Stella Prize 2019 longlist announced

Friday, 8 February 2019 Books+Publishing

The longlist for the 2019 Stella Prize, worth $50,000, has been announced.

The longlisted titles are:

Little Gods (Jenny Ackland, A&U)
Man Out of Time (Stephanie Bishop, Hachette)
Bluebottle (Belinda Castles, A&U)
The Bridge (Enza Gandolfo, Scribe)
The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire (Chloe Hooper, Hamish Hamilton)
The Death of Noah Glass (Gail Jones, Text)
Pink Mountain on Locust Island (Jamie Marina Lau, Brow Books)
The Erratics (Vicki Laveau-Harvie, Finch Publishing)
Eggshell Skull (Bri Lee, A&U)
Too Much Lip (Melissa Lucashenko, UQP)
Axiomatic (Maria Tumarkin, Brow Books)
The World Was Whole (Fiona Wright, Giramondo)

The shortlist will be announced on 8 March and the winner of the prize will be announced at a ceremony in Melbourne on 9 April.

The longlist comprises seven works of fiction and five of nonfiction. Seven of the titles are published by small presses.

Chair of judges and Stella Prize co-founder Louise Swinn said: ‘Some on this longlist are topical, others are timeless. All of these books—covering sexual assault, arson and its consequences, parental neglect, issues of mental health, dysfunctional and complicated family life, chronic illness, and inherited pain—capture the spirit of the age. Among their many notable qualities is a readiness to take risks with form. Many of these books, while not always being thrillers, had the quality of a thriller, and along with a consistently high literary quality these books managed to grab and maintain a high level of interest from go to whoa … There is much provocation in these titles—subtle as well as overt—and while the overall quality is incredibly high, these books are each gratifyingly singular.’

This year’s prize is judged by Swinn, author Michelle de Kretser, journalist and ABC presenter Daniel Browning, investigative journalist Kate McClymont and Sydney Writers Festival head of children’s and YA programs Amelia Lush.

The Stella Prize is presented for the best work of fiction or nonfiction by an Australian woman published in the previous calendar year.

Alexis Wright won last year’s Stella Prize for her ‘collective memoir’ Tracker (Giramondo).

Category: Awards Local news