The winners of the 1997 Governor General's Literary Awards were announced on November 18 by Donna Scott, Chairman of the Canada Council for the Arts. Each winner received a cheque for $10,000.^[1]

Category	Winner	Nominated
Fiction	Jane Urquhart, The Underpainter	Sandra Birdsell, The Two-Headed Calf Matt Cohen, Last Seen Elizabeth Hay, Small Change Eric McCormack, First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women
Non-fiction	Rachel Manley, Drumblair – Memories of a Jamaican Childhood	Wade Davis, One River: Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rain Forest Catherine Dunphy, Morgentaler: A Difficult Hero Terry Glavin, This Ragged Place – Travels Across the Landscape Blair Stonechild and Bill Waiser, Loyal till Death – Indians and the North-West Rebellion
Poetry	Dionne Brand, Land to Light On	Marilyn Bowering, Autobiography Patrick Friesen, A Broken Bowl Carole Glasser Langille, In Cannon Cave Don McKay, Apparatus
Drama	Ian Ross, FareWel	Maureen Hunter, Atlantis Lee MacDougall, High Life Jason Sherman, Reading Hebron Judith Thompson, Sled
Children's literature	Kit Pearson, Awake and Dreaming	Cheryl Foggo, One Thing That's True James Heneghan, Wish Me Luck Teddy Jam, The Fishing Summer Barbara Nichol, Dippers
Children's illustration	Barbara Reid, The Party	Blair Drawson, Flying Dimitri Marie-Louise Gay, Rumpelstiltskin Robin Muller, The Angel Tree Ludmila Zeman, The First Red Maple Leaf
French to English translation	Howard Scott, The Euguelion	Jane Brierley, Canadians of Old Patricia Claxton, Baroque at Dawn David Homel, A Drifting Year Nancy Huston, The Goldberg Variations

Category	Winner	Nominated
Fiction	Aude, Cet imperceptible mouvement	Bernard Assiniwi, La Saga des Béothuks Lise Bissonnette, Quittes et Doubles – Scènes de réciprocité Pierre Morency, La Vie entière – Histoires naturelles du Nouveau Monde Pierre Ouellet, Légende dorée
Non-fiction	Roland Viau, Enfants du néant et mangeurs d'âmes – Guerre, culture et société en Iroquoisie ancienne	Fernand Dumont, Une foi partagée Yolande Geadah, Femmes voilées, intégrismes démasqués Alain Bernard Marchand, Tintin au pays de la ferveur François Ricard, Gabrielle Roy – Une vie
Poetry	Pierre Nepveu, Romans-fleuves	Nicole Brossard, Vertige de l'avant-scène Serge Legagneur, Poèmes choisis, 1961–1997 Paul Chanel Malenfant, Fleuves Hélène Monette, Plaisirs et Paysages kitsch
Drama	Yvan Bienvenue, Dits et Inédits	Jasmine Dubé, La Bonne Femme Marie-Line Laplante, Une tache sur la lune Robert Marinier, L'Insomnie Larry Tremblay, Ogre – Cornemuse
Children's literature	Michel Noël, Pien	Dominique Demers, Maïna, tomes 1 et 2 Agathe Génois, Sarah, je suis là! Jacques Godbout, Une leçon de chasse Maryse Pelletier, Une vie en éclats
Children's illustration	Stéphane Poulin, Poil de serpent, dent d'araignée	Leanne Franson, L'Ourson qui voulait une Juliette Stéphane Jorisch, Casse-Noisette Gilles Tibo, Simon et le petit cirque
English to French translation	Marie José Thériault, Arracher les montagnes	François Barcelo, La Face cachée des pierres Nicole Côté, Verre de tempête Pierrot Lambert, L'Insight: Étude de la compréhension humaine