1984 Governor General's Awards

Each winner of the 1984 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:
*Josef Skvorecky, "The Engineer of Human Souls"

Other Finalists:
*Timothy Findley, "Not Wanted on the Voyage"
*Susan Kerslake, "The Book of Fears"
*Audrey Thomas, "Intertidal Life"

Poetry

Winner:
*Paulette Jiles, "Celestial Navigation"

Other Finalists:
*Roo Borson, "The Whole Night, Coming Home"
*Marilyn Bowering, "The Sunday before Winter"
*David McFadden, "The Art of Darkness"
*Sharon Thesen, "Confabulations"
*Peter van Toorn, "Mountain Tea"

Drama

Winner:
*Judith Thompson, "White Biting Dog"

Other Finalists:
*James Reaney, "The Canadian Brothers or The Prophecy Fulfilled"
*George Ryga, "A Letter to My Son"

Non-fiction

Winner:
*Sandra Gwyn, "The Private Capital: Ambition and Love in the Age of Macdonald and Laurier"

Other Finalists:
*Bob Beal and Rod Macleod, "Prairie Fire: The 1885 North-West Rebellion"
*Graham Fraser, "P.Q.: René Lévesque and the Parti Québécois in Power"

French Language

Fiction

Winner:
*Jacques Brault, "Agonie"

Other Finalists:
*Madeleine Ouellette-Michalska, "La Maison Trestler"
*Jacques Poulin, "Volkswagen Blues"
*Jacques Savoie, "Les Portes tournantes"
*Marie José Thériault, "Les Demoiselles de Numidie"

Poetry

Winner:
*Nicole Brossard, "Double Impression"

Other Finalists:
*Michel Beaulieu, "Kaléidoscope"
*André Roy, "Les sept jours de la jouissance"
*Elise Turcotte, "Navires de guerre"

Drama

Winner:
*René-Daniel Dubois, "Ne blâmez jamais les Bédouins"

Other Finalists:
*Gilbert Dupuis, "Les Transporteurs de monde"
*Marcel Sabourin, "Pleurer pour rire"
*Michel Tremblay, "Albertine en cinq temps"

Non-fiction

Winner:
*Jean Hamelin and Nicole Gagnon, "Le XXe Siècle: Histoire du catholicisme québécois"

Other Finalists:
*Luc Bureau, "Entre l'Éden et l'Utopie"
*Philippe Haeck, "La Table d'écriture: poéthique et modernité"

Other Governor General's Awards: