The W.A. Deacon Literary Foundation is pleased to announce that we are currently organizing a Canadian National exhibit/tour of a complete collection of first English language editions of the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction winners, from its inception in 1937, to the present.

The collection, compiled over a decade, is the largest and most comprehensive of its kind in the world. The Foundation will exhibit highlights from the collection at each venue. Many of these include various issues of the American, British, Canadian, and Australian first trade editions, galleys, uncorrected proofs, trial dust jackets, advance review copies, association copies, author copies, letters and ephemera. All copies have dust jackets present and most of the collection is signed.

In addition to the exhibit we have invited eight western authors, for our western tour, who have won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction. They will attend the exhibit and perform a reading from their award-winning book. We plan on inviting a larger group of authors for the eastern tour.

Instead of passively promoting the awards from a desk we will physically transport the rare book collection and winning authors directly to the public via local institutions across the country.

The exhibit and author performances are meant for all Canadians including high school and university students, general readers, collectors, scholars, and graphic artists.  Our objective is to increase the public’s understanding and appreciation of the literary heritage of Canada.

We are presently raising funds for our annual operating expenses and the first exhibits.  We would be most grateful for financial support from the public.  Your contribution is tax deductible.

W.A. DEACON LITERARY FOUNDATION

John H. Meier, Jr.
President

William Arthur Deacon (1890-1977), Canadian literary critic and editor

The W.A. Deacon Literary Foundation is a registered Canadian Charity, BN 80330 6018 RR0001