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Fiction dominates Stella Prize long list 2016 for great books written by female Australian author

StellaLonglist pix

Novels and collections of short stories including work by Elizabeth Harrower, Charlotte Wood and Amanda Lohrey dominate the long list $50,000 annual Stella Prize which celebrates great books, fiction and non-fiction, by female Australian authors. The only non-fiction book to make the list is Small Acts of Disappearance : Essays on Hunger by Fiona  Wright. The full long list is:

Australia’s emerging young writers get a boost with Hachette’s new $10,000 prize

Australia’s support for its community of vibrant young writers has received another boost with the launch by Hachette Australia of a new prize for emerging writers to be run in conjunction with The Guardian Australia and the Emerging Writers Festival. The winner of the Richell Prize, named after Matt Richell, the former CEO of Hachette Australia  who died suddenly last year, will receive $10,000 in prize money plus one year’s mentoring with one of Hachette Australia’s publishers.

Stella Prize finalists reveal the inspiration behind their books

Joan London (right) wanted to write about the 1950s, “the time of her childhood.” Emily Biffojoan-london-584x850 wanted to write about a group of people attempting to separate themselves from mainstream culture. And Elen Van Neervan wanted to ask questions about Indigenous governance in Australia, and issues like land rights, identity and love. Each of the six finalists for the Stella Prize for Fiction, the winner of which will be announced next week, has explained the inspiration behind their shortlisted books in a series of revealing interviews with The Guardian.

Maxine Beneba Clark whose collection of short stories Foreign Soil is published bymaxine-portrait-584x757 Hachette, said she was looking at “people trying to find a place for themselves in the world – about the search for a true place to call home, about the things we gain when we migrate, and the all-consuming heartache of our leaving, even as we find the very things we’re looking for”.

Ellen van Neerven’s Heat and Dust is the work of a new and persuasive voice

0003383_300One of the reasons I so look forward to the list of finalists for literary prizes is that they often introduce readers to authors they might otherwise not have encountered. When the judges release their list it’s like five or six of your closest friends saying, “you’ll like this book.” And I did like this book.

Ellen van Neerven is one of six authors recently shortlisted for the Stella prize for women writers, one of Australia’s most prestigious awards. Her debut book is Heat and Light which consists of three elements. Heat, a collection of interconnected stories centering around the Kresinger family particularly the mysterious

Stella Prize shortlists six of the best in writing by Australian women

Journalist and author Christine Keneally is the only non-fiction author to make it onto the shortlist of Australia’s prestigious  The Stella Prize for women writers announced today. Her The Invisible History of the Human Race looks at the role of DNA in shaping us, and our world.

The other five finalists are:

  •  Joan London’s The Golden Age (Random House)
  • Emily Bitto’s  The Strays (Affirm Press)
  • Ellen van Neerven’s Heat and Light (UQP,
  • Sofie Laguna’s The Eye of the Sheep (Allen & Unwin
  • Maxine Beneba Clarke’s Foreign Soil (Hachette)

In announcing the shortlist,  Stella Prize executive director Aviva Tuffield said: “These six remarkable books explore themes of identity, family, displacement and belonging, with distinctly Australian resonances.’’ The winner will be announced on Tuesday 21 April. Previous recipients of the prize are Carrie Tiffany’s Mateship with Birds (2013) and Clare Wright for The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka (2014).

Below is the Stella Award’s synopsis of each of the finalists.

Longlist for Australia’s Stella Prize celebrating women authors, is announced

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Joan London’s poignant The Golden Age and The House of Grief, Helen Gardner’s harrowing reportage of a crime that shocked the world, are standouts on the longlist for Australia’s prestigious $50,000 Stella Prize, which celebrates women authors, and which was announced yesterday. The longlist for the Prize, which was first awarded in 2013, also includes three debut writers.

Full long list is:

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