Sept 1, 2009. The shortlists for the 2009 ReLit Awards were announced today and several of our publishers have books that have been nominated in each of the three different categories: short fiction, poetry, and novel.

The ReLit Awards have been around since 2000 to provide independent Canadian literary publishers an alternative to the big-money prizes. ReLit is short for 'Regarding Literature, Reinventing Literature, Relighting Literature.' Winners will be announced this October during the Ottawa International Writers Festival.

Our congratulations go to:

Short Fiction

Squishy by Arjun Basu (DC Books)

Elysium by Pamela Stewart (Anvil)

Evidence by Ian Colford (Porcupine's Quill)

Poetry

Troubled by RM Vaughan (Coach House)

Noble Gas, Penny Black by David O'Meara (Brick)

Penny Dreadful by Shannon Stewart (Signal by Vehicule)

Dead Cars in Managua by Stuart Ross (DC Books)

Little Hunger by Philip Kevin Paul (Nightwood)

Fear Not by Maurice Mierau (Turnstone)

Sentenced to Light by Fred Wah (Talon)

Novel

Girls Fall Down by Maggie Helwig (Coach House)

Cleavage by Theanna Bischoff (NeWest)

A Slice of Voice at the Edge of Hearing by Brian Dedora (Mercury)

Anna's Shadow by David Manicom (Esplanade by Vehicule)

Shuck by Daniel Allen Cox (Arsenal Pulp)

Charlie Muskrat by Harold Johnson (Thistledown)

Chase & Haven by Michael Blouin (Coach House)