The 2021 Stella Prize saw over 160 entries. Stella’s judges — Zoya Patel (Chair), Jane Harrison, Elizabeth McCarthy, Ian See and Tamara Zimet — have selected six outstanding books for the 2021 Stella Prize shortlist.
Chair of the 2021 Stella Prize Judging Panel, Zoya Patel, says of the shortlist:
“The 2021 Stella Prize shortlist truly demonstrates the immensity of talent in Australian women and non-binary authors. This shortlist is varied, diverse, and reflects on urgent themes across the gamut of human experience. These books explore grief, loss, joy, hope, and anger. They feature strong and imposing women characters and authorial voices, and as diverse as they are in style, tone and topic, they are united by their expression of the Stella criteria of original, excellent and engaging.”
Stella is grateful to the ongoing support of The Trawalla Foundation, allowing each shortlisted author to receive $2,000 in addition to the $1,000 awarded to each longlisted author, thanks to the generous support of the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund.
The winner of the 2021 Stella Prize will be awarded $50,000 prize, thanks in 2021 to the generous support of the Wilson Foundation. The winner will join eight years’ of Stella Prize alumni, or as Jess Hill said in her 2020 acceptance speech, “…a group of writers at the height of their craft.”
The winner of the 2021 Stella Prize will be announced in a special online evening of storytelling and ideas on Thursday 22 April from 7pm AEST.
Free, bookings recommended. Closed captions available.
Stella needs your support to continue our work celebrating women’s writing in Australia! Please consider a donation when booking for this free event; donations are tax deductible and every dollar counts.
Eligible books were first published between 1 January and 30 December 2020 by women writers, and non-binary writers.
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