Swan Suit Shortlisted for a ReLit Award
Katherine Fawcett has been shortlisted for a ReLit Award for her short story collection, The Swan Suit . It is the second time she has been up for this award—she was also shortlisted for her collection, The Little Washer of Sorrows (Thistledown Press, 2015).
The Swan Suit is a collection of devilishly funny stories in which Katherine Fawcett recreates fairy tales—and invents her own—to explore what lies beneath the physical self that we present to the world. A swan unzips itself and out comes a maiden who proceeds to go skinny dipping. One of the three little pigs launches a line of high-end, easy-to-prepare, wolf-broth-based meals. The Devil, who is on a mission to steal a child’s soul, is distracted when he develops a massive crush on a daycare worker. And a man taking a shower notices tiny mushrooms protruding from his various nooks and crannies.
The Swan Suit was launched in March 2020 as the pandemic was taking hold in Western Canada. With her tour cancelled, Fawcett was one of the first authors in the country to have a virtual Covid launch. She went on to present her book in a number of Covid-safe ways, including giving readings for horses and donkeys, and creating an instructional video about making playing cards out of unused launch invitations.
Katherine Fawcett is a short-fiction author. In addition to her ReLit Award recognition, she has also been shortlisted for the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic for her collection, The Little Washer of Sorrows (Thistledown Press, 2015). Her writing has appeared in Event, Geist, FreeFall, Grain, SubTerrain and Other Voices. She lives in Squamish, BC.
The ReLit Awards have been described as the “country’s pre-eminent literary prize recognizing independent presses.” (The Globe and Mail). They are awarded annually to book-length works in the novel, short-story and poetry categories. They were founded in 2000 by Newfoundland filmmaker and author Kenneth J. Harvey and are now run by Katherine Alexandra Harvey.
“ReLit” 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.
The complete list of shortlisted books in all categories is available at www.relitawards.com. The winners will be announced on April 26, 2021.