1989 Governor General's Awards

Each winner of the 1989 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit received $5000 dollars and a medal from the Governor General of Canada. The winners and nominees were selected by a panel of judges administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.

English language

Fiction

Winner:
*Paul Quarrington, "Whale Music"

Other Finalists:
*Ann Copeland, "The Golden Thread"
*Helen Weinzweig, "A View from the Roof"

Poetry

Winner:
*Heather Spears, "The Word for Sand"

Other Finalists:
*Tim Lilburn, "Tourist to Ecstasy"
*Stephen Scobie, "Dunino"

Drama

Winner:
*Judith Thompson, "The Other Side of the Dark"

Other Finalists:
*Tomson Highway, "Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing"
*John Krizanc, "Tamara"

Non-fiction

Winner:
*Robert Calder, "Willie-The Life of W. Somerset Maugham"

Other Finalists:
*Janice Boddy, "Wombs and Alien Spirits"
*Robert MacNeil, "Wordstruck"
*Dale A. Russell, "An Odyssey in Time: The Dinosaurs of North America"

Children's literature - text

Winner:
*Diana Wieler, "Bad Boy"

Other Finalists:
*Kit Pearson, "The Sky is Falling"
*Eliane Corbeil Roe, "Circle of Light"

Children's literature - illustration

Winner:
*Robin Muller, "The Magic Paintbrush"

Other Finalists:
*Michèle Lemieux, "A Gift from Saint Francis"
*Jan Thornhill, "The Wildlife 123"

Translation (French to English)

Winner:
*Wayne Grady, "On the Eighth Day"

Other Finalists:
*Arlette Francière, "Kaleidoscope"
*Donald Winkler, "Rose and Thorn"

French language

Fiction

Winner:
*Louis Hamelin, "La Rage"

Other Finalists:
*Robert Lalonde, "Le Diable en personne"
*Jacques Poulin, "Le Vieux Chagrin"

Poetry

Winner:
*Pierre Desruisseaux, "Monème"

Other Finalists:
*Christiane Frenette, "Cérémonie mémoire"
*Élise Turcotte, "La Terre est ici"

Drama

Winner:
*Michel Garneau, "Mademoiselle Rouge"

Other Finalists:
*Michel Marc Bouchard, "Les Muses orphelines"
*Robert Claing, "La Femme d'intérieur"

Non-fiction

Winner:
*Lise Noël, "L'Intolérance : une problématique générale"

Other Finalists:
*Jean Éthier-Blais, "Fragments d'une enfance"
*Pierre Morency, "L'Oeil américain"

Children's literature - text

Winner:
*Charles Montpetit, "Temps mort"

Other Finalists:
*Jacques Lazure, "Le Domaine des Sans Yeux"
*Joceline Sanschagrin, "La Fille aux cheveux rouges"

Children's literature - illustration

Winner:
*Stéphane Poulin, "Benjamin et la saga des oreillers"

Other Finalists:
*Frédéric Back, "L'Homme qui plantait des arbres"
*Philippe Béha, "Mais que font les fées avec toutes ces dents?"

Translation (English to French)

Winner:
*Jean Antonin Billard, "Les Âges de l'amour"

Other Finalists:
*Ronald Guévremont, "Comme un vent chaud de Chine"
*Christine Klein-Lataud, "Un Oiseau dans la maison"

Other Governor General's Awards: