# 1987 Governor General's Awards

Each winner of the 1987 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit received $5000 and a medal from the Governor General of Canada. The winners and nominees were selected by a panel of judges administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.
The Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit nominally increased in number from 8 in 1986 to 14 in 1987, with the addition of four awards for children's book writing and illustration and two awards for translation. The four Children's Literature awards, however, were simply the four annual Canada Council Children's Literature Prizes (1975 to 1986) under a new name.

## English

| Category | Winner | Nominated |
| Fiction | M. T. Kelly, A Dream Like Mine | David Gurr, The Ring Master Rohinton Mistry, Tales from Firozsha Baag Michael Ondaatje, In the Skin of a Lion Carol Shields, Swann: A Mystery |
| Non-fiction | Michael Ignatieff, The Russian Album | Janice Kulyk Keefer, Under Eastern Eyes P. K. Page, Brazilian Journal |
| Poetry | Gwendolyn MacEwen, Afterworlds | Di Brandt, Questions I Asked My Mother Roy Kiyooka, Pear Tree Pomes Sharon Thesen, The Beginning of the Long Dash |
| Drama | John Krizanc, Prague | Wendy Lill, The Occupation of Heather Rose Michael D.C. McKinlay, Walt and Roy Sharon Pollock, Whiskey Six Cadenza |
| Children's literature | Morgan Nyberg, Galahad Schwartz and the Cockroach Army | Welwyn Wilton Katz, False Face Donn Kushner, A Book Dragon Russell McRae, Going to the Dogs |
| Children's illustration | Marie-Louise Gay, Rainy Day Magic | John Bianchi, Exploring the Night Sky László Gál, The Enchanted Tapestry Shawn Steffler, Flights of Magic |
| French to English translation | Patricia Claxton, Enchantment and Sorrow: The Autobiography of Gabrielle Roy | Sheila Fischman, Heartbreaks Along the Road Anthony Martin-Sperry, Languages and Their Territories Patricia Sillers, The Dragon and Other Laurentian Tales |

## French

| Category | Winner | Nominated |
| Fiction | Gilles Archambault, L'obsédante obèse et autres agressions | André Major, L'Hiver au coeur Jacques Marchand, Premier mouvement Francine Noël, Myriam première |
| Non-fiction | Jean Larose, La petite noirceur | Lise Bissonnette, La passion du présent Marcel Trudel, Mémoire d'un autre siècle |
| Poetry | Fernand Ouellette, Les Heures | Hugues Corriveau, Mobiles Normand de Bellefeuille, Heureusement, ici il y à la guerre Gérald Godin, Ils ne demandaient qu'à brûler |
| Drama | Jeanne-Mance Delisle, Un oiseau vivant dans la gueule | Suzanne Aubry, La Nuit des p'tits couteaux Marie Laberge, Oublier Michel Tremblay, Le vrai monde? |
| Children's literature | David Schinkel and Yves Beauchesne, Le Don | Ginette Anfousse, Les catastrophes de Rosalie Denis Côté, Nocturnes pour Jessie Vincent Lauzon, Le pays à l'envers |
| Children's illustration | Darcia Labrosse, Venir au monde | Hélène Desputeaux, Bonne fête Madeleine Stéphane Poulin, Les animaux en hiver Gilles Tibo, Annabel Lee |
| English to French translation | Ivan Steenhout and Christiane Teasdale, L'Homme qui se croyait aimé | Jean-Pierre Fournier, Jacob Deux-Deux et le dinosaure Ivan Steenhout, La couleur du sang Claudine Vivier, La Dialectique de la reproduction |