1987 Governor General's Awards

Template:Short description Template:More citations needed Each winner of the 1987 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit received $5000 and a medal from the Governor General of Canada. The winners and nominees were selected by a panel of judges administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.

The Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit nominally increased in number from 8 in 1986 to 14 in 1987, with the addition of four awards for children's book writing and illustration and two awards for translation.<ref name=owgc-GG/> The four Children's Literature awards, however, were simply the four annual Canada Council Children's Literature Prizes (1975 to 1986) under a new name.<ref name=owgc-CC/>

English

Category	Winner	Nominated
Fiction	Template:Blue ribbon M. T. Kelly, A Dream Like Mine	David Gurr, The Ring Master Rohinton Mistry, Tales from Firozsha Baag Michael Ondaatje, In the Skin of a Lion Carol Shields, Swann: A Mystery
Non-fiction	Template:Blue ribbon Michael Ignatieff, The Russian Album	Janice Kulyk Keefer, Under Eastern Eyes P. K. Page, Brazilian Journal
Poetry	Template:Blue ribbon Gwendolyn MacEwen, Afterworlds	Di Brandt, Questions I Asked My Mother Roy Kiyooka, Pear Tree Pomes Sharon Thesen, The Beginning of the Long Dash
Drama	Template:Blue ribbon John Krizanc, Prague	Wendy Lill, The Occupation of Heather Rose Michael D.C. McKinlay, Walt and Roy Sharon Pollock, Whiskey Six Cadenza
Children's literature	Template:Blue ribbon Morgan Nyberg, Galahad Schwartz and the Cockroach Army	Welwyn Wilton Katz, False Face Donn Kushner, A Book Dragon Russell McRae, Going to the Dogs
Children's illustration	Template:Blue ribbon Marie-Louise Gay, Rainy Day Magic	John Bianchi, Exploring the Night Sky László Gál, The Enchanted Tapestry Shawn Steffler, Flights of Magic
French to English translation	Template:Blue ribbon Patricia Claxton, Enchantment and Sorrow: The Autobiography of Gabrielle Roy	Sheila Fischman, Heartbreaks Along the Road Anthony Martin-Sperry, Languages and Their Territories Patricia Sillers, The Dragon and Other Laurentian Tales

French

Category	Winner	Nominated
Fiction	Template:Blue ribbon Gilles Archambault, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	André Major, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Jacques Marchand, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Francine Noël, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}
Non-fiction	Template:Blue ribbon Jean Larose, La petite noirceur	Lise Bissonnette, La passion du présent Marcel Trudel, Mémoire d'un autre siècle
Poetry	Template:Blue ribbon Fernand Ouellette, Les Heures	Hugues Corriveau, Mobiles Normand de Bellefeuille, Heureusement, ici il y à la guerre Gérald Godin, Ils ne demandaient qu'à brûler
Drama	Template:Blue ribbon Jeanne-Mance Delisle, Un oiseau vivant dans la gueule	Suzanne Aubry, La Nuit des p'tits couteaux Marie Laberge, Oublier Michel Tremblay, Le vrai monde?
Children's literature	Template:Blue ribbon David Schinkel and Yves Beauchesne, Le Don	Ginette Anfousse, Les catastrophes de Rosalie Denis Côté, Nocturnes pour Jessie Vincent Lauzon, Le pays à l'envers
Children's illustration	Template:Blue ribbon Darcia Labrosse, Venir au monde	Hélène Desputeaux, Bonne fête Madeleine Stéphane Poulin, Les animaux en hiver Gilles Tibo, Annabel Lee
English to French translation	Template:Blue ribbon Ivan Steenhout and Christiane Teasdale, L'Homme qui se croyait aimé	Jean-Pierre Fournier, Jacob Deux-Deux et le dinosaure Ivan Steenhout, La couleur du sang Claudine Vivier, La Dialectique de la reproduction