Stella Prize

The Stella Prize is an Australian annual literary award established in 2013 for writing by Australian women in all genres, worth $50,000. It was originally proposed by Australian women writers and publishers in 2011, modelled on the UK's Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (formerly the Orange Prize for Fiction).[1]

The award derives its name from the author Miles Franklin, whose full name was "Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin."[2]

It was established by a group of 11 Australian women writers, editors, publishers and booksellers who became concerned about the poor representation of books by women in Australia's top literary prize, the Miles Franklin Award.[3][4]

"After a rapid acceleration in women's rights in the '70s and '80s, things have started to go backwards," Sophie Cunningham said in a keynote address at the 2011 Melbourne Writers' Festival. "Women continue to be marginalised in Australian culture and the arts sector – which likes to pride itself on its liberal values – is, in fact, complacent. Women are much less likely to win literary awards, to write reviews of books, or have their books reviewed. This, despite the fact they write about half the books published."[5]

Some commentators, such as Erin Handley writing in The Age, have said that fiction and non-fiction are different genres that should be judged separately, highlighting that this is an issue for the Stella Prize. But this is rejected by Dr. Kerryn Goldsworthy, the chair of the Stella judging panel, who stated that comparing fiction and non-fiction is "no harder than comparing books in general," and that "excellence is achievable in any form."[6]

Award winners

Year	Author	Title	Publisher
2020	Jess Hill	See What You Made Me Do[7][8]	Black Inc
2019	Vicki Laveau-Harvie	The Erratics[9][10]	Fourth Estate
2018	Alexis Wright	Tracker[11]	Giramondo Publishing
2017	Heather Rose	The Museum of Modern Love[12]	Allen and Unwin
2016	Charlotte Wood	The Natural Way of Things[13]	Allen and Unwin
2015	Emily Bitto	The Strays[14]	Affirm Press
2014	Clare Wright	The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka[15]	Text Publishing
2013	Carrie Tiffany	Mateship with Birds[16]	Pan Macmillan

Shortlists

Winners in bold.

2020[17]

• The Weekend — Charlotte Wood
• There Was Still Love — Favel Parrett
• The Yield — Tara June Winch
• Here Until August — Josephine Rowe
• See What You Made Me Do — Jess Hill
• Diving into Glass — Caro Llewellyn

2019[18]

• Little Gods — Jenny Ackland
• The Bridge — Enza Gandolfo
• Pink Mountain on Locust Island — Jamie Marina Lau
• The Erratics — Vicki Laveau-Harvie
• Too Much Lip — Melissa Lucashenko
• Axiomatic — Maria Tumarkin

2018[19]

• The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree – Shokoofeh Azar
• Terra Nullius – Claire G. Coleman
• The Life to Come – Michelle de Kretser
• An Uncertain Grace – Krissy Kneen
• The Fish Girl – Mirandi Riwoe
• Tracker – Alexis Wright

2017[20]

• Between a Wolf and a Dog – Georgia Blain
• The Hate Race – Maxine Beneba Clarke
• Poum and Alexandre – Catherine de Saint Phalle
• An Isolated Incident – Emily Maguire
• The Museum of Modern Love – Heather Rose
• Dying: A Memoir – Cory Taylor

2016[21]

• Six Bedrooms – Tegan Bennett Daylight
• Hope Farm – Peggy Frew
• A Few Days in the Country: And Other Stories – Elizabeth Harrower
• The World Without Us – Mireille Juchau
• The Natural Way of Things – Charlotte Wood
• Small Acts of Disappearance : Essays on Hunger – Fiona Wright

2015[22]

• Foreign Soil – Maxine Beneba Clarke
• The Strays – Emily Bitto
• The Invisible History of the Human Race – Christine Kenneally
• The Eye of the Sheep – Sofie Laguna
• The Golden Age – Joan London
• Heat and Light – Ellen van Neerven

2014[23]

• Burial Rites – Hannah Kent
• Night Games: Sex, Power and Sport – Anna Krien
• The Night Guest – Fiona McFarlane
• Boy, Lost: A Family Memoir – Kristina Olsson
• The Swan Book – Alexis Wright
• The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka – Clare Wright

2013[24]

• The Burial – Courtney Collins
• Questions of Travel – Michelle de Kretser
• The Sunlit Zone – Lisa Jacobson
• Like a House on Fire – Cate Kennedy
• Sea Hearts – Margo Lanagan
• Mateship with Birds – Carrie Tiffany

Longlists

2020[25]

• Lucky Ticket — Joey Bui
• Songspirals — Gay'wu Group of Women
• See What You Made Me Do — Jess Hill
• The House of Youssef — Yumna Kassab
• Diving into Glass — Caro Llewellyn
• When One Person Dies the Whole World is Over — Mandy Ord
• There Was Still Love — Favel Parrett
• Here Until August — Josephine Rowe
• This is How We Change the Ending — Vikki Wakefield
• The Yield — Tara June Winch
• The Weekend — Charlotte Wood
• Paper Emperors — Sally Young

2019[26]

• Little Gods — Jenny Ackland
• Man Out of Time — Stephanie Bishop
• Bluebottle — Belinda Castles
• The Bridge — Enza Gandolfo
• The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire — Chloe Hooper
• The Death of Noah Glass — Gail Jones
• Pink Mountain on Locust Island — Jamie Marina Lau
• The Erratics — Vicki Laveau-Harvie
• Eggshell Skull — Bri Lee
• Too Much Lip — Melissa Lucashenko
• Axiomatic — Maria Tumarkin
• The World Was Whole — Fiona Wright

2018[27]

• The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree — Shokoofeh Azar
• A Writing Life: Helen Garner and Her Work — Bernadette Brennan
• Anaesthesia: The Gift of Oblivion and the Mystery of Consciousness — Kate Cole-Adams
• Terra Nullius — Claire G. Coleman
• The Life to Come — Michelle de Kretser
• This Water: Five Tales — Beverley Farmer
• The Green Bell: A Memoir of Love, Madness and Poetry — Paula Keogh
• An Uncertain Grace — Krissy Kneen
• The Choke — Sofie Laguna
• Martin Sharp: His Life and Times — Joyce Morgan
• The Fish Girl — Mirandi Riwoe
• Tracker — Alexis Wright

2017[28]

• Victoria: The Queen" — Julia Baird
• Between a Wolf and a Dog — Georgia Blain
• The Hate Race: A memoir — Maxine Beneba Clarke
• Poum and Alexandra: A Paris memoir — Catherine de Saint Phalle
• Offshore: Behind the wire on Manus and Nauru — Madeline Gleeson
• Avalanche: A love story — Julia Leigh
• An Isolated Incident — Emily Maguire
• The High Places — Fiona McFarlane
• Wasted: A story of alcohol, grief and a death in Brisbane — Elspeth Muir
• The Museum of Modern Love — Heather Rose
• Dying, a memoir — Cory Taylor
• The Media and the Massacre: Port Arthur 1996—2016 — Sonya Voumard

2016[29]

• The Women's Pages — Debra Adelaide
• The Other Side of the World — Stephanie Bishop
• Panthers and the Museum of Fire — Jen Craig
• Six Bedrooms – Tegan Bennett Daylight
• Hope Farm — Peggy Frew
• A Few Days in the Country: And Other Stories — Elizabeth Harrower
• A Guide to Berlin — Gail Jones
• The World Without Us — Mireille Juchau
• A Short History of Richard Kline — Amanda Lohrey
• Anchor Point — Alice Robinson
• The Natural Way of Things — Charlotte Wood
• Small Acts of Disappearance : Essays on Hunger — Fiona Wright

2015[30]

• Foreign Soil – Maxine Beneba Clarke
• The Strays – Emily Bitto
• Only the Animals – Ceridwen Dovey
• This House of Grief – Helen Garner
• Golden Boys – Sonya Hartnett
• The Invisible History of the Human Race – Christine Kenneally
• The Eye of the Sheep – Sofie Laguna
• The Golden Age – Joan London
• Laurinda – Alice Pung
• Nest – Inga Simpson
• Heat and Light – Ellen van Neerven
• In My Mother’s Hands – Biff Ward

2014[31]

• Letter to George Clooney – Debra Adelaide
• Moving Among Strangers: Randolph Stow and My Family – Gabrielle Carey
• Burial Rites – Hannah Kent
• Night Games: Sex, Power and Sport – Anna Krien
• Mullumbimby – Melissa Lucashenko
• The Night Guest – Fiona McFarlane
• Boy, Lost: A Family Memoir – Kristina Olsson
• The Misogyny Factor – Anne Summers
• Madeleine: A Life of Madeleine St John – Helen Trinca
• The Swan Book – Alexis Wright
• The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka – Clare Wright
• All the Birds, Singing – Evie Wyld

2013[32]

• Floundering – Romy Ash
• Mazin Grace – Dylan Coleman
• The Burial – Courtney Collins
• The People Smuggler – Robin de Crespigny
• Questions of Travel – Michelle de Kretser
• Sufficient Grace – Amy Espeseth
• The Sunlit Zone – Lisa Jacobson
• Like a House on Fire – Cate Kennedy
• Sea Hearts – Margo Lanagan
• The Mind of a Thief – Patti Miller
• An Opening – Stephanie Radok
• Mateship with Birds – Carrie Tiffany

See also

• List of literary awards honoring women
• Sophie Cunningham

References

1. Alison Flood (4 May 2011). "Australian 'Orange prize' to promote women writers' status". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
2. Elizabeth Webby, writing at the Stellas, Miles Franklin and Kibble awards, The Conversation, 28 April 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014
3. "Stella Prize website".
4. Alison Flood (2 November 2012). "Canada and Australia launch women's literary prizes". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
5. Coslovich, Gabriella (29 August 2011). "Female-only literary prize puts gender on the agenda". Melbourne: The Age.
6. Erin Handley, The problem with the Stella Prize. , The Age, 6 May 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014
7. Evans, Kate (14 April 2020). "Winner of $50,000 writing prize dismantles 'the lazy old lies we associate with domestic abuse'". ABC News. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
8. Convery, Stephanie (14 April 2020). "Jess Hill wins $50,000 Stella prize for See What You Made Me Do, book investigating domestic violence". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
9. The 2019 Stella Prize. Retrieved 9 April 2019
10. Carey, Patrick (9 April 2019). "Stella Prize won by first-time author Vicki Laveau-Harvie for her memoir of family dysfunction, The Erratics". Australian Broadcasting Corporation News. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
11. The 2018 Stella Prize. Retrieved 13 April 2018
12. The 2017 Stella Prize. Retrieved 18 April 2017
13. "Charlotte Wood's The Natural Way of Things wins $50,000 Stella prize", The Guardian, 19 April 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2016
14. 2015 The Stella Prize, The Stella Prize. Retrieved 24 June 2015
15. Anne Maria Nicholson Stella Prize: Clare Wright wins $50,000 book award for The Forgotten Rebels Of Eureka, ABC News, 30 April 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014
16. Bronwyn Lea, Carrie Tiffany wins a Stella Prize of her own, The Conversation, 17 April 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2014
17. "Stella prize 2020: Charlotte Wood, Favel Parrett and Tara June Winch make shortlist". Books+Publishing. 6 March 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
18. "Stella Prize 2019 shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. 8 March 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
19. "The 2018 Stella Prize". Stella Prize. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
20. "The 2017 Stella Prize". Stella Prize. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
21. The Stella Prize 2016 Shortlist, The Stella Prize. Retrieved 10 March 2016
22. The Stella Prize 2015 Shortlist, The Stella Prize. Retrieved 24 June 2015
23. The Stella Prize 2014 Shortlist, The Stella Prize. Retrieved 24 June 2015
24. The Stella Prize 2013 Shortlist, The Stella Prize. Retrieved 24 June 2015
25. "See the 2020 Stella Prize longlist!". The Booktopian. 6 February 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
26. "The Stella Prize longlist 2019". Readings. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
27. "2018 Stella Prize Longlist". Stella Prize. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
28. "2017 Stella Prize Longlist". The Stella Prize. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
29. The Stella Prize 2016 Longlist, The Stella Prize. Retrieved 10 March 2016
30. The Stella Prize 2015 Longlist, The Stella Prize. Retrieved 25 June 2015
31. The Stella Prize 2014 Longlist, The Stella Prize. Retrieved 25 June 2015
32. The Stella Prize 2013 Longlist, The Stella Prize. Retrieved 25 June 2015

External links

• Stella Prize website