’instant même
• J’aime Hydro – Christine Beaulieu (Montréal, Quebec) - Atelier 10
• Os : la montagne blanche – Steve Gagnon (Montréal, Quebec) - L’instant même
• Venir au monde – Anne-Marie Olivier (Québec, Quebec) - Atelier 10

Non-fiction:

• Avant l’après : voyages à Cuba avec George Orwell – Frédérick Lavoie (Montréal, Quebec) - La Peuplade
• Histoire des Juifs du Québec – Pierre Anctil (Montréal, Quebec) - Les Éditions du Boréal
• Le piège de la liberté : les peuples autochtones dans l’engrenage des régimes coloniaux – Denys Delâge and Jean-Philippe Warren (St-Antoine-de-Tilly, Quebec/Verdun, Quebec) - Les Éditions du Boréal
• Les chants du mime : en compagnie d’Étienne Decroux – Gabrielle Giasson-Dulude (Montréal, Quebec) - Éditions du Noroît
• Mégantic : une tragédie annoncée – Anne-Marie Saint-Cerny (Val-David, Quebec) - Les Éditions Écosociété

Young People’s Literature – Text:

• 13 000 ans et des poussières – Camille Bouchard (Fortierville, Quebec) - Soulières éditeur
• Ferdinand F., 81 ans, chenille – Mario Brassard (Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, Quebec) - Soulières éditeur
• Les Marées – Brigitte Vaillancourt (Eastman, Quebec) - Les Éditions du Boréal
• Maman veut partir – Jonathan Bécotte (Montréal, Quebec) - Leméac Éditeur
• Un dernier songe avant le grand sommeil – Jocelyn Boisvert (Havre-aux-Maisons, Quebec) - Soulières éditeur

Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Books:

• Jules et Jim : frères d’armes – Jacques Goldstyn (Mont-Royal, Quebec) - Bayard Canada
• Le chemin de la montagne – Marianne Dubuc (Montréal, Quebec) - Comme des géants
• Les mots d’Eunice – Gabriella Gendreau and Nahid Kazemi (Montréal, Quebec) - Éditions de l’Isatis
• Lili Macaroni : je suis comme je suis! – Nicole Testa and Annie Boulanger (Rimouski, Quebec/Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec) - Dominique et compagnie
• Une histoire de cancer qui finit bien – Marianne Ferrer and India Desjardins (Lasalle, Quebec/Montréal, Quebec) - Les Éditions de la Pastèque

Translation (from English to French):

• De l’utilité de l’ennui : textes de balle – Translated by Daniel Grenier and William S. Messier (Québec, Quebec/Sherbrooke, Quebec) - Les Éditions de Ta Mère; translation of The Utility of Boredom: Baseball Essays by Andrew Forbes, Invisible Publishing
• Le Monde selon Barney – Translated by Lori Saint-Martin and Paul Gagné (Montréal, Quebec) - Les Éditions du Boréal; translation of Barney’s Version by Mordecai Richler, Knopf Canada
• Le saint patron des merveilles – Translated by Catherine Leroux (Montréal, Quebec) - Éditions Alto; translation of Fabrizio’s Return by Mark Frutkin, Vintage Canada
• Naissances – Translated by Laurence Gough (Montréal, Quebec) - Marchand de feuilles; translation of How You Were Born by Kate Cayley, Pedlar Press
• Sweetland – Translated by Éric Fontaine (Montréal, Quebec) - Leméac Éditeur; translation of Sweetland by Michael Crummey, Doubleday Canada