International Women’s Day is the backdrop for yet another literary award announcement, with the shortlist for the 2017 Stella Prize being unveiled to the public.
The Stella Prize, named for Stella Maria Sarah ‘Miles’ Franklin, is an annual prize dedicated to celebrating Australian women’s contribution to literature and is open to both fiction and non-fiction titles. Beginning life in 2011 as a panel discussing the underrepresentation of women in the literary pages of Australian newspapers and major literary awards. The inaugural Stella Prize was awarded in 2013 to Carrie Tiffany for her second novel Mateship with Birds. The award is now in its fourth year.
The six books making up this years shortlist are as follows:
Between a Wolf and a Dog – Georgia Blain
The Hate Race – Maxine Beneba Clarke
Poum and Alexandre – Catherine de Saint Phalle
An Isolated Incident – Emily Maguire
The Museum of Modern Love – Heather Rose
Dying: A Memoir – Cory Taylor
Brenda Walker, chair of the 2017 judging panel, says: “The 2017 Stella Prize shortlist celebrates books that combine extraordinary literary accomplishment with the social and familial reverberations of some of the most significant issues of our time: racism, violence against women, the aftermath of totalitarianism, the place of art in everyday life and the way we confront our individual mortality.”
Each of the shortlisted authors will receive $3000 and a three week immersive writing retreat on the Victorian coast supported by the Trawalla Foundation. The winning author will receive $50,000 in prize money with the announcement to take place on 18th April 2017.
For more information on the Stella Prize and the work they undertake visit HERE
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