Chase & Haven by Michael Blouin of Oxford Mills, Ont., won the ReLit Award for best fiction. (Coach House Press)

Mike Blouin of Oxford Mills, Ont., near Ottawa, has won the ReLit Award for his novel Chase & Haven, published by Coach House Press.

He was named as winner for fiction on Sunday by Kenneth Harvey, founder of the ReLit Award, which honours books by Canadian authors published by small and mid-sized Canadian-owned publishers.

The other winners:

• Short fiction: Lisa Foad of Toronto for The Night is a Mouth, published by Exile.
• Poetry: Maurice Mierau of Winnipeg for Fear Not, published by Turnstone.

"The ReLit honour is a real honour in that it's a little bit feisty and I love their slogan, 'Ideas, not money,' especially as a poet," Mierau told CBC News. "My genre has not been successfully monetized as the novel has."

Harvey praised Fear Not for its unusual style and for what he termed "moments of magic" in Mierau's poetry.

" It's a spiritual, a soulful thing, you get a little tug — and there were many such moments in this book," he said.

Fear Not is Mierau's second poetry collection and he said he based it on the Bible.

"It is based on the front section of the Gideon Bible, which is a kind of self-help section with biblical readings. My book is set up in two columns like the bible but in bigger print so people don't go blind," he said.

"I cover off all kinds of things that people deal with, beginning with credit card problems, unemployment, divorce, many contemporary problems including being a professional athlete."

Short fiction writer Foad said she was excited to be nominated in the company of so many good writers. Six other writers from across the country were nominated.

"It kind of re-energizes the writing process," she said of her win.

Harvey praised The Night is a Mouth for its fresh approach.

"It's an absolutely fabulous book. It's very edgy but it has a backbone of good storytelling and that's what this award is about," he said.

Harvey said there were more than 250 entries from 60 Canadian publishers. A Newfoundland writer and author of The Town That Forgot How to Breathe, Harvey creates the shortlist of six or seven writers in each category. The awards are judged by a secret jury.

"This is a hard business. The more people that have a little attention and give their career a little boost and add another accolade to the things they have accomplished," he said.

"You get a really good overview of the new voices that are coming.''

The winners receive their prize, a gold ring, at the Ottawa International Writers Festival in October.

With files from CBC's Angela Antle