Earlier this week, the 2024 Stella Prize Longlist was announced!
“Stella” is a voice for gender equality and cultural change in Australian literature. This year, many inspiring and impactful pieces of literature have been selected for the 2024 prize, including “Feast” by Emily O’Grady and “Praiseworthy” by Alexis Wright.
Stella’s leading purpose since its founding in 2012, has been to support and promote books written by Australian women and non-binary writers and therefore, creating a more vibrant and diverse national culture.
Make sure to catch up on all these compelling titles before the shortlist and winner are announced in the coming weeks. You can shop in selected stores or online below:
“Abandon Every Hope: Essays For The Dead” by Hayley Singer
Abandon Every Hope mournfully investigates the literatures of the slaughterhouse and a world motivated by profitable death, to ultimately ask- where does this horror begin and how can it end?
“Body Friend” by Katherine Brabon
From the acclaimed author of The Memory Artist and The Shut Ins comes a new novel about the relationship between body and self, and how we must dive beneath the surface to really know ourselves.
“Graft” by Maggie MacKellar
“Graft” is a gorgeously written reflection, set in Tasmania, on motherhood, farming, nature and home.
“Edenglassie” by Melissa Lucashenko
In this brilliant epic, Melissa Lucashenko torches Queensland’ s colonial myths, while reimagining an Australian future.
“Feast” by Emily O’Grady
Feast is the story of three women connected beyond blood, and what happens when their darkest secrets are hauled into the light.
“Praiseworthy” by Alexis Wright
Praiseworthy is an epic set in the north of Australia, told with the richness of language and scale of imagery for which Alexis Wright has become renowned.
“The Swift Dark Tide” by Katia Ariel
“The Swift Dark Tide” tracks the struggle of loving a man and a woman at the same time. Not only is it a captivating story of one relationship and its breathtaking beginnings, it is also a journey of family, migration, motherhood, and entrusting ourselves to our hearts and bodies.
“The Hummingbird Effect” by Kate Mildenhall
From the acclaimed author of The Mother Fault, “The Hummingbird Effect” is an epic, kaleidoscopic story of four women connected across time and place by an invisible thread – and their determination to shape their own stories.
“Westgirls” by Laura Elizabeth Woollett
Featuring an intersecting cast of glamour-hungry public schoolgirls, WAGs, mining heiresses, backpacker-barmaids, and cosmetic nurses, West Girls examines beauty, race, class divisions, and social mobility in Australia’s richest state. It’s also a devastating catalogue of the myriad, inventive ways in which women love and hurt one another.
“The Anniversary” by Stephanie Bishop
In this story, novelist JB Blackwood is on a cruise with her husband, Patrick, to celebrate their wedding anniversary. For days they sail in the sun… until a storm hits. When Patrick falls overboard, JB is left alone, as the search for Patrick’s body, the circumstances of his death and the truth about their marriage begins.
“Hospital” by Sanya Rushdi & Arunava Sinha.
Hospital is an extraordinary novel that portrays the experience of psychosis and its treatments in an unflinching and understated way, while struggling more broadly with the definition of sanity in our society.
“She Is The Earth” by Ali Cobby Eckermann
She Is the Earth is the luminous new verse novel from celebrated poet Ali Cobby Eckermann. It charts a journey through grief and celebrates the healing power of Country.
For more information on the Stella prize, you can visit their website here: https://stella.org.au/
