Manitoba-born Edwards wins $25K Governor General’s Literary Award
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Anishinaabe author Kyle Edwards, who is a member of Ebb and Flow First Nation and grew up on Lake Manitoba First Nation (and is a former Free Press intern), has won the 2025 Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction for his debut novel Small Ceremonies.
Published in April, the book follows the plight of two Indigenous teens in Winnipeg’s North End, and their struggling hockey team, over the course of a year. Other nominees for the $25,000 prize included Winnipeg Michif author katherena vermette for her novel Real Ones.
In the drama category, Calgary-based Tara Beagan, a member of B.C.’s Coldwater Indian Band, won for her play Rise, Red River, which was inspired by the 2014 Drag the Red movement in Winnipeg; the play was co-produced by Théatre Cercle Molière, Article 11 and Prairie Theatre Exchange in March 2024.
Other winners included Claire Cameron in the non-fiction category for How to Survive a Bear Attack; a complete list of winners, which were announced the morning of Nov. 6, can be found at ggbooks.ca.
