Stella Prize 2024 longlist announced

The longlist for the $60,000 Stella Prize for women and non-binary writers has been announced.

The longlisted books are:

• Praiseworthy (Alexis Wright, Giramondo)
• She Is the Earth (Ali Cobby Eckermann, Magabala)
• Feast (Emily O’Grady, A&U)
• Abandon Every Hope: Essays for the dead (Hayley Singer, Upswell)
• The Hummingbird Effect (Kate Mildenhall, Scribner)
• Body Friend (Katherine Brabon, Ultimo)
• The Swift Dark Tide (Katia Ariel, Gazebo Books)
• West Girls (Laura Elizabeth Woollett, Scribe)
• Graft: Motherhood, family and a year on the land (Maggie MacKellar, Penguin)
• Edenglassie (Melissa Lucashenko, UQP)
• Hospital (Sanya Rushdi, Giramondo)
• The Anniversary (Stephanie Bishop, Hachette).

Each of the authors with longlisted titles receives $1000 in prize money. The longlist was chosen from a pool of 227 entries by judge chair Beejay Silcox and fellow judges Eleanor Jackson, Cheryl Leavy, Bram Presser and Yves Rees.

The majority of books on the longlist come from independent Australian publishing houses, with the judges praising the vital role small independent publishers play in diversifying the Australian literary landscape. ‘Our cultural conversation is so profoundly enriched by their risk-taking,’ said Silcox.

‘After more than five months of solid reading, it took less than twenty minutes for us to lock down our finalists, so fervent was our consensus,’ said Silcox. ‘The books on this list have emphatically—joyfully—earned their place. The swiftness of our decision feels particularly remarkable given the astonishing quality of this year’s entrants. After years of pandemic enervation and isolation, it feels as if something new is brewing in Australian letters—a literature of ambition. “Ambitious” is a barbed little word in this country, especially for women. But it’s a word we are determined to rescue from the misogyny, faint praise and tall poppy sneering.’

The Stella Prize is awarded annually to one outstanding book by an Australian woman or non-binary writer, which is deemed to be ‘original, excellent, and engaging’. Six shortlisted titles will be announced on 4 April and the winner will be announced on 2 May.

The winner of last year’s Stella Prize was Sarah Holland-Batt for The Jaguar (UQP), which was the second poetry collection to win the award.

More information about the Stella Prize and this year’s longlist is available on the Stella Prize website.

Category: Awards Local news