1984 Governor General's Awards

Each winner of the 1984 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:

• Josef Skvorecky, The Engineer of Human Souls

Other Finalists:

• Timothy Findley, Not Wanted on the Voyage
• Susan Kerslake, The Book of Fears
• Audrey Thomas, Intertidal Life

Poetry

Winner:

• Paulette Jiles, Celestial Navigation

Other Finalists:

• Roo Borson, The Whole Night, Coming Home
• Marilyn Bowering, The Sunday before Winter
• David McFadden, The Art of Darkness
• Sharon Thesen, Confabulations
• Peter van Toorn, Mountain Tea

Drama

Winner:

• Judith Thompson, White Biting Dog

Other Finalists:

• James Reaney, The Canadian Brothers or The Prophecy Fulfilled
• George Ryga, A Letter to My Son

Non-fiction

Winner:

• Sandra Gwyn, The Private Capital: Ambition and Love in the Age of Macdonald and Laurier

Other Finalists:

• Bob Beal and Rod Macleod, Prairie Fire: The 1885 North-West Rebellion
• Graham Fraser, P.Q.: René Lévesque and the Parti Québécois in Power

French Language

Fiction

Winner:

• Jacques Brault, Agonie

Other Finalists:

• Madeleine Ouellette-Michalska, La Maison Trestler
• Jacques Poulin, Volkswagen Blues
• Jacques Savoie, Les Portes tournantes
• Marie José Thériault, Les Demoiselles de Numidie

Poetry

Winner:

• Nicole Brossard, Double Impression

Other Finalists:

• Michel Beaulieu, Kaléidoscope
• André Roy, Les sept jours de la jouissance
• Elise Turcotte, Navires de guerre

Drama

Winner:

• René-Daniel Dubois, Ne blâmez jamais les Bédouins

Other Finalists:

• Gilbert Dupuis, Les Transporteurs de monde
• Marcel Sabourin, Pleurer pour rire
• Michel Tremblay, Albertine en cinq temps

Non-fiction

Winner:

• Jean Hamelin and Nicole Gagnon, Le XXe Siècle: Histoire du catholicisme québécois

Other Finalists:

• Luc Bureau, Entre l'Éden et l'Utopie
• Philippe Haeck, La Table d'écriture: poéthique et modernité