In 2013, The Stella Prize, a major literary award that celebrates Australian women’s writing and Australian women writers was established. Named after one of Australia’s most iconic female writers, Stella Maria Sarah “Miles” Franklin, The Stella Prize seeks to:
- Recognise and celebrate Australian women writers’ contribution to literature
- Bring more readers to books by women and thus increase their sales
- Provide role models for schoolgirls and emerging female writers
- Reward one writer with a $50,000 prize – money that buys a writer some measure of financial independence and thus time, that most undervalued yet necessary commodity for women, to focus on their writing,
The Stella Prize also participates in the Stella Count, looking at how many male and female writers are reviewed each year for newspapers. This count is conducted to understand reading and reviewing habits, and hopefully, highlight more women writers, authors of various sexualities, ethnicities, race and gender identities, and also disabilities. The Australian Women Writer’s Challenge encourages this too – in reading more women writers whose identity can be made of one, or several of these distinctions, the profile of women writers is highlighted.
The Stella Prize has been running for five years. Below are the winners for each year, from the most recent to the earliest prize:
2017 Winner
The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose “The Museum of Modern Love is an unusual and remarkable achievement, a meditation on the social, spiritual and artistic importance of seeing and being seen. It is rare to encounter a novel with such powerful characterisation, such a deep understanding of the consequences of personal and national history, and such dazzling and subtle explorations of the importance of art in everyday life.”
2017 Shortlist
Between a Wolf and a Dog by Georgia Blain
The Hate Race by Maxine Beneba Clark
Poum and Alexandre by Catherine de Saint Phalle
The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose (Winner)
Dying: A Memoir by Cory Taylor
2017 Longlist:
Between a Wolf and a Dog by Georgia Blain
The Hate Race by Maxine Beneba Clark
Poum and Alexandre by Catherine de Saint Phalle
The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose (Winner)
Dying: A Memoir by Cory Taylor
Victoria by Julia Baird
Offshore by Madeline Gleeson
The High Places by Fiona McFarlane
Avalanche by Julia Lee
Wasted by Elspeth Muir
The Media and the Massacre by Sonya Voumard
2016 Winner
The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood
2015 Winner
The Strays by Emily Bitto
2014 Winner
The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka by Claire Wright
2013 Winner
Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany
Link to the website with the short and long lists for each year: http://thestellaprize.com.au/
I haven’t read many of the winners or the short and long list books yet, but have Burial Rites by Hannah Kent (2014), and The Golden Age by Joan London (2015) and a few undecided titles on my want to read list. I look forward to trying to read a few this year, and seeing what next year brings.
By these books here:
A great and worthwhile prize
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