Kathleen Winter, Carol Off and Cherie Dimaline among 2017 Governor General's Literary Awards finalists

Kathleen Winter, Carol Off and Cherie Dimaline are among the finalists for the 2017 Governor General's Literary Awards.

The prizes, administered by the Canada Council for the Arts, are given in seven English-language categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, young people's literature — text, young people's literature — illustration, drama and translation. Seven French-language awards are also given out in the same categories.

The winner in each category will receive $25,000. The winners will be announced on Nov. 1, 2017.

Winter is a finalist in the fiction category for Lost in September. The novel follows an ex-soldier from Montreal who bears a striking resemblance to General James Wolfe, "Conqueror of Canada" and "Hero of Quebec," who died on the Plains of Abraham in 1759. 

• Kathleen Winter has a giant pile of books she's been meaning to read

Off is a finalist in the nonfiction category for All We Leave Behind. The memoir, which tells Off's story about helping a family from Afghanistan come to Canada when their safety is threatened by warlords, is also a finalist for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction.

• How Carol Off balanced fact and emotion in writing All We Leave Behind

Dimaline is a finalist in the young people's literature — text category for The Marrow Thieves. The YA novel, which is set in a dystopian future where Indigenous people are hunted for their bone marrow, is also a finalist for the the $50,000 US Kirkus Prize.

• The message YA novelist Cherie Dimaline has for young Indigenous readers

You can see all the finalists in all seven categories below.

The Governor General's Literary Awards were created in 1937. Prominent past prize winners include Thomas King, Madeleine Thien, Michael Ondaatje, Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood.

The Canada Council for the Arts is a partner of the CBC Literary Prizes. 

Fiction | Nonfiction | Poetry | Young people's literature — text | Young people's literature — illustration | Translation | Drama

Fiction:

• All the Beloved Ghosts by Alison MacLeod
• Lost in September by Kathleen Winter
• The Water Beetles by Michael Kaan
• Uncertain Weights and Measures by Jocelyn Parr
• We'll All Be Burnt in Our Beds Some Night by Joel Thomas Hynes

Nonfiction:

• All We Leave Behind by Carol Off
• The Handover by Elaine Dewar
• The Way of the Strangers by Graeme Wood
• Where I Live Now by Sharon Butala
• Where It Hurts by Sarah de Leeuw

Poetry:

• All the Names Between by Julia McCarthy
• On Not Losing My Father's Ashes in the Flood by Richard Harrison
• Selah by Nora Gould
• Slow War by Benjamin Hertwig
• What the Soul Doesn't Want by Lorna Crozier

Young people's literature — text:

• Everything Beautiful is Not Ruined by Danielle Younge-Ullman
• Hit the Ground Running by Alison Hughes
• The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
• The Way Back Home by Allan Stratton
• Those Who Run in the Sky by Aviaq Johnston

Young people's literature — illustrated books:

• Short Stories for Little Monsters by Marie-Louise Gay
• The Tragic Tale of the Great Auk by Jan Thornhill
• Town Is by the Sea by Joanne Schwartz, illustrated by Sydney Smith
• When the Moon Comes by Paul Harbridge, illustrated by Matt James
• When We Were Alone by David Alexander Robertson, illustrated by Julie Flett

Translation:

• Brothers by David Clerson, translated by Katia Grubisic
• In Search of New Babylon by Dominique Scali, translated by Donald Wilson
• The Longest Year by Daniel Grenier, translated by Pablo Strauss
• Readopolis by Bertrand Laverdure, translated by Oana Avasilichioaei
• ​Social Myths and Collective Imaginaries by Gérard Bouchard, translated by Howard Scott

Drama:

• 1979 by Michael Healey
• Indian Arm by Hiro Kanagawa
• The Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Robert Chafe
• The Virgin Trial by Kate Hennig
• Within the Glass by Anna Chatterton