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.^[1] For Children's Literature Prize winners 1975 to 1986, see "Children's literature" (2) and "Children's illustration" (2) 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.^[2]

English

Category	Winner	Nominated
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

Category	Winner	Nominated
Fiction	Yvon Rivard, Les silences du corbeau	Pierre Nepveu, L'hiver de Mira Christophe Sylvain Trudel, Le souffle de l'Harmattan
Non-fiction	Régine Robin, Le réalisme socialiste: une esthétique impossible	Marcel Fournier, L'entrée dans la modernité: science, culture et société au Québec René Major, De l'élection: Freud face aux idéologies américaine, allemande et soviétique
Poetry	Cécile Cloutier, L'écouté	François Charron, La chambre des miracles Normand de Bellefeuille, Catégoriques, un deux et trois Louise Dupré, Chambres
Drama	Anne Legault, La visite des sauvages	Normand Chaurette, Fragments d'une lettre d'adieu lus par des géologues Yves Desgagnés and Louise Roy, Les nouilles Jean-Pierre Ronfard, Le Titanic

References

Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit
English-language awards	Fiction Non-fiction Poetry (1981–present) Drama (1981–present) Poetry or drama (1937–1980) Children's literature Children's illustration French to English translation
French-language awards	Fiction Non-fiction Poetry (1981–present) Drama (1981–present) Poetry or drama (1959–1980) Children's literature Children's illustration English to French translation
Awards by year	1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016