THEATRE NEWS: GG Awards for Drama announced
15 NOV/11

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency

Canada’s best writers took centre stage Tuesday as the winners of the 75th annual Governor General’s Literary Awards were announced in Toronto.

In the prestigious category of English language fiction, Patrick de Witt’s The Sisters Brothers emerged as the winner, despite having been beat out by Esi Edugyan’s Half Blood Blues in earlier competition for the Giller Prize.

Meanwhile, in English language non-fiction, Charles Foran earned top honours for Mordecai: The Life & Times, writing about the celebrated Canadian literary icon, Mordecai Richler, himself a GG winner in his time.

And in English language drama, Erin Shields’ If We Were Birds, produced last year at Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre, took top prize.

In addition to a $25,000 cash award, winners will be honoured at ceremonies at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, presided over by Governor General of Canada, David Johnson, on Nov. 24.

The complete list of winners follows:

ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Fiction:
Patrick de Witt, The Sisters Brothers
Non-fiction:
Charles Foran, Mordecai: The Life & Times
Poetry:
Phil Hall, Killdeer
Drama:
Erin Shields, If We Were Birds
Non-fiction:
Charles Foran, Mordecai: The Life & Times
Children’s literature — text:
Christopher Moore, From Then to Now: A Short History of the World
Children’s literature — illustration:
Cybele Young, Ten Birds
Translation:
Donald Winkler, Partita for Glenn Gould, translated from Georges Leroux’s Partita pour Glenn Gould
 
FRENCH LANGUAGE
Fiction:
Perrine Leblanc, L’homme blanc
Poetry:
Louise Dupré, Plus haut que les flammes
Drama:
Normand Chaurette, Ce qui meurt en dernier
Non-fiction:
Georges Leroux, Wanderer: essai sur le Voyage d’hiver de Franz Schubert
Children’s literature — text:
Martin Fournier, Les aventures de Radisson — 1. L’enfer ne brule pas
Children’s literature — illustration:
Caroline Merola, Lili et les Poilus
Translation:
Maryse Warda, Toxique ou L’incident dans l’autobus, translated from Greg MacArthur’s The Toxic Bus Incident