# 2020 Governor General's Awards

The shortlisted nominees for the 2020 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were announced on May 4, 2021, and the winners were announced on June 1. Ordinarily the award shortlists and winners would have been named in fall 2020, but were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.

## English

| Category | Winner | Nominated |
| Fiction | Michelle Good, Five Little Indians | Francesca Ekwuyasi, Butter Honey Pig Bread Thomas King, Indians on Vacation Lisa Robertson, The Baudelaire Fractal Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies |
| Non-fiction | Madhur Anand, This Red Line Goes Straight to Your Heart | Billy-Ray Belcourt, A History of My Brief Body Ivan Coyote, Rebent Sinner Amanda Leduc, Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability and Making Space Tessa McWatt, Shame on Me |
| Poetry | Anne Carson, Norma Jeane Baker of Troy | Oana Avasilichioaei, Eight Track Donna Kane, Orrery Canisia Lubrin, The Dyzgraphxst Sachiko Murakami, Render |
| Drama | Kim Senklip Harvey, Kamloopa: An Indigenous Matriarch Story | Yolanda Bonnell, bug Christopher Cook, Quick Bright Things Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman, Guarded Girls Donna-Michelle St. Bernard, Sound of the Beast |
| Children's literature | Eric Walters, The King of Jam Sandwiches | Sara Cassidy, Nevers Polly Horvath, Pine Island Home Colleen Nelson and Tara Anderson, Harvey Holds His Own David A. Robertson, The Barren Grounds |
| Children's illustration | The Fan Brothers, The Barnabus Project | Naseem Hrab and Frank Viva, Weekend Dad Jordan Scott and Sydney Smith, I Talk Like a River Jillian Tamaki, Our Little Kitchen Rebecca Thomas and Maya McKibbin, Swift Fox All Along |
| French to English translation | Lazer Lederhendler, If You Hear Me (Pascale Quiviger, Si tu m'entends) | Oana Avasilichioaei, The Neptune Room (Bertrand Laverdure, La chambre neptune) Alexis Diamond, Amaryllis & Little Witch (Pascal Brullemans, Vipérine and Petit sorcière) Pablo Strauss, The Country Will Bring Us No Peace (Matthieu Simard, Ici, ailleurs) J. C. Sutcliffe, Back Roads (Andrée A. Michaud, Routes secondaires) |

## French

| Category | Winner | Nominated |
| Fiction | Sophie Létourneau, Chasse à l'homme | Jennifer Bélanger, Menthol Naomi Fontaine, Shuni Marie-Ève Lacasse, Autobiographie de l'étranger Marie-Pier Lafontaine, Chienne |
| Non-fiction | Frédérique Bernier, Hantises | Thomas Dommange, Le rapt ontologique Michaël La Chance, Une épine empourprée Guylaine Massoutre, Nous sommes le soleil Stanley Péan, De préférence la nuit |
| Poetry | Martine Audet, La Société des cendres | Paul Bélanger, Déblais Hugues Corriveau, Et là, mon père suivi de Et là, ma mère Symon Henry, L'Amour des oiseaux moches Louis-Karl Picard-Sioui, Les visages de la terre |
| Drama | Martin Bellemare, Cœur minéral | Le Collectif Aalaapi (Louisa Naluiyuk, Akinisie Novalinga, Mélodie Duplessis, Audrey Alasuak and Samantha Leclerc), Aalaapi, faire silence pour entendre quelque chose de beau Suzie Bastien, Sucré seize (Huit filles) Olivier Choinière, Zoé Claude Guilmain, AmericanDream.ca |
| Children's literature | François Blais, Lac Adélard | Camille Bouchard, Cicatrices Magali Laurent, L'Ogre et l'enfant Johanne Mercier, Il faut du tout pour faire un monstre Maryse Pagé, Rap pour violoncelle seul |
| Children's illustration | Katia Canciani and Guillaume Perreault, Pet et Répète: La véritable histoire | Cathon, Mimose & Sam : Mission hibernation Valérie Fontaine and Nathalie Dion, Le grand méchant loup dans ma maison Mireille Levert, Le pays aux mille soleils Kim Nunès, Marie-Chantal Perron, Tammy Verge and Amélie Dubois, copine et Copine |
| English to French translation | Georgette LeBlanc, Océan (Susan Goyette, Ocean) | Arianne Des Rochers, Jonny Appleseed (Joshua Whitehead, Jonny Appleseed) Daniel Grenier, On pleure pas au bingo (Dawn Dumont, Nobody Cries at Bingo) Sonya Malaborza, L'Accoucheuse de Scots Bay (Ami McKay, The Birth House) Sophie Voillot, La Société du feu de l’enfer (Rawi Hage, Beirut Hellfire Society) |