Author Michael Ondaatje has nabbed a fresh literary accolade, winning another Governor General's Literary Award on Tuesday for his latest novel, Divisadero.

Ondaatje was among the winning writers announced at Montreal's La Grande Bibliothèque on Tuesday morning by the Canada Council, which administers the annual literary honour.

Michael Ondaatje has won a record-tying fifth Governor General's Literary Award for his novel Divisadero.
(McClelland & Stewart)

Toronto-based Ondaatje, who was also shortlisted for the Giller Prize this year, is now tied with novelist and essayist Hugh MacLennan for the most Governor General's trophies under his belt, with five.

Calling it an honour to be in the company of MacLennan, whom he cited as the first author he read who wrote specifically about the Canadian experience, Ondaatje said it was "a thrill" to receive another Governor General's Literary Award for a book he described as "risky" and "difficult to write."

"When you're working on a book, that's all there is. You're not thinking of an audience or what will happen to it afterwards or the response. So it's still a thrill to get this award," he told CBC News on Tuesday afternoon.

His past wins came for English-language poetry (1970's The Collected Works of Billy the Kid and 1979's There's a Trick with a Knife I'm Learning to Do) and fiction (1992's The English Patient and 2000's Anil's Ghost).

Collingwood, Ont., author Karolyn Smardz Frost picked up the English-language non-fiction honour for her book I've Got a Home in Glory Land: A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad, while Toronto playwright Colleen Murphy scored the English drama award for The December Man, an exploration into the aftermath of the Montreal Massacre.

Don Domanski beat out prestigious finalists such as Dennis Lee and Margaret Atwood for the English-language poetry crown, with the oft-nominated Halifax poet winning with his eighth poetry collection, All Our Wonder Unavenged.

"This was my third nomination, so I thought I'd just get the Miss Congeniality award at this point," Domanski said, adding that he felt anybody on the list could have won.

"It's an honour and a privilege, and I'm very pleased, but this is not why you write, this is not why you create," he said.

Nigel Spencer of Sherbrooke, Que., won the award for his English-language translation of Marie-Claire Blais's Augustino and the Choir of Destruction, the third in an acclaimed island-set trilogy by the French-Canadian author and playwright.

The English-language children's literature winners are Gabriola Island, B.C., author Iain Lawrence for his book Gemini Summer (text winner) and Thunder Bay, Ont., author-illustrator Duncan Weller for his book The Boy From the Sun (illustration winner).

The French-language winners are:

• Fiction: Sylvain Trudel of Quebec City for La mer de la Tranquillité
• Poetry: Serge Patrice Thibodeau of Moncton, N.B., for Seul on est
• Drama: Daniel Danis of St-David-de-Falardeau, Que., for Le chant du Dire-Dire
• Non-fiction: Annette Hayward of Kingston, Ont., for La querelle du régionalisme au Québec (1904-1931): Vers l'autonomisation de la littérature québécoise
• Children's literature, text: François Barcelo of Montreal for La fatigante et le fainéant
• Children's literature, illustration: Geneviève Côté of Montreal for La petite rapporteuse de mots (text by Danielle Simard)
• Translation: Lori Saint-Martin and Paul Gagné of Montreal for Dernières notes (French translation of Last Notes and Other Stories by Tamas Dobozy)

The winners in each of the 14 categories will receive $25,000, which the Canada Council increased (from $15,000) for its 50th anniversary this year. All the winners will take part in a public reading in Ottawa on Dec. 12.

Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean will officially present the 2007 awards at a Rideau Hall ceremony on Dec. 13.