Winners of the 2009 ReLit Award: Lisa Foad (short fiction), Maurice Mierau (poetry), Michael Blouin (fiction), with Kenneth
Founded and spearheaded, without any sponsors, and for no other reason than to help the little guy, Newfoundlandland’s internationally acclaimed author, Kenneth J. Harvey, conceived the ReLit awards in 2000, which theGlobe and Mail has since dubbed, “The country’s pre-eminent literary prize recognizing independent presses.”
The ReLit awards stand apart from all other Canadian literary awards. How? They honour writers from independent presses, not the ones on big powerhouse publishers. In other words, they shine a light where it needs to be shined, so that readers can hear of a few more fantastic books they otherwise would not have. It shines a light on the writers (and publishers) who need it: the up-and-comers and the hidden gems waiting to be discovered and clawing their way up the literary ladder towards national recognition.
The book world is all about buzz and word of mouth: few people buy a book they’ve never heard of, and independent presses do not have the means or influence of the big leagues to establish their authors and get their names into the national conscience. That does not mean the books aren’t as good (past winners include Lisa Moore, Gil Adamson, and Bill Gatson). So, Harvey’s ReLit awards make a difference; they achieve the real purpose of awards: recognition, not cash prizes. Or, as Harvey says “Ideas, not money.”
More than 250 books were submitted to Harvey this year, from 62 publishers. He takes the time to sift through them all, pick a longlist, and hands them over to a secret jury to choose from there.
“It’s great,” he said in an interview with CBC’s Angela Antle. “I get a good overview of what’s happening in the country … This is a hard, hard business, and I know because I have come up through it. The more people who can have a little attention … it gives their career a little boost, and I get a good overview of the voices coming up.”
Most recently, when the Ottawa International Writer’s Festival asked Harvey to sit on the board, he agreed, so long as the ReLit winners could take part in the prestigious event. A double dose of spotlight. One man making a difference.
This year’s winner for poetry was Maurice Mierau’s Fear Not (Turnstone Press), for short fiction, Lisa Foad’s The Night is a Mouth (Exile Editions), and Michael Blouhin’s Chase and Haven (Coach House). Buy these books!
Also, buy Kenneth’s books. Aside from being such a supportive man to emerging writers, he is a brilliant and prolific writer. Inside is a favourite novel of mine, and so many others, and is the most stylistically innovative novel I have read, and innovative is his thing. The Town That Forgot How to Breathe was one of the only genre-blending ”literary thrillers” that’s ever truly worked for me, and he coined the idea of a “transcomposite narrative” in Skin Hound and Blackstrap Hawco. Prolific, innovative, talented, diverse, and supportive. What more do you want in an author?
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