The ReLit Awards
Encyclopedia
The ReLit Awards are Canadian literary prizes awarded annually to book-length works in the novel, short-story and poetry categories. Founded in 2000 by Newfoundland author Kenneth J. Harvey
they are considered the pre-eminent literary prize in independent Canadian publishing. Subtitled Ideas, Not Money the main title of the awards is short for Regarding Literature, Reinventing Literature, and Relighting Literature. The awards were conceived by Harvey as an alternative to larger mainstream prizes such as the Giller Prize and the Governor General's Awards. There is no money awarded for the prize. Instead recipients receive a simple gold ring.
Past winners of the ReLit prize include Lisa Moore
for Alligator (novel category: 2006), Bill Gaston
for Gargoyle (short story category: 2007) and A. F. Moritz
for Night Street Repairs (poetry category: 2005).
Ryan Turner, What We're Made Of
Matt Lennox, Men of Salt, Men of Earth
Amy Jones, What Boys Like
Richard Van Camp, The Moon of Letting Go
David Derry, Sentimental Exorcisms
Steven Mayoff, Fatted Calf Blues
Kenneth J. Harvey
Kenneth Joseph Thomas Harvey is a Canadian writer and filmmaker. Born in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, his books are published in Canada, the US, the UK, Russia, Germany, China, Japan, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Italy, Turkey, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark and France...
they are considered the pre-eminent literary prize in independent Canadian publishing. Subtitled Ideas, Not Money the main title of the awards is short for Regarding Literature, Reinventing Literature, and Relighting Literature. The awards were conceived by Harvey as an alternative to larger mainstream prizes such as the Giller Prize and the Governor General's Awards. There is no money awarded for the prize. Instead recipients receive a simple gold ring.
Past winners of the ReLit prize include Lisa Moore
Lisa Moore (writer)
Lisa Moore is a Canadian writer.Born in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Moore studied art at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design...
for Alligator (novel category: 2006), Bill Gaston
Bill Gaston
Bill Gaston is a Canadian novelist, playwright and short story writer.Gaston grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Toronto, Ontario, and North Vancouver, British Columbia....
for Gargoyle (short story category: 2007) and A. F. Moritz
A. F. Moritz
Albert Frank Moritz is a poet, teacher, and scholar.Born in Niles, Ohio, Moritz was educated at Marquette University. Since 1975, he has made his home in Toronto, Ontario where he has worked variously as an advertising copywriter and executive, editor, publisher, and university professor...
for Night Street Repairs (poetry category: 2005).
2003
- Peter Darbyshire, Please
- France DaigleFrance DaigleFrance Daigle is a Canadian author. Born and based in Moncton, New Brunswick, she has published six novels and three plays. She writes in French and has pioneered the use of the Chiac in her written dialogue....
, A Fine Passage - Mary SwanMary SwanMary Swan is a Canadian novelist and short story writer. She is also a trained librarian with a keen eye for history. Her novel The Boys in the Trees, a shortlisted nominee for the 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize. was inspired by a newspaper clipping concerning a death within a family.Swan was the...
, The Deep - Guillaume VigneaultGuillaume VigneaultGuillaume Vigneault, born on August 5, 1970, in Montreal, Canada, is a novelist, son of Gilles Vigneault.-Studies and works:After receiving a bachelor's degree in literary studies at the Université du Québec à Montréal and beginning a masters degree in the same subject, he decided to be a novelist,...
, Necessary Betrayals
2004
- Darren GreerDarren GreerDarren Shawn Greer is a Canadian writer.Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Greer moved to Ontario in 1990. He lived in Ottawa, Toronto and San Francisco before moving back to Nova Scotia in 2010. His second novel Still Life With June was a critical success, earning him the ReLit Award in 2004...
, Still Life With JuneStill Life With JuneStill Life With June is the second novel by Canadian author Darren Greer, first published in 2004. It tells the story of an unsuccessful writer, Cameron Dodds, who works at a Salvation Army drug and alcohol treatment centre in an unnamed North American city and 'mines" the lives of patients there... - Kim Barry Brunhuber, Kameleon Man
- David Homel, The Speaking Cure
- Kent Nussey, A Love Supreme
2005
- Sky GilbertSky GilbertSchuyler Lee Gilbert, Jr. is a Canadian writer, actor, academic and drag performer. Born in Norwich, Connecticut, he studied theatre in Toronto, Ontario at York University and the University of Toronto, before becoming co-founder and artistic director of Buddies in Bad Times, a Toronto theatre...
, An English Gentleman - Natalee CapleNatalee CapleNatalee Caple is a Canadian author of novels and poetry who is based at the University of Calgary where she is working on a PhD.As a published author, her latest publication, Mackerel Sky, has enjoyed American distribution...
, Mackerel Sky - Bill GastonBill GastonBill Gaston is a Canadian novelist, playwright and short story writer.Gaston grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Toronto, Ontario, and North Vancouver, British Columbia....
, Sointula - Cordelia StrubeCordelia StrubeCordelia Strube is a Canadian playwright and novelist.Raised in Montreal, Quebec, Strube began her career as an actor. After winning a CBC Literary Award for her first radio play, Mortal, she wrote nine more radio plays for CBC Radio before publishing her debut novel, Alex & Zee, in 1994. The novel...
, Blind Night
2006
- Lisa MooreLisa Moore (writer)Lisa Moore is a Canadian writer.Born in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Moore studied art at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design...
, Alligator - Jim Christy, The Redemption of Anna Dupree
- David GilmourDavid Gilmour (writer)David Gilmour is a Canadian novelist and television journalist.He became managing editor of the Toronto International Film Festival in 1980, a post he held for four years. In 1986, he joined CBC Television as a film critic for The Journal, eventually becoming host of the program's Friday night...
, A Perfect Night to Go to ChinaA Perfect Night to Go to ChinaA Perfect Night to Go to China is a novel by David Gilmour, published in 2005. It won the 2005 Governor General's Award for English language fiction.... - Gaétan SoucyGaétan SoucyGaétan Soucy is a Canadian novelist and professor.Born in Montreal, Quebec, Soucy studied physics at Université de Montréal, completed a Master's degree in philosophy, and studied Japanese language and literature at McGill University....
, The Immaculate ConceptionThe Immaculate ConceptionThe Immaculate Conception is the English translation by Lazer Lederhendler of Gaétan Soucy's French novel, L'Immaculée conception, first published in 1994....
2007
- Ivan E. Coyote, Bow Grip
- Andy Brown, The Mole Chronicles
- Chris Ewart, Miss Lamp
- Rawi HageRawi Hage-Early life and education:Born in Beirut, Hage grew up in Lebanon and Cyprus. He moved to New York City in 1984. In 1991, he relocated to Montreal, where he studied Photography at Dawson College and Fine Arts at Concordia University. He subsequently began exhibiting as a photographer, and has had...
, De Niro's GameDe Niro's GameDe Niro's Game is the debut novel by Lebanese-Canadian writer Rawi Hage, originally published in 2006.The novel's primary characters are Bassam and George, lifelong friends living in wartorn Beirut... - George K. IlsleyGeorge K. IlsleyGeorge K. Ilsley was born in Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1958. He is the author of a collection of short stories, Random Acts of Hatred, which focuses on the lives of gay and bisexual men from childhood to early adulthood and a novel, ManBug.Ilsley provided facetious responses to an...
, ManBug - Sean Johnston, All This Town Remembers
- Marie Hélène Poitras, Suddenly the Minotaur
- Rob Ritchie, Orphans of Winter
- Sylvia Maultash Warsh, Season of Iron
2008
- Gil AdamsonGil AdamsonGil Adamson is a Canadian writer. She won the Books in Canada First Novel Award in 2008 for her 2007 novel The Outlander.Adamson's first published work was Primitive, a volume of poetry, in 1991...
, The Outlander - Nadia Bozak, Orphan Love
- David ChariandyDavid ChariandyDavid Chariandy is a Canadian writer. His debut novel Soucouyant was nominated for ten literary prizes and awards, including the 2009 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award , the 2007 Scotiabank Giller Prize , the 2007 Governor General's Award for Fiction , the 2007 ForeWord Book of the Year...
, Soucouyant - Curtis Gillespie, Crown Shyness
- Claire Mulligan, The Reckoning of Boston Jim
- Brian Tucker, Big White Knuckles
- Andrew Wedderburn, The Milk Chicken Bomb
2009
- Michael Blouin, Chase & Haven
- Theanna Bischoff, Cleavage
- Daniel Allen CoxDaniel Allen CoxDaniel Allen Cox is a Canadian author and columnist. Shuck, his semi-autobiographical debut novel about a New York City hustler, was a Lambda Literary Award and a ReLit Award finalist...
, Shuck - Brian Dedora, A Slice of Voice at the Edge of Hearing
- Maggie HelwigMaggie HelwigMaggie Helwig is a Canadian poet, novelist and social justice activist.-Academic career:Her early education was at Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute in Kingston, Ontario, graduating in 1979, then at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, where she graduated with an honours B.A...
, Girls Fall Down - Harold Johnson, Charlie Muskrat
- David ManicomDavid ManicomDavid Alton Manicom is a Canadian diplomat, poet and novelist.Manicom was born in Ingersoll, Ontario and lived there until he attended the University of Toronto and McGill University in Montreal. He has also lived in Aylmer, Quebec, Moscow, Islamabad, Beijing, Geneva, and New Delhi...
, Anna's Shadow
2010
- Michael Kenyon, The Beautiful Children
- Joey ComeauJoey ComeauJoey Comeau is a Canadian writer from Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is best known for writing the text of the webcomic A Softer World and for his novels Lockpick Pornography and Overqualified. His work is difficult to classify by genre...
, Overqualified - Christiane Frenette, After the Red Night
- Jason Hrivnak, The Plight House
- Nathaniel G. Moore, Wrong Bar
- Chad Pelley, Away From Everywhere
- Zoe WhittallZoe WhittallZoe Whittall is a Canadian poet and novelist. She has published three novels and three poetry collections. Her latest novel, The Middle Ground, is a short novel for adults with low literacy skills...
, Holding Still For As Long As Possible