Rideau Hall, Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Check Against Delivery
To ask whether a room full of writers and artists can imagine something is like asking whether a room full of mathematicians can add and subtract.
So indulge me, if you will. Imagine a room with an infinite number of bookshelves, the books piled so high that you cannot see the tops of the towering stacks. Each book contains a tiny world filled with prose, poetry, drama, ideas, emotions, data and art.
Now open up one of the books. What do you see?
The beauty of that question is that there is no answer—or at least, no one answer. Everyone who sits down to enjoy a book sees something different.
In a way, a book is like a Rorschach test. Each reader will approach the words differently; each will interpret that book according to his or her own experiences, understanding and point of view.
In other words, a reader is just as much a part of the book as the book itself.
No doubt that is one reason why people enjoy talking, and occasionally vehemently arguing, about stories.
Of course, having their books debated must tickle the creators of those works to no end, for what artist doesn’t appreciate having their work be the topic of discussion?
Writers and illustrators tell a lot, not just with what they put into their work, but with what they leave up to the reader’s imagination, in the world turning just off stage, in between the lines of text.
A truly gifted artist—like the writers, translators and illustrators we honour today—knows when to show, when to tell, and when to leave us to fill in the blanks.
There is no ambiguity as to the quality of the work being recognized today. The presentation of the Governor General’s Literary Awards is an affirmation of our literary traditions and a testament to the brilliance of Canadian books.
In this room are the men and women who have created stories and whole worlds, who have uncovered truths about our society, who have given us so much because of their passion for words and images.
Our stories—your stories—influence us and inspire us.
As two-time GGLA winner Margaret Atwood once wrote, “A word after a word after a word is power.”
I would also posit that if words hold power, and books hold words, then a book after a book after a book has the potential to change the world.
All of you being recognized here this evening have furthered our understanding of the world around us. You are our storytellers, and we are grateful for your words and images.
Let us go back to that library, with its endless rows of books. Each book has a name, a title, on its spine. As you scan the stacks of books, you pause and see your own name, on your own book, proudly stamped on the side.
You pick it up, but instead of opening it, you hand it off to the person beside you, wandering the aisles, lost among the books and choices.
You offer your book because you need to share your stories. You do so because you needed to tell this story, and you alone could tell it. And you do so to free up your hands to write and draw and create something new.
Or perhaps you will simply sit down alongside that stranger, in the library, surrounded by the smell of paper and ink, and read a good book.
Congratulations to you all and thank you for your outstanding contributions to Canadian literature.
