1986 Governor General's Awards


Each winner of the 1986 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit was selected by a panel of judges administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.
The four Canada Council Children's Literature Prizes, two each for children's book writers and illustrators, were outside the Governor General's Awards program for the last time. For Children's Literature Prize winners 1975 to 1986, see "Children's literature" and "Children's illustration" in the footer navigation box.
Two awards for literary translation were also included, bringing the number of Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit from 8 in 1986 to 14 in 1987.

English

CategoryWinnerNominated
Fiction Alice Munro, The Progress of Love
  • Lois Braun, A Stone Watermelon
  • John Metcalf, Adult Entertainment
  • Aritha van Herk, No Fixed Address
Non-fiction Northrop Frye, Northrop Frye on Shakespeare
  • Claude Bissell, The Imperial Canadian
  • Phyllis Grosskurth, Melanie Klein
  • Witold Rybczynski, Home
    • Poetry Al Purdy, The Collected Poems of Al Purdy
  • Christopher Dewdney, The Immaculate Perception
  • John Newlove, The Night the Dog Smiled
    • Drama Sharon Pollock, Doc
  • Frank Moher, Odd Jobs
  • Allan Stratton, Papers

    • French