Steve Poutré crowned at the Governor General’s Literary Awards

The competition was fierce among the 70 finalist books, but the evaluation committees finally decided: in total, fourteen authors saw their work celebrated.

A graphic designer by trade, Steve Poutré won honors in the novels and short stories category thanks to his very first book, Raw milk. A story that highlights the reality of the Quebec region, far from the bucolic landscapes that color our collective imagination.

The author, based in the Montreal region, was in the running against Emmanuelle Pierrot’s popular first novel, The version that interests no onebut also big people by Mathieu Rolland, Mute by Pascale Beauregard and The account is good by Louis-Daniel Godin.

The race was just as close on the testing side with Black Satin by Stanley Péan, Daring ethical humor: From Socrates to Virginie Fortin by Jérôme Cotte, File a complaint of Léa Clermont-Dion as well asOne bee is enough: observation notebook of an urban garden by Geneviève Boudreau.

However, it is the book Offside: cultural and feminist chronicle on the professional sports industry who won first place. A first essay signed by Florence-Agathe Dubé-Moreau, author and independent curator of contemporary art, also known to the public thanks to her various projects with her partner, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif.

In the poetry category, the winning work is degenerate poem of neve dumas. A work where the author, based in Outaouais, studies in particular “the colonial relationship to the territory” in a “sensual and voracious” language.

As for the theater, the honors were won by Sarah Berthiaume for her text Wollstonecraft. The work, which is inspired by the life of Mary Shelley and Frankensteinwas notably presented at the Quat’sous theater in Montreal in 2023, in a production by Édith Patenaude.

A few weeks before the holiday season, the book The first Christmas tree by Ovila Fontaine and Charlotte Parent triumphed in the children’s category — illustrated books.

Still young, Stéfani Meunier was rewarded for the text ofA bubble outside of time.

Finally, among the translated works, Éric Fontaine and Katia Grubisic won a prize for their respective work, namely Restigouche: The long course of the wild river (the French translation of Restigouche: The Long Run of the Wild River by Philip Lee) and Nights Too Short to Dance (the English translation ofA heart inhabited by a thousand voices by Marie-Claire Blais).

All winners received a $25,000 scholarship. Their publishing houses won an amount of $3,000 to ensure the promotion of the winning works.

The finalists walk away with a prize of $1,000.

For more details on the Governor General’s Literary Awards and the English-speaking winners, you can visit the competition website.