Governor General’s Literary Awards Winners 2020 

On June 1, 2020 the Governor General Literary Awards winners were announced! There were seven English language winners: 

Winner: Fiction – Five Little Indians by Michelle Good

Michelle Good (Cree writer and lawyer) won the best fiction award for Five Little Indians. This is her first book.  It looks at the lives of residential school survivors with empathy and tenderness as they struggle to address their past and move forward.  

Winner: Non-fiction This Red Line Goes Straight to Your Heart by Madhur Anand 

A work of generational storytelling, experimental memoir, immigration and Partition.  

Anand is a professor of ecology at the University of Guelph as well as a poet. 

Winner: Poetry Norma Jeane Baker of Troy by Anne Carson 

Carson, an accomplished poet, wrote a meditation on the power of beauty, influence and the male gaze. . .  

Winner: Young People’s Literature- The King of Jam Sandwiches by Eric Walters 

This novel looks at a father-son relationship, where the father is very different from others. He often disappears for days at a time, and wakes Robbie (who is 13) up in the middle of the night to talk. It also looks at the importance of friendship, and truths. 

Winner- Young People’s Literature- illustrated books- The Barnabus Project by The Fan Brothers 

In a secret underground lab, Barnabus and his friends (genetically engineered creatures) live an ‘imperfect life’ yearning to be free. Can they escape and find freedom? 

Winner- Translation- If you hear me by Pascale Quiviger translated by Lazer Lederhendler 

After a devasting construction site accident, David’s family tries to address the emotions that come along with a husband/father in a coma.  A novel of morning, family and life. 

Winner: Drama- Kamloopa: An Indigenous Matriarch Story by KIm Senklip Harvey 

The story of two Indigenous sisters  who are en route to Kamloopa for a powwow along with a Trickster. A story of connecting- with themselves, each other, and their ancestors.