1983 Governor General's Awards

Each winner of the 1983 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:

• Leon Rooke, Shakespeare's Dog

Other Finalists:

• Philip Kreiner, People Like Us In a Place Like This
• H.R. Percy, Painted Ladies
• Susan Swan, The Biggest Modern Woman of the World

Poetry

Winner:

• David Donnell, Settlements

Other Finalists:

• Christopher Dewdney, Predators of the Adoration: Selected Poems 1972-82
• Don McKay, Birding, or Desire
• Anne Szumigalski, Doctrine of Signatures

Drama

Winner:

• Anne Chislett, Quiet in the Land

Other Finalists:

• None

Non-fiction

Winner:

• Jeffery Williams, Byng of Vimy

Other Finalists:

• Ken Dryden, The Game
• H.S. Ferns, Reading from Left to Right: One Man's Political History

French Language

Fiction

Winner:

• Suzanne Jacob, Laura Laur

Other Finalists:

• Victor-Lévy Beaulieu, Discours de Samm
• France Ducasse, Du lieu des voyages
• Carole Massé, L'Existence
• Francine Noël, Maryse
• Suzanne Robert, Vulpera

Poetry

Winner:

• Suzanne Paradis, Un goût de sel

Other Finalists:

• Claude Beausoleil, Une certaine fin de siècle: Poésie 1973-1983
• Hugues Corriveau, Revoir le rouge
• Denis Vanier, Rejet de prince

Drama

Winner:

• René Gingras, Syncope

Other Finalists:

• Michelle Allen, La passion de Juliette
• René-Daniel Dubois, 26 bis, impasse du Colonel Foisy

Non-fiction

Winner:

• Maurice Cusson, Le contrôle social du crime

Other Finalists:

• Clermont Dugas, Les régions périphériques: défi au développement du Québec
• Jacques Michon, Émile Nelligan: les racines du rêve
• François Rousseau, L'oeuvre de chère en Nouvelle-France. Le régime des malades à l'Hôtel-Dieu de Québec