English professor wins Governor General Literary Award
English Professor Sarah Henstra has been awarded the prestigious Governor General Literary Award for Fiction for her novel, The Red Word.
English Professor Sarah Henstra’s highly acclaimed novel, The Red Word (Grove/ECW), has won the Governor General’s Literary Award (external link, opens in new window) for Fiction – one of the most prestigious prizes in Canadian literature worth $25,000.
“I’m so thrilled! It’s a great affirmation that Canadians want to read books that challenge us and make us think,” said Henstra of her award. “So much of what writers do happens in silence and solitude, so it’s very exciting to be singled out for some public attention.” The novelist adds that the novel stemmed, in part, from her experiences on university campuses, both as a student in the 1990s and as a professor at Ryerson.
“This award is a wonderful, well-deserved recognition of Sarah’s timely and beautifully-written book. Her colleagues are very proud of her and delighted for the reflected light her success shines on Ryerson English,” said Andrew O’Malley, chair and professor in the Department of English.
Notable Ryerson professors and alumni who have also either won or have been nominated include: Image Arts alumnus Jordan Tannahill (IMA ’11), winner of two Governor General’s Awards for Drama including this year for his two-play volume titled Botticelli in the Fire & Sunday in Sodom (external link, opens in new window) ; Faculty of Arts Distinguished Visiting Professor and award-winning essayist John Ralston Saul, whose publication, The Unconscious Civilization, won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction; and journalism professor Kamal Al-Solaylee, whose latest novel, Brown, was a 2016 finalist (opens in new window) in the same category.
Administered by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Governor General’s Literary Awards has celebrated the achievements of Canadian authors, poets, playwrights, illustrators and translators since 1936. Among the winning titles that defined modern times include Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient and Kim Thúy’s Ru.
The awards ceremony will be presented on Nov. 28th in a ceremony presided over by Gov. Gen. Julie Payette in Rideau Hall in Ottawa.