Governor General's Awards 2000

By this time next week, the winners of the 2000 Governor General's Literary Awards will have been announced. The $15, 000 prize (raised from $10, 000 in previous years) is only second to the prestige of this important yearly award.

The Governor General's Literary Awards are presented to the best works of fiction, poetry, drama, non-fiction, children's literature (with separate categories for text and illustration)and translation from French to English, as decided by the Canada Council for the Arts. Both French and English language authors and illustrators are represented separately.

It's going to be a tough call in the Fiction category. Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin is a definite top contender, or the kudos could just as easily go to Michael Ondaatje and/or David Adams Richards (again). Austin Clarke's The Question is a longshot hopeful, but his multi-cultural and suspenseful writing style is the reason Canada's premier writer of colour appears among the list of nominees.

For Poetry, my guess is either George Bowering (His Life) or Don McKay (Another Gravity), but I am less sure on this one. Timothy Findley is a definite possibility for Drama, for Elizabeth Rex, and Nega Mezlekia's memoir of his tragic childhood in Ethiopia Notes from the Hyena's Belly is my guess for Non-fiction.

We'll find out if I was right next week!

---

NB: With regards to last week's piece on The Giller Prize . . . the results were announced a few days after the article was published. My guess for the winner was Michael Ondaatje, followed by David Adams Richards. And I was right -- on both counts. The Giller was split between Ondaatje and Richards.

Go To Page: 1

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic