The Law of Dreams, Peter Behrens's tale of a young man's journey to the New World during the Irish potato famine, has won the Governer General's Award for fiction.

Behrens, a Montreal-born screenwriter who lives most of the year in Maine, is a first-time novelist and author of the short story collection Night Driving.

Novelist Peter Behrens, winner of a Governor General's Award for The Law of Dreams, said he went to Ireland to learn about its contemporary troubles but ended up fascinated by the past.
(CBC)

Winners of Governor General's Awards in 14 categories in English and French were announced Tuesday in Toronto and Montreal by the Canada Council for the Arts.

Ross King's The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade that gave the World Impressionism won for non-fiction.

King, a Saskatchewan native now living in London, was shortlisted for the award in 2002 for his earlier book Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling. He has also written two novels.

 

The other English-language winners are:

• Poetry: John Pass of Madeira Park, B.C., for Stumbling in the Bloom.
• Drama: Daniel MacIvor of Halifax for I Still Love You.
• Children's Literature - Text: William Gilkerson of Mahone Bay, N.S., for Pirate's Passage, illustrated by the author. 
• Children's Literature - Illustration: Leo Yerxa of Ottawa for Ancient Thunder, text by Leo Yerxa.
• Translation: Hugh Hazelton of Montreal for Vetiver, the English translation of Vetiver, by Joel Des Rosiers.

The Judgment of Paris centres on artists who represented the opposites of Paris of the 1860s, the successful Ernest Meissonier and the far-from-popular Edouard Manet, who would later be hailed as master.

"King's narrative, which evokes the rise of Impressionism, is layered with intrigue and high politics," the jury said.

Like his earlier book, which describes the painting of the Sistine Chapel, King's book on Impressionism uses the techniques of a novelist to draw readers into the milieu of a turbulent decade.

The jury hailed The Law of Dreams for its "extraordinary characters traversing the bleak moment of famine in Irish history."

Famine is still a "lively and deadly story" in the Irish imagination, Behrens said.

Appeals for famine relief

In his acceptance speech, he spoke of being in Dublin in 1992, when news came of the famine in Ethiopia.

"On every corner in Dublin was a kid with a can to collect money for the famine in Ethiopia," he said.

Famine continues to be a drama in the world, he said, appealing to literary patrons to support charitable organizations that are combating famine in Africa.

Behrens said he went to Ireland to write about the contemporary "troubles," but ended up drawn to the story of his own family, who fled the potato famine of 1845-1849 for Montreal.

The main character is based on his great-great-grandfather, a man he knew little about.

"What happened to me was I ended up inventing and imagining the journey he took," he said.

Behrens began the book in 1996, but didn't have time to devote to it until 2000, when he moved to Maine. He continues to make his living as a screenwriter and is doing research toward a second novel.

Kids' book a product of experimentation

Yerxa, an illustrator, took seven years to create the beautiful children's book Ancient Thunder.

"The amount of work involved is the equivalent of doing a one-man show," he said.

Yerxa said he wanted the watercolour paintings to look as if they had been painted on leather, and had to experiment with treating the paper to get the right look.

"Then I had to learn how to paint on it, how much absorption there would be and how paint would react," he said.

The result is the eight illustrations in Ancient Thunder, which celebrates wild horses and the natural world of the prairies.

"Yerxa's emotionally powerful images transport us, with the echo of ancient hoof-beats, over the Great Plains," the jury said. 

The French-language award winners were announced simultaneously. They are:

• Fiction: Andrée Laberge of Quebec City for La riviere du loup.
• Poetry: Hélène Dorion of Saint-Hippolyte, Que., for Ravir: les lieux.
• Drama: Evelyne de la Chenelière of Montreal for Désordre public.
• Non-fiction: Pierre Ouellet of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., for A force de voir: histoire de regards.
• Children's Literature - Text: Dany Laferrière of Montreal for Je suis fou de Vava, illustrations by Frédéric Normandin.
• Children's Literature - Illustration: Rogé (Roger Girard) of Montreal for Le gros monstre qui aimait trop lire, text by Lili Chartrand.
• Translation: Sophie Voillot of Montreal for Un jardin de papier, French translation of Salamander by Thomas Wharton.

Each winner receives a cheque for $15,000 and their publishers receive $3,000 to help promote the books. Finalists receive $1,000 each.

The winners will be honoured by Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean on Dec. 13.