Vinh Nguyen, katherena vermette, and Lorna Goodison are in the running for the 2025 Governor General’s Literary Awards. Administered by the Canada Council for the Arts, these awards cover seven English-language categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, young people’s literature — text, young people’s literature — illustration, drama, and French-to-English translation. Additionally, seven French-language awards are presented in similar categories. A total of $450,000 is distributed among all the prizes annually, with winners in each category receiving $25,000 and the remaining finalists getting $1,000 each.
The finalists and winners are selected by peer assessment committees for each category, and the winners will be revealed on Nov. 6, 2025. Nguyen is up for the nonfiction award with his memoir, “The Migrant Rain Falls in Reverse,” which delves into his family’s journey from post-war Vietnam to Canada and its relevance to the diaspora’s experiences today. The memoir combines real-life accounts, thorough research, and a touch of creativity to explore themes of family, immigration, and identity.
vermette is a finalist in the fiction category with her novel “real ones,” previously longlisted for the 2024 Giller Prize. She is a writer and editor of Michif (Red River Métis) descent based in Winnipeg, with a notable body of work that includes novels like “The Break,” “The Strangers,” and “The Circle,” along with poetry collections such as “North End Love Songs” and “river woman.” Goodison is nominated in the poetry category for her unique translation of Dante’s “Inferno,” titled “The Inferno,” set in Jamaica and infused with local expressions and phrases.
The Canada Council for the Arts, the prize administrator, is closely associated with the CBC Literary Prizes, and several nominees have past connections with these awards. The 2025 CBC Short Story Prize is currently open for submissions until Nov. 1, 2025, with Maria Reva, a fiction category nominee for “Endling,” serving on the jury. The finalists in the seven English-language categories, including Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Drama, and Young People’s Literature, are listed, while the French-language category finalists can be found on the Canada Council for the Arts website.