A Thunder Bay author has taken home one of Canada’s most prestigious literary awards.
Jean E. Pendziwol was born in Thunder Bay in 1965 and currently lives in the city.
She and illustrator Todd Stewart won the Governor General’s award for young people’s illustrated literature.
Their book Skating Wild on the Inland Sea describes the beauty of a Canadian winter and the singing Lake Superior.
Indigenous and Metis authors also won in several categories.
The Governor General’s award goes to one author in each of the seven categories. The Canada Council for the Arts announces the winners, who receive $25,000 each. Finalists receive $1,000 each. The publishers of winning books each get a $3,000 grant.
Fiction award
Jordan Abel’s novel Empty Spaces reimagines the classic The Last of the Mohicans from the perspective of a Nisga’a person separated from their traditional knowledge.
Non-fiction award
Nigaan Sinclair’s Winipek collects several years of his columns and illustrates the complex history and contributions of Indigenous people in Winnipeg.
Poetry award
The award for best poetry book went to Chimwemwe Undi.
Her collection Scientific Marvel is marked with anxieties and observations about being born in Winnipeg and living in Africa for a few years while growing up.
Drama award
Métis author Caleigh Crow’s play has a long title: There Is Violence and There Is Righteous Violence and There Is Death, or the Born-Again Crow.
In it, she tells the story of a grocery store clerk who turns her capitalist melancholy into a righteous fury.
Young People’s Literature award for text
Crash Landing by Li Charmaine Anne won with her story about the challenges facing first-generation immigrant teenagers. It’s a coming of age and coming out novel that follows Jay Wong through the summer of 2010 as she tries to land a kickflip on her skateboard.
Translation award
This award goes to Katia Grubisic for Nights Too Short to Dance. It’s a translation of Un cœur habité de mille voix by Marie-Claire Blais.
Blais was an LGBTQ+ icon in Quebec, and this translation brings to life a “tender celebration of youth and aging in a trans body,” according to a passage on the GG Books website.
Shortlisted books
Fiction
- Code Noir by Canisia Lubrin
- The Memoirs of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle: Vol 1 by Kent Monkman and Gisèle Gordon
- Her Body Among Animals by Paola Ferrante
- Naniki by Oonya Kempadoo
Non-fiction
- Crooked Teeth by Danny Ramadan
- Becoming a Matriarch by Helen Knott
- The Walls Have Eyes by Petra Molnar
- The Age of Insecurity by Astra Taylor
Poetry
- The Work by Bren Simmers
- Precedented Parroting by Barbara Tran
- The All + Flesh by Brandi Bird
- Sonnets from a Cell by Bradley Peters
Drama
- I Forgive You by Scott Jones & Robert Chafe
- New by Pamela Mala Sinha
- The Green Line by Makram Ayache
- Shorelines by Mishka Lavigne
Young People’s Literature award for text
- Song of Freedom, Song of Dreams by Shari Green
- A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur
- Into the Bright Open: A Secret Garden Remix by Cherie Dimaline
- Mortified by Kristy Jackson
Young People’s Literature award for illustrated book
- I’m Afraid, Said the Leaf by Danielle Daniel, illustrated by Matt James
- The Gulf by Adam de Souza
- Do You Remember? by Sydney Smith
- One Giant Leap by Thao Lam
Translation
- So Long Sad Love by Mirion Malle, translated by Aleshia Jensen
- The Hollow Beast by Christophe Bernard, translated by Lazer Lederhendler
- Sadie X by Clara Dupuis-Morency, translated Aimee Wall
- Morel by Maxime Raymond Bock, translated by Melissa Bull
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