The ReLit Awards are Canadian literary prizes awarded annually to book-length works in the novel, short-story and poetry categories.[ 1] Newfoundland filmmaker and author Kenneth J. Harvey .[ 2]
Subtitled Ideas, Not Money the main title of the awards is short for Regarding Literature, Reinventing Literature, and Relighting Literature.[ 3] Giller Prize and the Governor General's Awards .[ 4] Canadian dollar ,[ 5] [ 6]
The award was known for its use of what were commonly called "very longlists" or "long shortlists", with no limit on the number of works that could be nominated in a given year and no followup winnowing of the nominees into a shorter list of finalists.[ 7]
The award went on hiatus in the late 2010s, with no shortlists or winners announced for 2018, 2019 or 2020.
It was announced in January 2021 that management of the award had been taken over by Harvey's daughter Katherine Alexandra Harvey, with the project expanding to incorporate an online literary journal and a mentorship program for young writers.[ 8] [ 9]
In September 2023, Harvey announced that the awards will go on hiatus after that year's announcements, due to funding difficulties.[ 10]
Nominees and winners
Novel
Poetry
ReLit Award for Poetry winners and shortlists
Year
Author(s)
Title
Result
Ref.
2001
S. D. Johnson Hymns to Phenomena Winner
[ 12]
Mark Cochrane Change Room
Nominee
[ 11]
Susan Gillis Swimming Among the Ruins
Adeena Karasick Dyssemia Sleaze
John Reibetanz Mining for Sun
Matt Robinson A Ruckus of Awkward Stacking
2002
Lisa Robertson The Weather Winner
[ 13]
Christian Bök Eunoia
Nominee
Karen Solie Pigeon
2003
Margaret Christakos Excessive Love Prostheses Winner
Lise Downe Disturbances of Progress
Nominee
Steve McCaffery Seven Pages Missing (Vol. 2)
Jay Millar Mycological Studies
2004
Souvankham Thammavongsa Small Arguments Winner
Gil Adamson Ashland
Nominee
David O'Meara The Vicinity
Russell Thornton House Built of Rain
2005
A. F. Moritz Night Street Repairs Winner
Aislinn Hunter The Possible Past Nominee
Pierre Nepveu Mirabel
Mark Truscott Said Like Reeds or Things
2006
Leon Rooke Hot Poppies Winner
Donato Mancini Ligatures
Nominee
Eric Miller In the Scaffolding
B. W. Powe The Unsaid Passing
2007
Daniel Scott Tysdal Predicting the Next Big Advertising Breakthrough Using a Potentially Dangerous Method Winner
[ 14]
George Elliott Clarke Black
Nominee
Susan Elmslie I, Nadja
Bill Kennedy Darren Wershler-Henry
Apostrophe
Esther Mazakian All the Lifters
K. I. Press Types of Canadian Women
Ali Riley Tear Down
Michael V. Smith What You Can't Have
Sharon Thesen The Good Bacteria
2008
Gillian Wigmore Soft Geography Winner
[ 15]
Colin Browne The Shovel Nominee
Marita Dachsel All Things Said & Done
Donato Mancini Æthel
David McGimpsey Sitcom
Nadine McInnis Two Hemispheres
Stuart Ross I Cut My Finger
2009
Maurice Mierau Fear Not Winner
David O'Meara Noble Gas, Penny Black
Nominee
Philip Kevin Paul Little Hunger
Stuart Ross Dead Cars in Managua
Shannon Stewart Penny Dreadful
R. M. Vaughan Troubled
Fred Wah Sentenced to Light
2010
Gillian Jerome Red Nest Winner
[ 16] [ 17]
Gregory Betts The Others Raisd in Me Nominee
Sky Gilbert A Nice Place to Visit
Michael Kenyon The Last House
Lisa Robertson Lisa Robertson's Magenta Soul Whip
Damian Rogers Paper Radio
Patrick Woodcock Always Die Before Your Mother
2011
Dani Couture Sweet Winner
Jim Christy Marimba Forever
Nominee
Jen Currin The Inquisition Yours
Steve McOrmond The Good News About Armageddon
Adam Seelig Every Day in the Morning (Slow)
Meaghan Strimas A Good Time Had by All
Ian Williams You Know Who You Are
2012
Patrick Friesen Jumping in the Asylum Winner
John Mikhail Asfour Blindfold
Nominee
[ 7]
Ken Babstock Methodist Hatchet
Marsha Barber What Is the Sound of Someone Unravelling
Jonathan Bennett Civil and Civic
Linda Besner The Id Kid
Michael Blouin Wore Down Trust
Stephanie Bolster A Page from the Wonders of Life on Earth
Mark Callanan Gift Horse
Sam Cheuk Love Figures
George Elliott Clarke Red
Meira Cook A Walker in the City
Barry Dempster Dying a Litte
Desi Di Nardo The Cure Is a Forest
Lisa Downe This Way
Kristy Elliot True
Linda Frank Insomniac Blues
Kevin McPherson Eckhoff Easy Peasy
Gabe Foreman A Complete Encyclopedia of Different Types of People
Helen Guri Match
Joy Hiemstra-Van der Horst Apologetic for Joy
Cornelia Hoogland Crow
Cornelia Hoogland Woods Wolf Girl
Joel Thomas Hynes Straight Razor Days
Luciano Iacobelli Book of Disorders
Sean Johnston The Ditch was Lit Like This
Jim Johnstone Sunday, the Locusts
Jake Kennedy Appolinaire's Speech to the War Medic
Leigh Kotsilidis Hypotheticals
Richard Krueger The Monotony of Fatal Accidents
Anita Lahey Spinning Side Kick
G. P. Lainsbury Versions of North
Patrick Lane The Collected Poems of Patrick Lane
JonArno Lawson There Devil, Eat That
Shelley A. Leedhal Wretched Beast
Douglas Livingston Myoclonus
David McGimpsey L’il Bastard
Christian McPherson The Sun Has Forgotten Where I Live
Kathryn Mockler Onion Man
Karen Mulhallen The Pillow Books
Jim Nason Narcissus Unfolding
Jude Neale Only the Fallen Can See
Lillian Necakov Hooligans
Ruth Roach Pierson Contrary
Adam Pottle Beautiful Mutants
Shane Rhodes Err
Giovanna Riccio Strong Bread
Robin Richardson Grunt of the Minotaur
Sandra Ridley Post-Apothecary
Stan Rogal Dance, Monster!
Annh Scowcroft The Truth of Houses
Steven Ross Smith Fluttertongue 5
Robert Earl Stewart Campfire Radio Rhapsody
Cathy Stonehouse Grace Shiver
Todd Swift England Is Mine
Gillian Sze The Anatomy of Clay
Bruce Taylor No End in Strangeness
Nick Thran Earworm
Carey Toane The Crystal Palace
Lesley Trites Echoic Mimic
Yi-Mei Tsiang Sweet Devilry
ursula Vaira And See What Happens
Leslie Vryenhoek Gulf
Elana Wolff Startled Night
Jan Zwicky Forge
2013
Steven Price Omens in the Year of the Ox Winner
[ 18]
Ronna Bloom Cloudy with a Fire in the Basement
Nominee
Cliff Burns New and Selected Poems
Jason Heroux Natural Capital
Leah Horlick Riot Lung
Grant Loveys Our Gleaming Bones Unrobed
Christine McNair Conflict
Erín Moure The Unmentionable
Catherine Owen Trobairitz
Ian Williams Personals
2014
Charmaine Cadeau Placeholder Winner
Stephen Brockwell Complete Surprising Fragments of Improbable Books
Nominee
Jason Camlot What the World Said
Kate Cayley How This World Comes to an End
Margaret Christakos Multitudes
Jim Christy This Cockeyed World
Amber Dawn How Poetry Saved My Life
Dina Del Bucchia Coping With Emotions and Otters
Adam Dickinson The Polymers
Glen Downie Monkey Soap
Kevin McPherson Eckhoff Forge
Catherine Greenwood The Lost Letters
Niki Koulouris The Sea With No One in It
Daphne Marlatt Liquidities
Sharon McCartney Hard Ass
David O'Meara A Pretty Sight
Robin Richardson Knife Throwing Through Self-Hypnosis
Stan Rogal Love's Not the Way To
Stuart Ross Our Days in Vaudeville
David Seymour For Display Purposes Only
Ann Shin The Family China
Jacqueline Turner The Ends of the Earth
2015
Sina Queyras MxT Winner
Rolli
Mavor's Bones
Nominee
[ 35]
Ken Babstock On Malice
Dani Couture Yaw
Jen Currin School
Frank Davey Poems Suitable to Current Material Conditions
Brecken Hancock Broom Broom
Aisha Sasha John Thou
Michael Lista The Scarborough
Susan Paddon Two Tragedies in 429 Breaths
Stan Rogal After Words
Jeffrey Round In the Museum of Leonardo Da Vinci
Blair Trewartha Easy Fix
Peter Unwin When We Were Old
Sheri-D Wilson Open Letter: Woman Against Violence Against Women
Deanna Young House Dreams
2016
Susan Goyette The Brief Reincarnation of a Girl Winner
Tara Azzopardi Last Stop, Lonesome Town
Nominee
Méira Cook Monologue Dogs
Raoul Fernandes Transmitter and Receiver
Eva H.D. Rotten Perfect Mouth
David McGimpsey Asbestos Heights
Nick Papaxanthos Love Me Tender
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha Bodymap
Al Pittman Collected Poems
K. I. Press Exquisite Monsters
Damian Rogers Dear Leader
Carolyn Marie Souaid This World We Invented
Jeff Steudel Foreign Park
Harry Thurston Keeping Watch at the End of the World
Daniel Scott Tysdal Fauxccasional Poems
Liz Worth No Work Finished Here
2017
Katherine Leyton All the Gold Hurts My Mouth Winner
[ 20]
Jordan Abel Injun
Nominee
[ 21]
Adele Barclay If I Were in a Cage I’d Reach out For You
Stephen Brockwell All of Us Reticent, Here, Together
Sarah Burgoyne Saint Twin
Clint Burnham Pound @ Guantanamo
George Elliott Clarke Canticles I
Wayne Clifford The Exile Papers, Part Four
Michael Crummey Little Dogs
Rocco de Giacomo Every Night of Our Lives
Beth Everest Silent Sister
M. A. C. Farrant The Days
David Fraser After All the Scissor Work Is Done
Kerry Gilbert Tight Wire
Christopher Gudgeon Assdeep in Wonder
Eva H.D. Shiner
Jason Heroux Hard Work Cheering Up Sad Machines
Jessica Hiemstra The Holy Nothing
JonArno Lawson The Hobo’s Crowbar
Sharon McCartney Metanoia
Jim McLean Nineteen Fifty-Seven
Jim Nason Touch Anywhere to Begin
Monty Reid Meditatio Placentae
Lisa Robertson 3 Summers
Stuart Ross A Sparrow Came Down Resplendent
Angeline Schellenberg Tell Them It Was Mozart
Kilby Smith-McGregor Kids in Triage
Meaghan Strimas Yes or Nope
Aritha Van Herk Stampede and the Westness of West
Margo Wheaton The Unlit Path Behind the House
2018
Rhonda Ganz Frequent, Small Loads of Laundry Winner
[ 22]
Shirley Camia Children Shouldn’t Use Knives and Other Tales
Nominee
[ 23]
Allan Cooper Everything We’ve Loved Comes Back to Find Us
Lynn Crosbie The Corpses of the Future
Michael Dennis Bad Engine
Susan Elmslie Museum of Kindness
Jim Johnstone The Chemical Life
Shane Neilson Dysphoria
Jamie Sharpe Dazzle Ships
Kai Cheng Thom A Place Called No Homeland
Steve Venright The Least You Can Do Is Be Magnificent
John Emil Vincent Excitement Tax
Liz Worth The Truth Is Told Better This Way
Tara-Michelle Ziniuk Whatever, Iceberg
2019
Robin Richardson Sit How You Want Winner
[ 24]
bpNichol
Night on Prose Mountain
Nominee
[ 25]
Chris Bailey What Your Hands Have Done
Michelle Brown Safe Words
Lori Cayer Mrs. Romanov
Dani Couture Listen Before Transmit
Degan Davis What Kind of Men Are You
Adam Dickinson Anatomic
Joe Fiorito City Poems
Linda Frank Divided
Eve Joseph Quarrels
Julie McIsaac We Like Feelings. We Are Serious
Nathaniel G. Moore Goodbye Horses
Helen Fogwill Porter Full Circle
Shannon Quinn Nightlight for Children of Insomniacs
Matthew Tierney Midday at the Super-Kamiokande
2020
Cassandra Blanchard Fresh Pack of Smokes Winner
[ 26] [ 27]
James Arthur The Suicide's Son Nominee
[ 28]
Lisa Baird Winter's Cold Girls
Jonathan Ball The National Gallery
Adèle Barclay Renaissance Normcore
Billy-Ray Belcourt NDN Coping Mechanisms
Lindsay Bird Boom Time
Tom Dawe New and Collected Poems
Matthew Gwathmey Our Latest in Folktales
Jennica Harper Bounce House
James Hawes Breakfast with a Heron
Mark Laba The Inflatable Life
Vincent Pagé This Is the Emergency Present
Stuart Ross Motel of the Opposable Thumbs
2021
Simina Banu Pop Winner
[ 29]
Ken Babstock Swivelmount
Nominee
[ 30]
Conyer Clayton We Shed Our Skin Like Dynamite
Peter Dubé The Headless Man
Susan Goyette Anthesis
Phil Hall Niagara & Government
Mathew Henderson Roguelike
Amy LeBlanc I Know Something You Don't Know
David Ly Mythical Man
Kyeren Regehr Cult Life
Ray Robertson The Old Man in the Mirror Isn't Me
jaye simpson it was never going to be okay
Emily Skov-Nielsen The Knowing Animals
Sarah Venart I Am the Big Heart
Ian Williams Word Problems
2022
Charlie Petch Why I Was Late Winner
[ 36]
Andrea Actis Grey All Over
Nominee
[ 37]
George Elliott Clarke J'Accuse...!
Molly Cross-Blanchard Exhibitionist
Brianna Ferguson A Nihilist Walks Into a Bar
Rayanne Haines Tell the Birds Your Body Is Not A Gun
Susan Holbrook Ink Earl
Dallas Hunt Creeland
Nathaniel G. Moore Constrictor
Marguerite Pigeon The Endless Garment
Charles C. Smith Searching for Eastman
Jeremy Stewart In Singing, He Composed a Song
Dane Swan Love and Other Failed Religions
Assiyah Jamilla Touré Autowar
Peter Unwin The Infinite Park
2023
Sarah Ens Flyway Winner
[ 33]
Carellin Brooks Learned
Nominee
[ 34]
Conyer Clayton But the Sun, and the Ships, and the Fish, and the Waves
Sophie Crocker Brat
Adebe DeRango-Adem Vox Humana
Candace de Taeye Pronounced/Workable
Michael Fraser The Day-Breakers
Luke Hathaway The Affirmations
Jim Johnstone Infinity Network
David Ly Dream Of Me As Water
Tyler Pennock Blood
Daniel Scott Tysdal The End Is in the Middle
Jennifer Zilm First-Time Listener
Short fiction
References
^ "Three indie writers honoured by ReLit Awards". The Globe and Mail
^ "Shortlists announced for ReLit Awards" Archived 2012-07-11 at archive.today . National Post ^ "ReLit award winners named". Ottawa Citizen
^ "Canada's newest literary prize is for independent presses". National Post
^ "It's in the mail; wear the prize". Vancouver Sun
^ "Manitoba publishers nab four Relit nods". Winnipeg Free Press
^ a b c d Steven W. Beattie, "ReLit (very) longlists announced" . Quill & Quire
^ Ryan Porter, "ReLit Awards launches literary journal, teen mentorship under new executive director" Archived 2021-01-11 at the Wayback Machine . Quill & Quire
^ Ryan Porter, "ReLit announces 2021 winners in third week of month-long celebration" Archived 2021-04-28 at the Wayback Machine . Quill & Quire
^ "ReLit Awards cancelled after current year" . Quill & Quire ^ a b c d e "Diary of an accidental judge". Vancouver Sun ^ a b "New literary prize recognizes smaller success stories". Calgary Herald ^ a b c Cochrane, Mark (2022-06-22). "Bonfire of the vanities: At the second annual ReLit Awards, the small world of Canadian poetry felt suffocatingly close". Vancouver Sun ^ a b c "Three indie writers honoured by ReLit Awards". The Globe and Mail ^ a b c "ReLit award winners named". Ottawa Citizen ^ a b c "Winners of ReLit Awards announced". The Globe and Mail ^ a b c "ReLit Award winners named in Ottawa" . CBC Books Archived from the original on 2023-07-08. Retrieved 2023-07-07 .^ a b c Darbyshire, Peter (2013-12-20). "And the winners of the 2013 ReLit Awards are..." Archived from the original on 2014-01-31. Retrieved 2023-07-07 . {{cite web }}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link )^ van Koeverden, Jane (2017-08-30). "Andrew Kaufman wins ReLit Award for The Tiny Wife" . CBC Books . Retrieved 2023-07-08 . ^ a b c van Koeverden, Jane (2018-07-16). "Kris Bertin wins ReLit Award for short story collection Bad Things Happen" . CBC Books Archived from the original on 2018-08-07. Retrieved 2023-07-06 . ^ a b c "Zoe Whittall, Jordan Abel among writers shortlisted for ReLit Awards" . CBC Books , April 9, 2018.^ a b c "Martin West, Daniel Zomparelli and Rhonda Ganz win 2018 ReLit Awards" . CBC Books Archived from the original on 2022-08-10. Retrieved 2023-07-06 .^ a b c "43 books shortlisted for 2018 Relit Awards, as prize returns after 4-year hiatus" . CBC Books Archived from the original on 2023-04-08. Retrieved 2023-07-06 .^ a b c "Andrew Battershill, Robin Richardson & Barry Callaghan win 2019 ReLit Awards" . CBC Books Archived from the original on 2023-04-08. Retrieved 2023-07-06 .^ a b c "40 books shortlisted for 2019 ReLit Awards" . CBC Books . Retrieved 2023-07-08 .^ a b c Qiao, Vicky (2021-05-05). "Cassandra Blanchard, Tracey Waddleton & Michael Blouin win 2020 ReLit Awards" . CBC Books Archived from the original on 2023-05-28. Retrieved 2023-07-06 . ^ a b c Porter, Ryan (2021-04-30). "ReLit concludes month-long awards celebration by announcing 2020 winners" . Quill and Quire Archived from the original on 2021-05-03. Retrieved 2023-07-06 . ^ a b c "38 books shortlisted for 2020 ReLit Awards" . CBC Books Archived from the original on 2023-05-30. Retrieved 2023-07-06 .^ a b "Susan Sanford Blades, Kristyn Dunnion & Simina Banu win 2021 ReLit Awards" . CBC Books Archived from the original on 2022-11-06. Retrieved 2023-07-06 .^ a b c "38 books shortlisted for 2021 ReLit Awards" . CBC Books , April 19, 2021.^ "Edmonton author Conor Kerr wins 2022 ReLit Award for debut novel Avenue of Champions" . CBC Books Archived from the original on 2022-11-03. Retrieved 2023-07-07 .^ "Novels by Randy Boyagoda and Aimee Wall among works shortlisted for 2022 ReLit Awards" . CBC Books Archived from the original on 2023-01-30. Retrieved 2023-07-07 .^ a b c "2023 ReLit Awards winners announced" . Quill & Quire ^ a b c "ReLit Awards announce 2023 long shortlists" . Quill & Quire ^ a b van Koeverden, Jane (2017-08-29). "ReLit Awards announce 2015 "long shortlist" . CBC Books Archived from the original on 2022-10-02. Retrieved 2023-07-06 . ^ "Toronto poet Charlie Petch wins 2022 ReLit Award for poetry for debut collection Why I Was Late" . CBC Books Archived from the original on 2023-01-19. Retrieved 2023-07-06 .^ "15 poetry books shortlisted for 2022 ReLit Awards" . CBC Books Archived from the original on 2023-05-28. Retrieved 2023-07-06 .^ "Susan Sanford Blades, Kristyn Dunnion & Simina Banu win 2021 ReLit Awards" . CBC Books Archived from the original on 2022-11-06. Retrieved 2023-07-07 .^ "Toronto author Sydney Hegele wins 2022 ReLit Award for short fiction collection The Pump" . CBC Books Archived from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2023-07-07 .^ "Short fiction from Norma Dunning, David Huebert, Alix Ohlin among works shortlisted for 2022 ReLit Awards" . CBC Books Archived from the original on 2022-11-17. Retrieved 2023-07-07 .
External links
