Two Guelph authors finalists for prestigious for Governor General Literary Awards

Two Guelph writers have been selected as finalists for one of Canada’s oldest and most prestigious literary award programs that has a total annual prize value of $450,000. 

The Governor General’s Literary Awards (GGBooks) administered for The Canada Council for the Arts, recognizes Canada’s best English and French language books in seven categories which include fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, translation, young people’s literature in text, young people’s literature in illustrated books.

This year’s 2021 cohort of finalists includes 60 per cent first-time GGBooks nominees, with a diverse roster of authors from various backgrounds and disciplines each with poignant stories. Canada Council for the Arts selected 70 books across 14 categories by authors across the country. 

Brittany Luby of Guelph, and Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley of Victoria, BC are first-time finalists in this year’s young people’s literature in the illustrated text category for their book, Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh /This Is How I Know. 

The lyrical story-poem, written in Anishinaabemowin and English, follows a child and grandmother as they explore their surroundings. The author and illustrator set out to create a book inspired by their childhood memories of time spent with Knowledge Keepers, in the northern reaches of Anishinaabe walking, around the Great Lakes.

Luby had written her first children’s book, Encounter last year. The book re-imagines the first meeting between a European sailor and a Stadaconan fisher in what is now known as the Gaspé region.

Helge Dascher of Montreal and Rob Aspinall of Guelph, are first-time finalists in the translation category for Paul at Home, a graphic novel for adults that explores the ways our roles as parents and children change over the course of a lifetime. Dascher and Aspinall have been collaborating on graphic novel translations since 2013.