Governor General's Literary Awards : from the early years to the modern era
For more information about the Governor General's Literary Awards, click here.
1936
Fiction: Think of the earth by Bertram Brooker
Nonfiction: T.B.R., newspaper pieces by Thomas B. Roberton
1937
Fiction: The dark weaver by Laura G. Salverson
Poetry or Drama: The fable of the goats by E. J. Pratt
Nonfiction: My discovery of the West : a discussion of East and West in Canada by Stephen B. Leacock
1938
Fiction: Swiss sonata by Gwethalyn Graham
Poetry or Drama: By stubborn stars by Kenneth Leslie
Nonfiction: Canadian mosaic : the making of a northern nation by John Murray Gibbon
1939
Fiction: The Champlain road by Franklin D. McDowell
Poetry or Drama: Under the Sun by Arthur S. Bourinot
Nonfiction: Confessions of an immigrant's daughter by Laura G. Salverson
1940
Fiction: Thirty acres (translation) by Ringuet (pseud.)
Poetry or Drama: Brébeuf and his brethren (The North American martyrs) by E. J. Pratt
Nonfiction: Slava Bohu, the story of the Dukhobors by James Frederick Church Wright
1941
Fiction: Three came to Ville Marie by Alan Sullivan
Poetry or Drama: Calling Adventurers by Anne Marriott
Nonfiction: Klee Wyck by Emily Carr
1942
Fiction: Little man by G. Herbert Sallans
Poetry or Drama: David and other poems by Earle Birney
Nonfiction: The unknown country, Canada and her people by Bruce Hutchison
Nonfiction: The unguarded frontier : a history of American-Canadian relations by Edgar McInnes
1943
Fiction: The pied piper of Dipper Creek by Thomas H. Raddall
Poetry or Drama: News of the Phoenix, and other poems by A. J. M. Smith
Nonfiction: The incomplete anglers by John D. Robins
Nonfiction: On Canadian poetry by E. K. Brown
1944
Fiction: Earth and high heaven by Gwethalyn Graham Erichsen Brown
Poetry or Drama: Day and night by Dorothy Livesay
Nonfiction: Partner in three worlds by Dorothy Duncan
Nonfiction: The war : fourth year by Edgar McInnes
1945
Fiction: Two solitudes by Hugh MacLennan
Poetry or Drama: Now is time by Earle Birney
Nonfiction: We keep a light by Evelyn May Fox Richardson
Nonfiction: Gauntlet to Overlord by Ross Munro
1946
Fiction: Continental revue by Winifred Bambrick
Poetry or Drama: Poems by Robert Finch
Nonfiction: In search of myself by Frederick Philip Grove
Nonfiction: Colony to nation : a history of Canada by Arthur Reginald Marsden Lower
1947
Fiction: The tin flute (translation of "Bonheur d'occasion") by Gabrielle Roy
Poetry or Drama: Poems for People by Dorothy Livesay
Nonfiction: Haida by William Sclater
Nonfiction: The government of Canada by Robert MacGregor Dawson
1948
Fiction: The precipice by Hugh MacLennan
Poetry or Drama: The rocking chair and other poems by A. M. Klein
Nonfiction: Halifax, warden of the North by Thomas H. Raddall
Nonfiction: The Canadian Army, 1939-1945 : an official historical summary by C. P. Stacey
1949
Fiction: Mr. Ames against time by Philip Child
Poetry or Drama: The red heart by James Reaney
Nonfiction: Cross-country by Hugh MacLennan
Nonfiction: Democratic government in Canada by Robert MacGregor Dawson
Juvenile: Franklin of the Arctic by R. S. Lambert
1950
Fiction: The outlander (translated by Eric Sutton) by Germaine Guèvremont
Poetry or Drama: Of time and the lover by James Wreford Watson
Nonfiction: The Saskatchewan by Marjorie Wilkins Campbell
Nonfiction: The Progressive Party in Canada by W. L. Morton (Reprint, with corrections)
Juvenile: The great adventure by Donald Dickie
1951
Fiction: The loved and the lost by Morley Callaghan
Poetry or Drama: The Mulgrave road by Charles Bruce
Nonfiction: The ardent exile : the life and times of Thos. Darcy McGee by Josephine Phelan
Nonfiction: The government of Prince Edward Island by Frank MacKinnon
Juvenile: A land divided by John F. Hayes
1952
Fiction: The pillar by David Walker
Poetry or Drama: Towards the last spike by E. J. Pratt
Nonfiction: The incredible Canadian : a candid portrait Mackenzie King : his works, his times, and his nation by Bruce Hutchison
Nonfiction: John A. Macdonald, volume 1 : the young politician by Donald Grant Creighton
Juvenile: Cargoes on the Great Lakes by Marie McPhedran
1953
Fiction: Digby by David Walker
Poetry or Drama: The Net and the sword by Douglas LePan
Nonfiction: Sex and the nature of things by N. J. Berrill
Nonfiction: Canada, a story of challenge by J. M. S. Careless
Juvenile: Rebels ride at night by John F. Hayes
1954
Fiction: The fall of a titan by Igor Gouzenko
Poetry or Drama: The metal and the flower by P. K. Page
Nonfiction: Thirty and three by Hugh MacLennan
Nonfiction: This most famous stream : the liberal democratic way of life by Arthur Reginald Marsden Lower
Juvenile: The Nor'westers : the fight for the fur trade by Marjorie Wilkins Campbell
1955
Fiction: The sixth of June by Lionel S. B. Shapiro
Poetry or Drama: Friday's child by Wilfred Watson
Nonfiction: Man's emerging mind : man's progress through time - trees, ice, flood, atoms, and the universe by N. J. Berrill
Nonfiction: John A. Macdonald, volume 2 : the old chieftain by Donald Grant Creighton
Juvenile: The map-maker by Kerry Wood
1956
Fiction: The sacrifice by Adele Wiseman
Poetry or Drama: A window on the North by Robert A. D. Ford
Nonfiction: The mysterious north by Pierre Berton
Nonfiction: Century of conflict : the struggle between the French and British in colonial America by Joseph Lister Rutledge
Juvenile: Lost in the Barrens by Farley Mowat
1957
Fiction: Street of riches (translated by Henry Binsse) by Gabrielle Roy
Poetry or Drama: The boatman, and other poems by Jay Macpherson
Nonfiction: Canada : tomorrow's giant by Bruce Hutchison
Nonfiction: The path of destiny : Canada from the British conquest to home rule, 1763-1850 by Thomas H. Raddall
Juvenile: The great chief by Kerry Wood
1958
Fiction: Execution by Colin McDougall
Poetry or Drama: A suit of nettles by James Reaney
Nonfiction: Klondike by Pierre Berton
Nonfiction: The history of Fanny Burney by Joyce Hemlow
Juvenile: Nkwala by Edith L. Sharp
1959
Romans et nouvelles: Malgré tout, la joie! by André Giroux
Poetry or Drama: Red carpet for the sun by Irving Layton
Fiction: The watch that ends the night by Hugh MacLennan
Études et essais: Le barachois by Félix-Antoine Savard
1960
Poetry or Drama: Winter sun by Margaret Avison
Poésie et théâtre: Poèmes by Anne Hébert
Fiction: The luck of Ginger Coffey by Brian Moore
Études et essais: Souvenirs pour demain by Paul Toupin
Nonfiction: In search of Canadian liberalism by Frank H. Underhill
1961
Poetry or Drama: Acis in Oxford, and other poems by Robert Finch
Nonfiction: The ascent of life : a philosophical study of the theory of evolution by Thomas Anderson Goudge
Études et essais: Convergences by Jean Le Moyne
Fiction: Hear us O Lord from heaven thy dwelling place by Malcolm Lowry
Romans et nouvelles: Ashini by Yves Thériault
1962
Fiction: Running to Paradise by Kildare Dobbs
Romans et nouvelles: Contes du Pays incertain by Jaques Ferron
Poésie et théâtre: Les insolites. Et, Les violons de l'automne by Jacques Languirand
Études et essais: Une littérature qui se fait : essais critiques sur la littérature canadienne-française by Gilles Marcotte
Nonfiction: The Gutenberg galaxy; the making of typographic man by Marshall McLuhan
Poetry or Drama: Twelve letters to a small town; and The killdeer and other plays by James Reaney
1963
Nonfiction: Brown of the Globe by James Maurice Stockford Careless
Fiction: Hugh Garner's best stories by Hugh Garner
Études et essais: Histoire du Canada by Gustave Lanctôt (English translation)
Poésie et théâtre: Ode au Saint-Laurent by Gatien Lapointe
1964
Nonfiction: The woeful Victorian; a biography of John Addington Symonds by Phyllis Grosskurth
Fiction: The deserter by Douglas LePan
Poésie et théâtre: Au coeur de la rose by Pierre Perrault
Romans et nouvelles: Les terres sèches by Jean-Paul Pinsonneault
Études et essais: Roger Martin du Gard et la religion by Réjean Robidoux
Poetry or Drama: The colour of the times by Raymond Souster
1965
Romans et nouvelles: L'incubation : roman by Gérard Bessette
Nonfiction: In defence of Canada by James Eayrs
Poetry or Drama: The Cariboo horses by Alfred Purdy
Études et essais: Le temps et l'espace dans l'oeuvre de Paul Claudel; expérience chrétienne et imagination poétique. by André S. Vachon
Poésie et théâtre: Quand les bateaux s'en vont by Gilles Vigneault
1966
Poetry or Drama: The circle game by Margaret Atwood
Poésie et théâtre: L'Avalée des avalés by Réjean Ducharme
Fiction: A jest of God by Margaret Laurence
Romans et nouvelles: La joue droite by Claire Martin (English translation)
Études et essais: Le comptoir, 1604-1627 (2e volume de son Histoire de la Nouvelle France) by Marcel Trudel
Nonfiction: The crystal spirit : a study of George Orwell by George Woodcock
1967
Romans et nouvelles: Salut Galarneau by Jacques Godbout
Poésie et théâtre: Encore cinq minutes by Françoise Loranger
Poetry or Drama: An idiot joy by Eli Mandel
Poetry or Drama: Bread, wine and salt by Alden Nowlan
Études et essais: La civilisation traditionelle de l'"Habitant" aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles by Robert-Lionel Séguin
Nonfiction: The Oxford companion to Canadian history and literature by Norah Story (Supplement, 1973)
1968
Romans et nouvelles: Trou de mémoire** by Hubert Aquin
Romans et nouvelles: Manuscripts de Pauline Archange by Marie-Claire Blais
Poetry or Drama: Selected poems, 1956-1968** by Leonard Cohen
Études et essais: Le lieu de l'homme by Fernand Dumont
Fiction: Dance of the happy shades and other stories by Alice Munro
Fiction and Essays: Cocksure; and Hunting tigers under glass by Mordecai Richler
1969
Poetry or Drama: Rocky Mountain Foot and the gangs of Kosmos by George Bowering
Études et essais: Les canadiens après la conquête, 1759-1775; de la révolution canadienne à la révolution américaine by Michel Brunet
Fiction: The studhorse man by Robert Kroetsch
Poetry or Drama: The shadow-maker by Gwendolyn MacEwen
Romans et nouvelles: Une forêt pour Zoé by Louise Maheux-Forcier
Poésie et théâtre: Comme eau retenue by Jean-Guy Pilon
1970
Romans et nouvelles: La femme de Loth by Monique Bosco
Poésie et théâtre: Quand nous serons heureux by Jacques Brault
Fiction: The new ancestors by Dave Godfrey
Poetry or Drama: Still water by bpNichol
Poetry or Drama: The true eventual story of Billy the Kid by bpNichol
Poetry or Drama: Beach head by bpNichol
Poetry or Drama: The cosmic chef : an evening of concrete by bpNichol
Prose and Poetry: The collected works of Billy the Kid by Michael Ondaatje
Études et essais: Les actes retrouvés** by Fernand Ouellette** Award declined by the recipient / Prix refusé par le récipiendaire