1981 Governor General's Awards

Each winner of the 1981 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:
*Mavis Gallant, "Home Truths: Selected Canadian Stories"

Poetry

Winner:
*F.R. Scott, "The Collected Poems of F.R. Scott"

Other Finalists:
*Alfred Bailey, "Miramichi Lightning: Collected Poems"
*Barry McKinnon, "The The"

Drama

Winner:
*Sharon Pollock, "Blood Relations"

Other Finalists:
*Charles Tidler, "Straight Ahead and Blind Dancers"
*George F. Walker, "Theatre of the Film Noir"

Non-fiction

Winner:
*George Calef, "Caribou and the barren-lands"

Other Finalists:
*Claude Bissell, "The Young Vincent Massey"
*Elspeth Cameron, "Hugh MacLennan: A Writer's Life"

French Language

Fiction

Winner:
*Denys Chabot, "La province lunaire"

Other Finalists:
*Noël Audet, "Ah, l'amour l'amour"
*Aline Beaudin Beaupré, "L'aventure de Blanche Morti"
*Louis Caron, "Le canard de bois"

Poetry

Winner:
*Michel Beaulieu, "Visages"

Drama

Winner:
*Marie Laberge, "C'était avant la guerre à l'anse à Gilles"

Other Finalist:
*Jean-Pierre Ronfard, "Vie et mort du Roi Boiteux"

Non-fiction

Winner:
*Madeleine Ouellette-Michalska, "L'échappée des discours de l'oeil"

Other Finalists:
*Maurice Cusson, "Délinquants pourquoi?"
*Andrée Pilon-Quiviger, "L'éden éclaté"

Other Governor General's Awards: