1985 Governor General's Awards

Each winner of the 1985 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit was selected by a panel of judges administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.

English Language

Fiction

Winner:
*Margaret Atwood, "The Handmaid's Tale"

Other Finalists:
*Sharon Butala, "Queen of the Headaches"
*Keath Fraser, "Foreign Affairs"
*David Adams Richards, "Road to the Stilt House"

Poetry

Winner:
*Fred Wah, "Waiting for Saskatchewan"

Other Finalists:
*Lorna Crozier, "The Garden Going on Without Us"
*Richard Lush, "A Manual for Lying Down"
*Anne Szumigalski, "Instar"

Drama

Winner:
*George F. Walker, "Criminals in Love"

Other Finalists:
*David French, "Salt-water Moon"
*Margaret Hollingsworth, "War Babies (in Willful Acts: Five Plays)"
*Ken Mitchell, "Gone the Burning Sun"

Non-fiction

Winner:
*Ramsay Cook, "The Regenerators: Social Criticism in Late Victorian English Canada"

Other Finalists:
*Michael D. Behiels, "Prelude to Quebec's Quiet Revolution: Liberalism versus Neo-nationalism"
*John Herd Thompson, "Canada 1922-1939: Decades of Discord"
*P.B. Waite, "The Man from Halifax: Sir John Thompson, Prime Minister"

French Language

Fiction

Winner:
*Fernand Ouellette, "Lucie ou un midi en novembre"

Other Finalists:
*Louise Bouchard, "Les Images"
*Jean-Paul Fugère, "Popa moman et le saint homme"
*Suzanne Paradis, "La Ligne bleue"

Poetry

Winner:
*André Roy, "Action writing"

Other Finalists:
*Anne-Marie Alonzo, "Bleus de mine"
*François Charron, "La vie n'a pas de sens"
*Patrice Desbiens, "Dans l'après-midi cardiaque "
*Paul Chanel Malenfant, "Les noms du père, suivi de Lieux dits: Italique"

Drama

Winner:
*Maryse Pelletier, "Duo pour voix obstinées"

Other Finalists:
*Michel Marc Bouchard, "La poupée de Pélopia"
*Francine Noël, "Chandeleur"

Non-fiction

Winner:
*François Ricard, "La littérature contre elle-même"

Other Finalists:
*Lysiane Gagnon, "Chroniques politiques"
*Hélène Pelletier-Baillargeon, "Marie Gérin-Lajoie"

Other Governor General's Awards: