The 1990 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were prizes awarded to authors in 1990. Each winner of the prize received $10000 and a specially bound edition of their book. The winners were selected by a panel of judges administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.
English
{|class="wikitable" width="100%"
!width=15%|Category
!width=30%|Winner
!width=55%|Nominated
|-
| align="center"| Fiction
| Nino Ricci, Lives of the Saints
|
- Sky Lee, Disappearing Moon Café
- Alice Munro, Friend of My Youth
- Leslie Hall Pinder, On Double Tracks
- Diane Schoemperlen, Man of My Dreams
|-
| align="center"| Non-fiction
| Stephen Clarkson & Christina McCall, Trudeau and Our Times
|
- Timothy Findley, Inside Memory: Pages from a Writer's Workbook
- Eugene Forsey, A Life on the Fringe: The Memoirs of Eugene Forsey
- Ron Graham, God's Dominion: A Sceptic's Quest
- James King, The Last Modern: A Life of Herbert Read
|-
| align="center"| Poetry
| Margaret Avison, No Time
|
- Dionne Brand, No Language Is Neutral
- Patrick Lane, Winter
|-
| align="center"| Drama
| Ann-Marie MacDonald, Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)
|
- Audrey Butler, Black Friday?
- John Mighton, Scientific Americans
- George F. Walker, Love and Anger
|-
| align="center"| Children's literature
| Michael Bedard, Redwork
|
- Jan Andrews, The Auction
- Brian Doyle, Covered Bridge
- Welwyn Wilton Katz, Whale Singer
|-
| align="center"| Children's illustration
| Paul Morin, The Orphan Boy
|
- Warabé Aska, Seasons
- Frances Tyrrell, The Huron Carol
|-
| align="center"| French to English translation
| Jane Brierley, Yellow-Wolf and Other Tales of the Saint Lawrence
|
- Patricia Claxton, Letters to Bernadette
- Sheila Fischman, Benito
- Anthony Martin-Sperry, Charlevoix: Two Centuries at Murray Bay
- Susan Usher, Community Care and Participatory Research
|}
French
{|class="wikitable" width="100%"
!width=15%|Category
!width=30%|Winner
!width=55%|Nominated
|-
| align="center"| Fiction
| Gérald Tougas, La Mauvaise foi
|
- Louis Lefebvre, Le Collier d'Hurracan
- Michèle Mailhot, Le Passé composé
- Jean Marcel, Jérôme ou de la traduction
- France Vézina, Osther, le chat criblé d'étoiles
|-
| align="center"| Non-fiction
| Jean-François Lisée, Dans l'oeil de l'aigle
|
- Gérard Bergeron, Petit traité de l'État de France
- Martin Blais, L'Autre Thomas d'Aquin
- Daniel Latouche, Le Bazar
- Laurent-Michel Vacher, L'Empire du moderne
|-
| align="center"| Poetry
| Jean-Paul Daoust, Les Cendres bleues
|
- Geneviève Amyot, Corps d'atelier
- André Brochu, Dans les chances de l'air
- Denise Desautels, Leçons de Venise
- Joël Des Rosiers, Tribu
|-
| align="center"| Drama
| Jovette Marchessault, Le Voyage magnifique d'Emily Carr
|
- René-Daniel Dubois, Le Troisième fils du professeur Yourolov
- Anne Hébert, L'Île de la Demoiselle
|-
| align="center"| Children's literature
| Christiane Duchesne, La Vraie histoire du chien de Clara Vic
|
- José Fréchette, L'Automne à 15 ans
- Philippe Gauthier, L'Héritage de Qader
- Johanne Massé, Le Passé en péril
|-
| align="center"| Children's illustration
| Pierre Pratt, Les Fantaisies de l'oncle Henri
|
- Mireille Levert, Jérémie et Mme Ming,
- Stéphane Poulin, Les Amours de ma mère
|-
| align="center"| English to French translation
| Charlotte Melançon and Robert Melançon, Le Second rouleau
|
- Claire Dupond, Lettres à un ami québécois
- Ivan Steenhout, Onyx John
|}