Two B.C. residents earn 2021 Governor General’s Literary Awards
Canada Council for the Arts names Surrey poet Tolu Oloruntoba and Vancouver illustrator Julie Flett among the winners
THE CANADA COUNCIL for the Arts today announced the 2021 winners of the Governor General Literary Awards (GGBooks).
Of the 14 winners from across the country, two are from B.C.
Surrey poet Tolu Oloruntoba won the English Poetry award for The Junta of Happenstance (Anstruther Books/Palimpsest Press)
Winning the award for Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Books (English) are Winnipeg writer David A. Robertson and Vancouver illustrator Julie Flett for On the Trapline (Tundra Books/Penguin Random House Canada).
Oloruntoba is a first-time GGBooks award-winning author, a Nigerian-born health-professional-turned-poet, whose The Junta of Happenstance is a reflective piece on his time as a physician. The personal poem focuses on the juxtaposition of disease and dis-ease, the immigrant experience, social injustices, and urban and corporate anxiety.
In their picture book On the Trapline, Robertson and Flett, who is of Métis-Cree descent, celebrate Indigenous culture and traditions, inspired by Robertson’s relationship with his father and his journey rediscovering heritage and language lost in the legacy of residential schools. The two are taking home their second GGBooks prize; in 2017, they won for When We Were Alone.
The 14 best books of 2021 published in Canada were selected by peer-assessment groups drawing from a pool of 70 finalists in seven categories in English and in French.
Each winner receives $25,000, with the publisher receiving $3,000 to promote the winning book. Finalists receive $1,000 each.
For the complete list of winners, see GGBooks.
Related Articles
