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Governor General's Award for French-language children's literature facts for kids

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The Governor General's Award for French-language children's writing is a special Canadian award. It celebrates one Canadian writer each year for an amazing children's book written in French. This award is one of four children's book awards given out as part of the Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit. These awards recognize both writers and illustrators for books in English and French. The Canada Council helps manage the entire Governor General's Awards program.

This award has been called the "Governor General's Award" since 1987. However, the children's literature awards actually started earlier, in 1975, under the name "Canada Council Children's Literature Prizes." So, whether it was called the "Canada Council" award or the "Governor General's" award, a prize for French-language children's writing has been given out every year since 1975.

Early Awards: Canada Council Children's Literature Prize

In 1975, the Canada Council created four yearly prizes of $5000. These were for the best English and French children's books by Canadian writers and illustrators. These "Canada Council Children's Literature Prizes" continued until 1987. After that, they became part of the "Governor General's Awards," which still happen today. The French-language writing prize has been awarded every year since 1975.

Here are some of the early winners:

  • 1975: Louise Aylwin, Raminagradu: Histoires ordinaires pour enfants extraordinaire
  • 1976: Bernadette Renaud, Emilie, la baignoire à pattes
  • 1977: Denise Houle, Lune de neige
  • 1978: Ginette Anfousse, La chicane
  • 1979: Gabrielle Roy, Courte-Queue
  • 1980: Bertrand Gauthier [fr], Hébert Luée
  • 1981: Suzanne Martel, Nos amis robots
  • 1982: Ginette Anfousse, Fabien 1: Un loup pour Rose and Fabien 2: Une nuit au pays des malices
  • 1983: Denis Côté [fr], Hockeyeurs Cybernétiques
  • 1984: Daniel Sernine, Le cercle violet
  • 1985: Robert Soulières [fr], Casse-tête chinois
  • 1986: Raymond Plante [fr], Le derneir des raisins

Winners from the 1980s

Year Author Title
1987 David Schinkel [fr] and Yves Beauchesne [fr] Le Don
1988 Michèle Marineau Cassiopée ou l'Été polonais
1989 Charles Montpetit [fr] Temps mort

Winners from the 1990s

Year Author Title
1990 Christiane Duchesne La Vraie histoire du chien de Clara Vic
1991 François Gravel Deux heures et demie avant Jasmine
1992 Christiane Duchesne Victor
1993 Michèle Marineau La Route de Chlifa
1994 Suzanne Martel Une belle journée pour mourir
1995 Sonia Sarfati Comme une peau de chagrin
1996 Gilles Tibo Noémie: Le Secret de Madame Lumbago
1997 Michel Noël Pien
1998 Angèle Delaunois Variations sur un même «t'aime»
1999 Charlotte Gingras La Liberté? Connais pas...

Winners from the 2000s

Year Author Title
2000 Charlotte Gingras Un été de Jade
2001 Christiane Duchesne Jomusch et le troll des cuisines
2002 Hélène Vachon L'oiseau de passage
2003 Danielle Simard J’ai vendu ma sœur
2004 Nicole Leroux L'Hiver de Léo Polatouche
2005 Camille Bouchard [fr] Le Ricanement des hyènes
2006 Dany Laferrière Je suis fou de Vava
2007 François Barcelo [fr] La fatigante et le fainéant
2008 Sylvie Desrosiers Les trois lieues
2009 Hervé Bouchard Harvey

Winners from the 2010s

Year Author Title
2010 Élise Turcotte Rose : derrière le rideau de la folie
2011 Martin Fournier Les aventures de Radisson - 1. L’enfer ne brûle pas
2012 Aline Apostolska Un été d’amour et de cendres
2013 Geneviève Mativat À l'ombre de la grande maison
2014 Linda Amyot Le jardin d’Amsterdam
2015 Louis-Philippe Hébert Marie Réparatrice
2016 François Gilbert Hare Krishna
2017 Véronique Drouin L'importance de Mathilde Poisson
2018 Mario Brassard Ferdinand F., 81 ans, chenille
2019 Dominique Demers L'albatros et la mésange

Winners from the 2020s

Year Author Title
2020 François Blais Lac Adélard
2021 Jean-François Sénéchal Les Avenues
2022 Julie Champagne Cancer ascendant Autruche
2023 Lou Beauchesne Linoubliable
2024 Stéfani Meunier Une bulle en dehors du temps

See also

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