This morning the Stella Prize have announced their 2021 shortlist live on ABC Radio National’s Breakfast program.
The 2021 shortlist spans fiction and non-fiction and showcases the extraordinary talent and ingenuity on display across the Australian literary landscape. The 2021 prize saw the judges receive over 160 entries from Australian women and non-binary writers.
Earlier this month they announced a longlist of twelve books, now less than a month later, they’ve had the unenviable task of whittling it down to a mere six. Here is your 2021 Stella Prize shortlist:
- Fathoms: the world in the whale by Rebecca Giggs (Scribe Publications)
- Revenge: Murder in Three Parts by S.L. Lim (Transit Lounge)
- The Animals in That Country by Laura Jean McKay (Scribe Publications)
- Witness by Louise Milligan (Hachette Australia)
- Stone Sky Gold Mountain by Mirandi Riwoe (University of Queensland Press)
- The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld (Penguin Random House)
Here’s what Chair of the 2021 Stella Prize judging panel, Zoya Patel, had to say about 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.”
The 2021 Stella Prize winner will be announced during a special online event on Thursday April 22nd.
For more info on the prize and the shortlist, check out The Stella Prize website HERE.
