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

Shortlists

Winners in bold.

2018^[13]

• 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^[14]

• 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^[15]

• 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^[16]

• 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^[17]

• 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^[18]

• 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

2018^[19]

• 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^[20]

• 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^[21]

• 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^[22]

• 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^[23]

• 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^[24]

• 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

• Sophie Cunningham

References

External links

• Stella Prize website