Stella news
Stella in the New Yorker
In 2009, women won just about every big literary prize there is: Herta Müller won the Nobel Prize in Literature, Hilary Mantel won the Man Booker Prize in Fiction, Elizabeth Strout won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, Alice Munro won the LA Times Book Prize in Fiction, the Orange Prize, and the Man Booker International Prize, but the shortlist for the Miles Franklin Prize, Australia’s most prestigious literary award, was woman-free.
Read more of this article which was first blogged in the New Yorker Online here.
“They are books that rattle our cages and dismantle our cultural scripts – books that brim with ideas and desires. Some are genre-bending and genre-busting; others are genre masterclasses. Some are quietly potent; others are bombastic and irrepressible. But they all demand – command – our full-hearted, full-minded attention..”
And, once again, nearly half of the books on our have longlist come from small/indie publishing houses, testament to the vital role these publishers play in diversifying the Australian literary landscape – our cultural conversation is so profoundly enriched by their risk-taking.
It has been an honour to chair the 2024 Stella Prize, and to read alongside such a compassionate and insightful panel. My deepest thanks to my fellow judges: Eleanor Jackson, Bram Presser, Yves Rees and Cheryl Leavy.
It is my second year in a row reading for Stella. Since August of 2022, I’ve read close to 500 works by Australian women and non-binary writers. The heartbeat of Australian writing is here. These writers deserve a global readership. It is culturally damning that the great majority of them struggle to eke out a sustainable career at home.
Just one reason why the Stella Prize matters.
Explore the latest from Stella
Melbourne Examining 13 years of Stella Authors Jennifer Down, Jessie Tu and Katherine Brabon as they examine 13 years of Stella, and …
Orange Finding Our Shelters Fiona Wright, author of The World was Whole, discusses her writing journey with Fiona Sweet. Fiona Wright is …
This month Stella celebrates Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright, the winner of the 2024 Stella Prize. This is an excerpt from her conversation …
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