Each winner of the 1979 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit was selected by a panel of judges administered by the Canada Council for the Arts. The 1979 awards were the first in which a list of finalists was released a month before the presentation of the awards. This was done to attract more publicity.

Contents

1 English Language 1.1 Fiction 1.2 Poetry and Drama 1.3 Non-fiction 2 French Language 2.1 Fiction 2.2 Poetry and Drama 2.3 Non-fiction 3 Other Governor General's Awards:

English Language

Fiction

Winner:

• Jack Hodgins, The Resurrection of Joseph Bourne

Other Finalists:

• Margaret Atwood, Life Before Man
• Matt Cohen, The Sweet Second Summer of Kitty Malone

Poetry and Drama

Winner:

• Michael Ondaatje, There's a Trick with a Knife I'm Learning to Do

Other Finalists:

• Erin Mouré, Empire, York Street
• Susan Musgrave, A Man to Marry, a Man to Bury

Non-fiction

Winner:

• Maria Tippett, Emily Carr

Other Finalists:

• Robert Bothwell and William Kilbourn, C.D. Howe
• Larry Pratt and John Richards, Prairie Capitalism

French Language

Fiction

Winner:

• Marie-Claire Blais, Le Sourd dans la ville

Other Finalists:

• Suzanne Jacob, La Survie
• Suzanne Paradis, Miss Charlie

Poetry and Drama

Winner:

• Robert Mélançon, Peinture aveugle

Other Finalists:

• Marcel Bélanger, Migrations
• André Roy, Les passions du samedi

Non-fiction

Winner:

• Dominique Clift and Sheila McLeod Arnopoulos, Le fait anglais au Québec

Other Finalists:

• Daniel Latouche, Une société de l'ambiguïté
• Pierre Nepveu, Les mots à l'écoute

Other Governor General's Awards:

2004 - 2003 - 2002 - 2001 - 2000 - 1999 - 1998 - 1997 - 1996 - 1995 - 1994 - 1993 - 1992 - 1991 - 1990 - 1989 - 1988 - 1987 - 1986 - 1985 - 1984 - 1983 - 1982 - 1981 - 1980 - 1979 - 1978 - 1977 - 1976 - 1975 - 1974 - 1973 - 1972 - 1971 - 1970 - 1969 - 1968 - 1967 - 1966 - 1965 - 1964 - 1963 - 1962 - 1961 - 1960 - 1959 - 1958 - 1957 - 1956 - 1955 - 1954 - 1953 - 1952 - 1951 - 1950 - 1949 - 1948 - 1947 - 1946 - 1945 - 1944 - 1943 - 1942 - 1941 - 1940 - 1939 - 1938 - 1937 - 1936