Each winner of the 1991 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit received $10,000 and a medal from the Governor General of Canada. The winners were selected by a panel of judges administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.
English Language
Fiction
Winner:
Other Finalists:
- Margaret Atwood, Wilderness Tips
- Don Dickinson, Blue Husbands
- Douglas Glover, A Guide to Animal Behaviour
- Terry Griggs, Quickening
Poetry
Winner:
- Don McKay, Night Field
Other Finalists:
- Don Domanski, Wolf-Ladder
- Judith Fitzgerald, Rapturous Chronicles
- Patrick Lane, Mortal Remains
- Anne Michaels, Miner's Pond
Drama
Winner:
- Joan MacLeod, Amigo's Blue Guitar
Other Finalists:
- Sally Clark, The Trial of Judith K.
- Don Druick, Where is Kabuki?
- Linda Griffiths, The Darling Family
- Daniel David Moses, Coyote City
Non-fiction
Winner:
- Robert Hunter and Robert Calihoo, Occupied Canada: A Young White Man Discovers His Unsuspected Past
Other Finalists:
- Northrop Frye, Words With Power
- Kristjana Gunnars, Zero Hour
- D. L. MacDonald, Poor Polidori: A Critical Biography of the Author of "The Vampyre"
- Rosemary Sullivan, By Heart: Elizabeth Smart, A Life
Children's Literature – Text
Winner:
- Sarah Ellis, Pick-Up Sticks
Other Finalists:
- Martha Brooks, Two Moons in August
- Roch Carrier, A Happy New Year's Day
- Jean Little, Stars Come Out Within
- Monty Reid, The Last Great Dinosaurs
Children's Literature – Illustration
Winner:
- Joanne Fitzgerald, Doctor Kiss Says Yes
Other Finalists:
- Kady MacDonald Denton, The Travelling Musicians
- Michèle Lemieux, Peter and the Wolf
- Gilles Pelletier, A Happy New Year's Day
- Jacqueline White, Coyote Winter
Translation (from French to English)
Winner:
- Albert W. Halsall, A Dictionary of Literary Devices: Gradus, A-Z
Other Finalists:
- Linda Gaboriau, Lilies or the Revival of a Romantic Drama
- Peter Keating, Physics and the Rise of Scientific Research in Canada
- Patricia Smart and Dorothy Howard, The Diary of André Laurendeau
French Language
Fiction
Winner:
- André Brochu, La croix du Nord
Other Finalists:
- Flora Balzano, Soigne ta chute
- Georges-Hébert Germain, Christophe Colomb: Naufrage sur les côtes du paradis
- Hans-Jürgen Greif, L'Autre Pandore
- Hélène Rioux, Les Miroirs d'Éléonore
Poetry
Winner:
- Madeleine Gagnon, Chant pour un Québec lointain
Other Finalists:
- Claude Beausoleil, Une certaine fin de siècle
- François Charron, L'Intraduisible amour
- Herménégilde Chiasson, Vous
- Rachel Leclerc Les vies frontalières
Drama
Winner:
- Gilbert Dupuis, Mon oncle Marcel qui vague vague près du métro Berri
Other Finalists:
- Victor-Lévy Beaulieu, La maison cassée
- Michel Marc Bouchard, L'Histoire de l'oie
- Dominic Champagne, La répétition
- Suzanne Lebeau, Conte du jour et de la nuit
Non-fiction
Winner:
- Bernard Arcand, Le Jaguar et le Tamanoir
Other Finalists:
- Betty Bednarski, Autour de Ferron : littérature, traduction, altérité
- Guy Bourgeault, L'Éthique et le droit : face aux nouvelles technologies biomédicales
- Jacques Jaffelin, Le Promeneur d'Einstein
- Robert Major, Jean Rivard ou l'art de réussir: idéologies et utopie dans l'oeuvre d'Antoine Gérin-Lajoie
Children's Literature – Text
Winner:
- François Gravel, Deux heures et demie avant Jasmine
Other Finalists:
- Ginette Anfousse, Un terrible secret
- Johanne Mercier, L'Été des autres
- Daniel Sernine, Quatre destins
Children's Literature – Illustration
Winner:
- Sheldon Cohen, Un champion
Other Finalist:
- Stéphane Poulin, Un voyage pour deux : contes et mensonges de mon enfance
Translation (from English to French)
Winner:
- Jean-Paul Sainte-Marie and Brigitte Chabert Hacikyan, Les Enfants d'Aataentsic: l'histoire du peuple huron
Other Finalists:
- Jean Antonin Billard and Christine Le Boeuf, Orages électriques
- Brigitte Chabert Hacikyan, Le Canada au temps des aventuriers
- Michèle Marineau, Sur le rivage
- Colette Tonge, Un heureux canular