1985 Governor General's Awards

Each winner of the 1985 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:

• Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale

Other Finalists:

• Sharon Butala, Queen of the Headaches
• Keath Fraser, Foreign Affairs
• David Adams Richards, Road to the Stilt House

Poetry

Winner:

• Fred Wah, Waiting for Saskatchewan

Other Finalists:

• Lorna Crozier, The Garden Going on Without Us
• Richard Lush, A Manual for Lying Down
• Anne Szumigalski, Instar

Drama

Winner:

• George F. Walker, Criminals in Love

Other Finalists:

• David French, Salt-water Moon
• Margaret Hollingsworth, War Babies (in Willful Acts: Five Plays)
• Ken Mitchell, Gone the Burning Sun

Non-fiction

Winner:

• Ramsay Cook, The Regenerators: Social Criticism in Late Victorian English Canada

Other Finalists:

• Michael D. Behiels, Prelude to Quebec's Quiet Revolution: Liberalism versus Neo-nationalism
• John Herd Thompson, Canada 1922-1939: Decades of Discord
• P.B. Waite, The Man from Halifax: Sir John Thompson, Prime Minister

French Language

Fiction

Winner:

• Fernand Ouellette, Lucie ou un midi en novembre

Other Finalists:

• Louise Bouchard, Les Images
• Jean-Paul Fugère, Popa moman et le saint homme
• Suzanne Paradis, La Ligne bleue

Poetry

Winner:

• André Roy, Action writing

Other Finalists:

• Anne-Marie Alonzo, Bleus de mine
• François Charron, La vie n'a pas de sens
• Patrice Desbiens, Dans l'après-midi cardiaque
• Paul Chanel Malenfant, Les noms du père, suivi de Lieux dits: Italique

Drama

Winner:

• Maryse Pelletier, Duo pour voix obstinées

Other Finalists:

• Michel Marc Bouchard, La poupée de Pélopia
• Francine Noël, Chandeleur

Non-fiction

Winner:

• François Ricard, La littérature contre elle-même

Other Finalists:

• Lysiane Gagnon, Chroniques politiques
• Hélène Pelletier-Baillargeon, Marie Gérin-Lajoie