Each winner of the 1968
Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the governor general of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields.
The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...
s for Literary Merit was selected by a panel of judges administered by the
Canada Council for the Arts
The Canada Council for the Arts (), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It is Canada's public arts funder, with a mandate to foster and promote the study a ...
. The year was marked by controversy as both
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, soc ...
and
Hubert Aquin
Hubert Aquin (24 October 1929 – 15 March 1977) was a Quebec writer, filmmaker and intellectual. He is particularly known for his novel ''Next Episode (novel), Next Episode''. He is also an important figure in the history of the Quebec Soverei ...
refused to accept their awards. Winners were given a cash prize of $2500
Winners
English Language
*Fiction:
Alice Munro
Alice Ann Munro ( ; ; 10 July 1931 – 13 May 2024) was a Canadian short story writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013. Her work tends to move forward and backward in time, with integrated short story cycles.
Munro's ...
, ''Dance of the Happy Shades''.
*Fiction:
Mordecai Richler
Mordecai Richler (January 27, 1931 – July 3, 2001) was a Canadian writer. His best known works are ''The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (novel), The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz'' (1959) and ''Barney's Version (novel), Barney's Versi ...
, ''
Cocksure
''Cocksure'' is a novel by Mordecai Richler. It was first published in 1968 by McClelland and Stewart.
A satirical work, the novel centres on Mortimer Griffin, a middle-class Anglican from Caribou, Ontario who has built a successful career as a ...
''.
*Poetry or Drama:
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, soc ...
, ''Selected Poems 1956-68''.
*Non-Fiction:
Mordecai Richler
Mordecai Richler (January 27, 1931 – July 3, 2001) was a Canadian writer. His best known works are ''The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (novel), The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz'' (1959) and ''Barney's Version (novel), Barney's Versi ...
, ''Hunting Tigers Under Glass''.
French Language
*Fiction:
Hubert Aquin
Hubert Aquin (24 October 1929 – 15 March 1977) was a Quebec writer, filmmaker and intellectual. He is particularly known for his novel ''Next Episode (novel), Next Episode''. He is also an important figure in the history of the Quebec Soverei ...
, ''Trou de mémoire''.
*Fiction:
Marie-Claire Blais
Marie-Claire Blais (5 October 1939 – 30 November 2021) was a Canadian writer, novelist, poet, and playwright from the province of Quebec. In a career spanning seventy years, she wrote novels, plays, collections of poetry and fiction, newspa ...
, ''Manuscrits de Pauline Archange''.
*Non-Fiction:
Fernand Dumont, ''Le Liue de l'Homme''.
References
{{GovernorGeneralsAwards
Governor General's Awards
Governor General's Awards
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the governor general of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields.
The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...
Governor General's Awards
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the governor general of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields.
The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...