Governor General's Award for English-language poetry

This is a list of recipients and nominees of the Governor General's Awards award for English-language poetry. The award was created in 1981 when the Governor General's Award for English language poetry or drama was divided.^[1]

Winners and nominees

1980s

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
1981	F. R. Scott	The Collected Poems of F. R. Scott	[2]
	Alfred Bailey	Miramichi Lightning: Collected Poems
	Barry McKinnon	The The
1982	Phyllis Webb	The Vision Tree: Selected Poems	[3]
	Robert Bringhurst	The Beauty of the Weapons: Selected Poems 1972-1982	[4]
	Barry Dempster	Fables for Isolated Men
	Diane Keating	No Birds or Flowers
1983	David Donnell	Settlements	[5]
	Christopher Dewdney	Predators of the Adoration: Selected Poems 1972-82	[6]
	Don McKay	Birding, or Desire
	Anne Szumigalski	Doctrine of Signatures
1984	Paulette Jiles	Celestial Navigation	[7]
	Roo Borson	The Whole Night, Coming Home	[8]
	Marilyn Bowering	The Sunday Before Winter
	David McFadden	The Art of Darkness
	Sharon Thesen	Confabulations
	Peter van Toorn	Mountain Tea
1985	Fred Wah	Waiting for Saskatchewan	[9]
	Lorna Crozier	The Garden Going on Without Us	[10]
	Richard Lush	A Manual for Lying Down
	Anne Szumigalski	Instar
1986	Al Purdy	The Collected Poems of Al Purdy	[11]
	Christopher Dewdney	The Immaculate Perception	[12]
	John Newlove	The Night the Dog Smiled
1987	Gwendolyn MacEwen	Afterworlds	[13]
	Di Brandt	Questions I Asked My Mother	[14]
	Roy Kiyooka	Pear Tree Pomes
	Sharon Thesen	The Beginning of the Long Dash
1988	Erín Moure	Furious	[15]
	Lorna Crozier	Angels of Flesh, Angels of Silence	[16]
	Christopher Dewdney	Radiant Inventory
	David McFadden	Gypsy Guitar
	Peter Dale Scott	Coming to Jakarta
1989	Heather Spears	The Word for Sand	[17]
	Tim Lilburn	Tourist to Ecstasy	[18]
	Stephen Scobie	Dunino

1990s

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
1990	Margaret Avison	No Time	[19]
	Dionne Brand	No Language Is Neutral	[20]
	Patrick Lane	Winter
1991	Don McKay	Night Field	[21]
	Don Domanski	Wolf-Ladder	[22]
	Judith Fitzgerald	Rapturous Chronicles
	Patrick Lane	Mortal Remains
	Anne Michaels	Miner's Pond
1992	Lorna Crozier	Inventing the Hawk	[23]
	Evelyn Lau	Oedipal Dreams	[24]
	Laura Lush	Hometown
	Steve McCaffery	Theory of Sediment
	Kathleen McCracken	Blue Light, Bay and College
1993	Don Coles	Forests of the Medieval World	[25]
	Claire Harris	Drawing Down a Daughter	[26]
	Monty Reid	Crawlspace: New and Selected Poems
	Douglas Burnet Smith	Voices from a Farther Room
	Patricia Young	More Watery Still
1994	Robert Hilles	Cantos from a Small Room	[27]
	Robin Blaser	The Holy Forest	[28]
	Polly Fleck	The Chinese Execution
	Monty Reid	Dog Sleeps
1995	Anne Szumigalski	Voice	[29]
	Roo Borson	Night Walk	[30]
	Di Brandt	Jerusalem, Beloved
	Don Domanski	Stations of the Left Hand
	Steven Heighton	The Ecstasy of Skeptics
1996	E. D. Blodgett	Apostrophes: Woman at a Piano	[31]
	Elizabeth Brewster	Footnotes to the Book of Job	[32]
	Crispin Elsted	Climate and the Affections
	Charles Lillard	Shadow Weather
	Erín Moure	Search Procedures
1997	Dionne Brand	Land to Light On	[33]
	Marilyn Bowering	Autobiography	[34]
	Patrick Friesen	A Broken Bowl
	Carole Glasser Langille	In Cannon Cave
	Don McKay	Apparatus
1998	Stephanie Bolster	White Stone: The Alice Poems	[35]
	Louise Bernice Halfe	Blue Marrow	[36]
	Michael Ondaatje	Handwriting
	Lisa Robertson	Debbie: An Epic
	Kathy Shaidle	Lobotomy Magnificat
1999	Jan Zwicky	Songs for Relinquishing the Earth	[37]
	Lynn Davies	The Bridge that Carries the Road	[38]
	Susan Goyette	The True Names of Birds
	Richard Harrison	Big Breath of a Wish
	Terence Young	The Island in Winter

2000s

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
2000	Don McKay	Another Gravity	[39]
	George Bowering	His Life	[40]
	A. F. Moritz	Rest on the Flight into Egypt
	John Pass	Water Stair
	Patricia Young	Ruin and Beauty
2001	George Elliott Clarke	Execution Poems	[41]
	Anne Carson	Men in the Off Hours	[42]
	Phil Hall	Trouble Sleeping
	Robert Kroetsch	The Hornbooks of Rita K.
	Steve McCaffery	Seven Pages Missing
2002	Roy Miki	Surrender	[43]
	Tammy Armstrong	Bogman's Music	[44]
	Colin Browne	Ground Water
	Kathy Mac	Nail Builders Plan for Strength and Growth
	Erín Moure	O Cidadán
2003	Tim Lilburn	Kill-site	[45]
	Tim Bowling	The Witness Ghost	[46]
	Evan Jones	Nothing Fell Today But Rain
	Anne Simpson	Loop
	Tom Wayman	My Father's Cup
2004	Roo Borson	Short Journey Upriver Toward Oishida	[47]
	Tim Bowling	The Memory Orchard	[48]
	David Manicom	The Burning Eaves
	John Terpstra	Disarmament
	Jan Zwicky	Robinson's Crossing
2005	Anne Compton	processional	[49]
	Barry Dempster	The Burning Alphabet	[50]
	Erín Moure	Little Theatres
	W. H. New	Underwood Log
	Olive Senior	Over the Roofs of the World
2006	John Pass	Stumbling in the Bloom	[51]
	Ken Babstock	Airstream Land Yacht	[52]
	Elizabeth Bachinsky	Home of Sudden Service
	Dionne Brand	Inventory
	Sharon Thesen	The Good Bacteria
2007	Don Domanski	All Our Wonder Unavenged	[53]
	Margaret Atwood	The Door	[54]
	Brian Henderson	Nerve Language
	Dennis Lee	Yesno
	Rob Winger	Muybridge's Horse
2008	Jacob Scheier	More to Keep Us Warm	[55]
	Weyman Chan	Noise from the Laundry	[56]
	A. F. Moritz	The Sentinel
	Sachiko Murakami	The Invisibility Exhibit
	Ruth Roach Pierson	Aide-Mémoire
2009	David Zieroth	The Fly in Autumn	[57]
	David McFadden	Be Calm, Honey	[58]
	Philip Kevin Paul	Little Hunger
	Sina Queyras	Expressway
	Carmine Starnino	This Way Out

2010s

Year	Author	Title	Ref.
2010	Richard Greene	Boxing the Compass	[59]
	Michael Harris	Circus	[60]
	Daryl Hine	&: A Serial Poem
	Sandy Pool	Exploding into Night
	Melanie Siebert	Deepwater Vee
2011	Phil Hall	Killdeer	[61]
	Michael Boughn	Cosmographia: A Post-Lucretian Faux Micro-Epic	[62]
	Kate Eichhorn	Fieldnotes, A Forensic
	Garry Thomas Morse	Discovery Passages
	Susan Musgrave	Origami Dove
2012	Julie Bruck	Monkey Ranch	[63]
	David McGimpsey	Li'l Bastard	[64]
	A. F. Moritz	The New Measures
	Lisa Pasold	Any Bright Horse
	James Pollock	Sailing to Babylon
2013	Katherena Vermette	North End Love Songs	[65]
	Austin Clarke	Where the Sun Shines Best	[66]
	Adam Dickinson	The Polymers
	Don Domanski	Bite Down Little Whisper
	Russell Thornton	Birds, Metal, Stones & Rain
2014	Arleen Paré	Lake of Two Mountains	[67]
	Julie Joosten	Light Light	[68]
	Christopher Levenson	Night Vision
	Garth Martens	Prologue for the Age of Consequence
	Sadiqa de Meijer	Leaving Howe Island
2015	Robyn Sarah	My Shoes Are Killing Me	[69]
	Kayla Czaga	For Your Safety Please Hold On	[70]
	Liz Howard	Infinite Citizen of the Shaking Tent
	M. Travis Lane	Crossover
	Patrick Lane	Washita
2016	Steven Heighton	The Waking Comes Late	[71]
	Joe Denham	Regeneration Machine	[72]
	Susan Holbrook	Throaty Wipes
	Garry Thomas Morse	Prairie Harbour
	Rachel Rose	Marry & Burn
2017	Richard Harrison	On Not Losing My Father's Ashes in the Flood	[73]
	Lorna Crozier	What the Soul Doesn't Want	[74]
	Nora Gould	Selah
	Benjamin Hertwig	Slow War
	Julia McCarthy	All the Names Between
2018	Cecily Nicholson	Wayside Sang	[75]
	Billy-Ray Belcourt	This Wound Is a World	[76]
	Dionne Brand	The Blue Clerk
	Joshua Mensch	Because: A Lyric Memoir
	Jason Stefanik	Night Became Years
2019	Gwen Benaway	Holy Wild	[77]
	Julie Bruck	How to Avoid Huge Ships	[78]
	Karen Houle	The Grand River Watershed: A Folk Ecology
	Catherine Hunter	St. Boniface Elegies
	Armand Garnet Ruffo	Treaty #

2020s

Year	Author	Title	Ref
2020	Anne Carson	Norma Jeane Baker of Troy	[79]
	Oana Avasilichioaei	Eight Track	[80]
	Donna Kane	Orrery
	Canisia Lubrin	The Dyzgraphxst
	Sachiko Murakami	Render
2021	Tolu Oloruntoba	The Junta of Happenstance	[81]
	Roxanna Bennett	The Untranslatable I	[82]
	Stephen Collis	A History of the Theories of Rain
	Hoa Nguyen	A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure
	Rebecca Salazar	Sulphurtongue
2022	Annick MacAskill	Shadow Blight	[83]
	D. M. Bradford	Dream of No One But Myself	[84]
	Anne Carson	H of H Playbook
	Aaron Kreuter	Shifting Baseline Syndrome
	Avery Lake	Horrible Dance
2023	Hannah Green	Xanax Cowboy	[85]
	Robert Bringhurst	The Ridge	[86]
	Conor Kerr	Old Gods
	Amy Ching-Yan Lam	Baby Book
	Susan Musgrave	Exculpatory Lilies
2024	Chimwemwe Undi	Scientific Marvel	[87]
	Brandi Bird	The All + Flesh	[88]
	Bradley Peters	Sonnets from a Cell
	Bren Simmers	The Work
	Barbara Tran	Precedented Parenting

References

1. Governor General's Literary Awards at The Canadian Encyclopedia.
2. William French, "Gallant's collection of short stories takes fiction prize". The Globe and Mail, May 18, 1982.
3. "Webb and Gray among winners". The Globe and Mail, June 9, 1983.
4. "B.C. authors considered for awards". The Province, May 26, 1983.
5. "CanLit fiction's leading award goes to the Dog". The Globe and Mail, June 21, 1984.
6. "Governor General's finalists announced". Montreal Gazette, May 25, 1984.
7. Rod Currie, "Former Kingstonian Judith Thompson wins Governor General's Award". Kingston Whig-Standard, June 7, 1985.
8. James Adams, "Local writers nominated for award". Edmonton Journal, May 16, 1985.
9. "Margaret Atwood lifts second Governor General's award". Edmonton Journal, June 4, 1986.
10. "Literary prize nominees named". Red Deer Advocate, May 13, 1986.
11. Lisa Rochon, "Yvon Rivard honored for French-language fiction: Munro wins top literary prize". The Globe and Mail, May 28, 1987.
12. "Awards finalists announced". The Globe and Mail, May 1, 1987.
13. "Literary awards held at Calgary festival". Regina Leader-Post, February 13, 1988.
14. "Victoria's Gurr, Page nominated for book awards". Vancouver Sun, January 13, 1988.
15. "New Brunswick writer wins national race for top literary prize". The Globe and Mail, March 4, 1989.
16. "Atwood, Berton top lists as nominees announced for national literary awards". Montreal Gazette, February 1, 1989.
17. "Governor General's awards announced". North Bay Nugget, March 10, 1990.
18. "Three B.C. writers in running for awards". Vancouver Sun, February 7, 1990.
19. Philip Marchand, "Toronto's Nino Ricci wins top book prize". Toronto Star, January 23, 1991.
20. "Prominent names among nominees". Windsor Star, November 17, 1990.
21. "First novel earns top literary honor". Windsor Star, December 4, 1991.
22. "Atwood leads G-G Award nominees". Hamilton Spectator, November 9, 1991.
23. Mark Abley, "Ondaatje wins Governor-General's Award, denounces GST in speech". Montreal Gazette, December 2, 1992.
24. Jamie Portman, "Three from Ottawa area among finalists". Ottawa Citizen, November 6, 1992.
25. "This time, Stone Diaries on top: Governor General's award atones for loss in Booker". Windsor Star, November 17, 1993.
26. "Shields in running for Governor General Award; Nomination comes just after Booker Prize loss". Halifax Daily News, October 29, 1993.
27. Philip Marchand, "History novel wins top prize Rudy Wiebe's A Discovery Of Strangers picked over Atwood and Munro". Toronto Star, November 16, 1994.
28. Conway Daly, "Munro, Atwood lead familiar names in race for Governor General's award". Kingston Whig-Standard, October 28, 1994.
29. "Writer's Roaring success: Greg Hollingshead wins Governor-General's Award for fiction". Vancouver Sun, November 15, 1995.
30. "68 finalists for literary awards". Vancouver Sun, October 27, 1995.
31. Philip Marchand, "Vanderhaeghe wins second fiction prize". Toronto Star, November 13, 1996.
32. Judy Stoffman, "It's Atwood ahead again in book race". Toronto Star, October 18, 1996.
33. Robert Reid, "Jane Urquhart wins Governor General's Award for fiction". Waterloo Region Record, November 19, 1997.
34. Paul Gessell, "Urquhart, Hay nominated for Governor General's prize". St. Catharines Standard, October 23, 1997.
35. Anne-Marie Tobin, "Kingston author savours literary award". Kingston Whig-Standard, November 18, 1998.
36. "Montrealers deluge list of nominees". Montreal Gazette, October 21, 1998.
37. "Matt Cohen, Marq de Villiers win GG literary awards". The Western Star, November 17, 1999.
38. "Governor General's Award nominees: Clarkson hands them out Nov. 16". Moose Jaw Times-Herald, October 24, 1999.
39. "Governor General's Awards handed out". Barrie Examiner, November 15, 2000.
40. Anne-Marie Tobin, "Atwood, Ondaatje, among nominees for Governor General's awards". Prince Albert Daily Herald, October 26, 2000.
41. "Governor General's award follows on top of the Giller: Novelist Richard Wright has good week". Prince George Citizen, November 15, 2001.
42. "Urquhart, Wright get GG award nominations". The Telegram, October 24, 2001.
43. Diane Menzies, "Gloria Sawai, 70, wins Gov. Gen.'s literary award". Welland Tribune, November 13, 2002.
44. "Shields, Johnston lead fiction list for GG awards". Timmins Daily Press, October 22, 2002.
45. "Douglas Glover wins Gov. Gen.'s Literary Award for English fiction: Canadian living in New York State won prize for Elle, a fictionalized account of Gulf of St. Lawrence castaway". Cape Breton Post, November 13, 2003.
46. Anne-Marie Tobin, "Stellar year for Atwood: Writer makes short list for Gov-Gen's fiction award". Brantford Expositor, October 25, 2003.
47. "Dallaire, Toews among award winners". Sudbury Star, November 17, 2004.
48. "Governor General award nominee 'hugely relieved' with book reviews". Guelph Mercury, November 13, 2004.
49. "Gilmour wins fiction prize". Prince George Citizen, November 15, 2005.
50. Vanessa Farquharson, "The 2005 G-G nominees: all killer, no Giller: Literary awards". National Post, October 18, 2005.
51. "First-time author beats out experienced peers". Nanaimo Daily News, November 22, 2006.
52. "Cole, Gaston among nominees for Governor General's awards". Whitehorse Star, October 16, 2006.
53. "Michael Ondaatje wins again". North Bay Nugget, November 28, 2007.
54. Cassandra Szklarski, "Ondaatje and Vassanji among literary stars on Governor General's short list; Books Notable literary heavyweights include Margaret Atwood, David Chariandy, Barbara Gowdy and Heather O'Neill". The Daily Gleaner, October 17, 2007.
55. Paul Gessell, "Ricci repeats as GG Literary Award winner". Ottawa Citizen, November 19, 2008.
56. "Hage, Ricci finalists for literary prize". Waterloo Region Record, October 22, 2008.
57. Pat Donnelly and Kathryn Greenaway, "A fiction win via a Yukon copper mine; Kate Pullinger wins Governor General's Award". National Post, November 18, 2009.
58. Adrian Chamberlain, "Bookstore clerk's first offering vies with Alice Munro for top prize". Victoria Times-Colonist, October 15, 2009.
59. Mark Medley, "Cool Water wins GG award for fiction; Dianne Warren beat out Room, among others". National Post, November 17, 2010.
60. "GG lit-award finalists include Emma Donoghue, Kathleen Winter". Alaska Highway News, October 14, 2010.
61. "Literary gold rush: Patrick deWitt's 'Sisters Brothers' wins Gov-Gen prize". Whitehorse Star, November 15, 2011.
62. Mark Medley, "Literary hat tricks; G-G Awards; Two authors make three fiction prize lists". National Post, October 12, 2011.
63. Greg Quill, "Spalding's slave tale gets GG fiction nod: Toronto writer also nominated for Writers' Trust Prize". Toronto Star, November 14, 2012.
64. Paul Irish, "Vincent Lam on Governor General's short list". Toronto Star, October 3, 2012.
65. "Eleanor Catton wins Governor General's Literary Award for The Luminaries". Toronto Star. November 13, 2011.
66. Ahearn, Victoria (October 2, 2013). "Governor General Literary Award finalists announced (updated)". Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on October 11, 2013. Retrieved October 12, 2022.
67. "Thomas King wins Governor General's award for fiction". The Globe and Mail, November 18, 2014.
68. "Thomas, Chafe on shortlists for Governor General's awards". Winnipeg Free Press, October 7, 2014.
69. Cam Fuller, "Modest Vanderhaeghe joins exclusive company with third GG win". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, October 29, 2015.
70. "Guelph author shortlisted for Governor General's Literary Award". Guelph Tribune, October 8, 2015.
71. "Madeline Thien wins Governor-General's award for English fiction". The Globe and Mail, October 25, 2016.
72. Ian McGillis, "Thien makes short list for third time; Adds GG nod to Booker, Giller nominations". Sarnia Observer, October 5, 2016.
73. "Governor General Literary Awards announced: Joel Thomas Hynes wins top English fiction prize". CBC News, November 1, 2017.
74. "Winter, Hynes up for Governor General's Award". Halifax Chronicle-Herald, October 7, 2017.
75. "Here are the winners of the 2018 Governor General's Literary Awards". CBC Books, November 9, 2018.
76. "Hage, Toews among finalists for Governor General's Literary Awards". Peterborough Examiner, October 4, 2018.
77. Jane van Koeverden, "Here are the winners of the 2019 Governor General's Literary Awards". CBC Books, October 29, 2019.
78. "Literary finalists named; 70 books vie for $450,000 in prizes at 2019 Governor General's awards". Windsor Star, October 7, 2019.
79. "Michelle Good says celebrating fiction win feels 'petty and selfish' after residential school discovery". CTV News, June 1, 2021.
80. "Francesca Ekwuyasi, Billy-Ray Belcourt & Anne Carson among 2020 Governor General's Literary Awards finalists". CBC Books, May 4, 2021.
81. "Inuk author Norma Dunning wins $25K Governor General's fiction prize" Archived 2021-11-17 at the Wayback Machine. Coast Reporter, November 17, 2021.
82. "Rachel Cusk among fiction finalists for Governor General's Literary Awards". Toronto Star, October 14, 2021.
83. Deborah Dundas, "Sheila Heti, Eli Baxter win 2022 Governor General's Literary Awards for fiction and non-fiction". Toronto Star, November 16, 2022.
84. "The finalists for the 2022 Governor General's Literary Award for poetry". CBC Books, October 12, 2022.
85. "Anuja Varghese wins Governor General's literary award for fiction". Toronto Star, November 8, 2023.
86. "Suzette Mayr, Iain Reid among finalists for Governor General's Literary Awards". Burnaby Now, October 25, 2023.
87. Cassandra Drudi, "Jordan Abel, Niigaan Sinclair among 2024 Governor General’s award winners". Quill & Quire, November 13, 2024.
88. Cassandra Drudi, "Canisia Lubrin, Danny Ramadan among 2024 Governor General’s Literary Award finalists". Quill & Quire, October 8, 2024.