Fawn Parker, katherena vermette among Governor General’s Literary Award finalists

Katherena Vermette, a Red River Metis author and poet in Winnipeg, is shown in this undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Vanda Fleury (Mandatory Credit)

TORONTO — Books by katherena vermette, Fawn Parker and Maria Reva are among the fiction finalists for the Governor General’s Literary Awards this year.

Vermette’s novel “real ones,” about two Michif sisters whose mother is accused of falsely claiming Indigenous heritage, is one of five books up for the English-language fiction prize, alongside Parker’s autofictional depiction of grief “Hi, It’s Me” and Reva’s debut novel “Endling,” about a scientist who studies rare snails.

Rounding out the finalists in that category are Benjamin Hertwig’s “Juiceboxers,” about four young soldiers serving in Afghanistan, and “Small Ceremonies” by Kyle Edwards, which follows a hockey team of Ojibwe high schoolers.

The Canada Council for the Arts named 70 finalists across seven categories in both English and French on Tuesday. The 14 winners, who each receive $25,000, will be announced Nov. 6.

The non-fiction finalists include Claire Cameron’s “How to Survive a Bear Attack,” Teresa Wong’s “All Our Ordinary Stories: A Multigenerational Family Odyssey,” and “The Migrant Rain Falls in Reverse: A Memoir” by Vinh Nguyen.

Also in contention are “What to Feel, How to Feel” by Shane Neilson and “Searching for Serafim: The Life and Legacy of Serafim ‘Joe’ Fortes” by Ruby Smith Diaz.

The Governor General’s Literary Awards will also dole out honours for drama, writing and illustration in children’s literature, as well as French-to-English translation. There are separate French-language categories for francophone writing.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2025.

Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press