Niigaan Sinclair wins Governor General Literary Award [Video]

When Niigaan Sinclair pitched his collection of articles to a Toronto publisher, he was told “Winipek: Visions of Canada from an Indigenous Centre” was a “regional book.”

The Winnipeg-based Anishinaabe columnist and editor recalls being told to expect scant attention outside major urban centres, so he wasn’t surprised to see “like 80 per cent” of his sales come from Manitoba, northwestern Ontario and Saskatchewan.

But on Wednesday, Sinclair was assured the book had indeed resonated well beyond its geographical setting, winning the Governor General’s Literary Award for non-fiction.

“They didn’t even do book launches for me in the rest of the country. And then boom, this all kind of hits. I think the country’s responded,” Sinclair says from Winnipeg in a video call.

Sinclair makes an estimable list announced Wednesday morning that includes fiction winner Jordan Abel of Edmonton for the allegorical novel “Empty Spaces,” and poetry winner Chimwemwe Undi …