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

Category	Winner	Finalists
Fiction	Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale	Sharon Butala, Queen of the Headaches Keath Fraser, Foreign Affairs David Adams Richards, Road to the Stilt House
Non-fiction	Ramsay Cook, The Regenerators: Social Criticism in Late Victorian English Canada	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
Poetry	Fred Wah, Waiting for Saskatchewan	Lorna Crozier, The Garden Going on Without Us Richard Lush, A Manual for Lying Down Anne Szumigalski, Instar
Drama	George F. Walker, Criminals in Love	David French, Salt-Water Moon Margaret Hollingsworth, War Babies (in Willful Acts: Five Plays) Ken Mitchell, Gone the Burning Sun

French

Category	Winner	Finalists
Fiction	Fernand Ouellette, Lucie ou un midi en novembre	Louise Bouchard, Les Images Jean-Paul Fugère, Popa moman et le saint homme Suzanne Paradis, La Ligne bleue
Non-fiction	François Ricard, La littérature contre elle-même	Lysiane Gagnon, Chroniques politiques Hélène Pelletier-Baillargeon, Marie Gérin-Lajoie
Poetry	André Roy, Action writing	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	Maryse Pelletier, Duo pour voix obstinées	Michel Marc Bouchard, La poupée de Pélopia Francine Noël, Chandeleur