GG Awards Night 2017, illustrated

Fanciness abounded last night at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, where I was (somehow) invited to watch the Governor-General's Literary Awards presentations. They know how to run a big party. Lovely to hear the laureates talk about their books, and especially to hear YA English-language winner Cherie Dimaline's speech in Anishinaabe. I met Joel Thomas Hynes (shown with his editor Jennifer Lambert, his partner Shauna, and agent Carolyn Forde in the group at the table below), the English-language Fiction winner for his striking novel, We'll All Be Burnt In Our Beds Some Night (which I reviewed for the Globe earlier this year). This year's new Giller Prize winner, Michael Redhill, was there too, as was my fellow BC writer and wearer of a black gown, Sarah De Leeuw.
(Photos all mine or friends', except the two formal group shots, including Her Excellency Julie Payette, by Sgt Joanie Maheu, Rideau Hall  © OSGG, 2017)