ReLit Award Long Shortlist Announced

Earlier this week, the Long Shortlist for the 2016 ReLit Awards was released, with 48 nominated books spread over Novel, Poetry, and Short Fiction categories. Among the nominated books, there were notable entries like Giller Prize contenders Anakana Schofield (Martin John - Biblioasis) and Russell Smith (Confidence - Biblioasis), as well as established poets Dave McGimpsey (Asbestos Heights - Coach House), Daniel Scott Tysdal (Fauxccasional Poems - icehouse), and Damian Rogers (Dear Leader – Coach House). Other nominees included acclaimed Indigenous authors Richard Van Camp (Night Moves - Enfield & Wizenty) and Cherie Dimaline (A Gentle Habit - Kegedonce), and newcomers Jess Taylor (Pauls - BookThug), Jon Chan Simpson (Chinkstar - Coach House), and Alexis von Konigslow (The Capacity for Infinite Happiness - Buckrider Books). Finally, our assistant editor Kevin Hardcastle was nominated in the short fiction category, for his Trillium Award winning collection, Debris (Biblioasis). 

The ReLit Award was founded nearly 20 years ago by writer and filmmaker Kenneth J. Harvey, and focuses on craft and merit over all else, even eschewing any prize monies in favour of a handcrafted gold ring, designed by Christopher Kearney of Newfoundland. The winners in each category receive the ReLit Ring, "which features four moveable dials, each one struck with the entire alphabet, for spelling words."

For more information, you can visit the ReLit Awards blog. The ReLit Long Shortlist appears in full below:

NOVEL

The Capacity for Infinite Happiness, Alexis von Konigslow (Buckrider)
All-Day Breakfast, Adam Lewis Schroeder (Douglas & McIntyre)
One Hit Wonders, Patrick Warner (Breakwater)
Split, Libby Creelman (Goose Lane)
Chinkstar, Jon Chan Simpson (Coach House)
Too Much on the Inside, Danila Botha (Quattro)
Martin John, Anakana Schofield (Biblioasis)
Winnie's Tongue, Nic Labriola (Insomniac)
One Hundred Days of Rain, Carellin Brooks (BookThug)
The Theory of Light at Midnight, Elizabeth Ukrainetz (Tightrope)
A Superior Man, Paul Yee (Arsenal)
A Free Man, Michel Basilieres (ECW)
The Man Who Saved Henry Morgan, Robert Hough (Anansi)
The Hunter and the Wild Girl, Pauline Holdstock (Goose Lane)
The Society of Experience, Matt Cahill (Buckrider)
Where Did You Sleep Last Night, Lynn Crosbie (Anansi)   

POETRY

Foreign Park, Jeff Steudel (Anvil)
Asbestos Heights, David McGimpsey (Coach House)
Dear Leader, Damian Rogers (Coach House)
Rotten Perfect Mouth, Eva H.D. (Mansfield)
Monologue Dogs, Meira Cook (Brick)
Collected Poems, Al Pittman (Breakwater)
This World We Invented, Carolyn Marie Souaid (Brick)
No Work Finished Here, Liz Worth (BookThug)
Exquisite Monsters, K.I. Press (Turnstone)
Last Stop, Lonesome Town, Tara Azzopardi (Mansfield)
Love Me Tender, Nick Papaxanthos (Mansfield)
Keeping Watch at the End of the World, Harry Thurston (Gaspereau)
Transmitter and Receiver, Raoul Fernandes  (Nightwood)
Bodymap, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (Mawenzi House)
The Brief Reincarnation of a Girl, Sue Goyette (Gaspereau)
Fauxccasional Poems, Daniel Scott Tysdal (icehouse)

SHORT FICTION

A Gentle Habit, Cherie Dimaline (Kegedonce)
Pauls, Jess Taylor (BookThug)
Welcome to the Circus, Rhonda Douglas (Freehand)
Swing in the House, Anita Anand (Esplanade)
Meticulous, Sad and Lonely, Ian Roy (BuschekBooks)
Lessons from a Nude Man, Donna Besel (Hagios)
Moving Parts, Lana Pesch (Arsenal Pulp)
Debris, Kevin Hardcastle (Biblioasis)
Last Words, Hugh Graham (Exile)
Bad Day for Ralphie, Jim Christy (Hidden Brook)
I Am What I Am Because You Are What you Are, Carole Glasser Langille (Gaspereau)
Knife Party at the Hotel Europa, Mark Anthony Jarman (Goose Lane)
Confidence, Russell Smith (Bilbioasis)
Dance Moves of the Near Future, Tim Conley (New Star)
Night Moves, Richard van Camp (Enfield & Wizenty)
The Little Washer of Sorrows, Katherine Fawcett (Thistledown)