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Stella > The Stella Prize > 2022

The 2022 Stella Prize

Stella is delighted to announce Evelyn Araluen’s debut collection of prose and poetry, Dropbear, as the winner of the tenth annual Stella Prize.

  • 2023
  • Entries + Eligibility
  • Browse by Year
Longlist Announced
28 February 2022
Catch up on the broadcast
Shortlist Announced
31 March 2022
Read the announcement
Winner Announced
28 April 2022
Watch Evelyn Araluen's acceptance speech

2022 Winner

Evelyn Araluen

Dropbear

Poetry and Prose · University of Queensland Press

Dropbear is a breathtaking collection of poetry and short prose which arrests key icons of mainstream Australian culture and turns them inside out, with malice aforethought.

About the author

Evelyn Araluen is a poet, researcher and co-editor of Overland Literary Journal. Her widely published criticism, fiction and poetry has been awarded the Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers, the Judith Wright Poetry Prize, a Wheeler Centre Next Chapter Fellowship, and a Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund grant. Born and raised on Dharug country, she is a descendant of the Bundjalung Nation. Evelyn’s debut collection Dropbear won the 2022 Stella Prize.


2022 Stella Prize Shortlist

Eunice Andrada
TAKE CARE
Anwen Crawford
No Document
Evelyn Araluen
Dropbear
Jennifer Down
Bodies of Light
Lee Lai
Stone Fruit
Elfie Shiosaki
Homecoming

2022 Stella Prize

News
April 2022

Announcing the winner of the 2022 Stella Prize

Stella is delighted to announce Evelyn Araluen’s debut collection of prose and poetry, Dropbear, as the winner of the tenth annual Stella Prize.

Read
News
April 2022

Evelyn Araluen’s 2022 Stella Prize Acceptance Speech

Watch, or read, the full transcript of Evelyn Araluen’s acceptance speech delivered at the tenth annual Stella Prize Award Night.

Read
Events
April 2022

2022 Stella Prize Winner in Conversation at Sydney Writers’ Festival

Join us for this special event at Sydney Writers’ Festival as Evelyn Araluen discusses her 2022 Stella Prize-winning book Dropbear with Melissa Lucashenko.

Read

2022 Stella Prize Longlist

Randa Abdel-Fattah
Coming of Age in the War on Terror
Eunice Andrada
TAKE CARE
Anwen Crawford
No Document
Evelyn Araluen
Dropbear
Paige Clark
She Is Haunted
Jennifer Down
Bodies of Light
Anita Heiss
Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray
Lee Lai
Stone Fruit
SJ Norman
Permafrost
Elfie Shiosaki
Homecoming
Lucy Van
The Open
Chelsea Watego
Another Day in the Colony


Ironically, in a year when the pandemic has meant international (and some domestic) borders remain closed to most Australians, the Stella Prize has ranged further afield than ever. A distinct outward-looking flavour characterised the pool of 220+ entries. Many authors focussed on global affairs rather than on the Antipodean alone; much of the short fiction and poetry we read was set offshore, and at least two of the longlisted authors are Australian expatriates. So much for Fortress Australia.

The most obvious difference in 2022, though, has been the inclusion, for the first time, of poetry as an eligible genre. Of 227 entries, 38 were collections by poets. Four of the most outstanding of these have been longlisted. Many other powerful and appealing poetic voices inevitably fell by the wayside, in what has been an exceptionally strong year.

The nonfiction longlistees can be broadly summed up as both intensely thoughtful and fiercely outspoken. In the aftermath of Black Lives Matter and #MeToo, Stella writers are not holding back. These authors have married sharp analyses of particular issues – being young and Muslim in an age of toxic Islamaphobia; living in a neocolonial state which continually fails to recognise the rights of First Nations; grief for a lost companion in a world wracked by larger losses and wrongs – with an exhilarating boldness.

Five works of fiction make up the remainder of the list. We were delighted to include a compelling graphic novel in our longlist. This depiction of queer lovers struggling with difficult obligations to family and to each other is innovative in both form and content, as well as being an extremely enjoyable read.

Two incisive short fiction collections by relative newcomers impressed with their mastery of craft so early in their authors’ writing careers. Both the novelists chosen are, in contrast, already well-established as important Australian literary voices, and both are writing characters normally seen as marginal – foster children and rural Aboriginal people respectively. Notably, the longlist includes one of a very tiny handful of recent novels centering Aboriginal love – a quietly revolutionary narrative.

Australian women and non-binary writers are producing innovative, sophisticated literature in very difficult times. It has been a great privilege to read and assess their work for the 2022 Stella Prize.

– Melissa Lucashenko

Chair, 2022 Stella Prize judging panel


2022 Judges

Melissa Lucashenko (Chair)
Declan Fry
Cate Kennedy
Sisonke Msimang
Oliver Reeson

This program is proudly supported by:


    Stella Prize Award Sponsor


    Award Partners



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ARBN: 657 317 283


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