Highgate Hill author shortlisted for Stella Prize

The Stella Prize is pleased to announce the second-ever Stella Prize shortlist.  The Stella Prize is a $50,000 cash prize that celebrates Australian women’s contribution to literature.  Additionally, and excitingly, for the first time the other five shortlisted authors will also receive prize money of $2000, courtesy of the Nelson Meers Foundation. This carries forward the extraordinary gesture of the inaugural Stella Prize winner, Carrie Tiffany (Mateship with Birds), who last year shared $10,000 of her prize money with her fellow shortlisted authors.

The Stella Prize is open to works of both fiction and nonfiction.  From more than 160 entries, this year’s Stella Prize judges – critic and writer Kerryn Goldsworthy (chair); journalist and broadcaster Annabel Crabb; author and academic Brenda Walker; bookseller Fiona Stager; and writer and lecturer Tony Birch – selected a longlist of twelve books, which they have now narrowed down to a shortlist of six.Three works of fiction, three of nonfiction: six great books by Australian women.

The 2014 Stella Prize shortlist is (in alphabetical order of surname):

• Burial Rites by Hannah Kent (Picador)
• Night Games by Anna Krien (Black Inc)
• The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane (Penguin)
• Boy, Lost: A Family Memoir by Kristina Olsson (UQP)
• The Swan Book by Alexis Wright (Giramondo)
• The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka by Clare Wright (Text Publishing)

Executive Director of the Stella Prize, Aviva Tuffield, says: “We are thrilled at the high calibre of this year’s shortlist: six impressive yet very different books, all meeting the Stella Prize’s criteria of excellent, engaging and original works. We are so grateful to our judges for the dedication and rigour they have demonstrated in selecting this fabulous and diverse shortlist. And we are delighted that the Nelson Meers Foundation has granted us prize money for this year’s shortlistees.”

Sam Meers, Co-founder and Trustee of the Nelson Meers Foundation, says: “The Nelson Meers Foundation is proud to be able to support Carrie Tiffany’s generous gesture of last year by providing the prize money for the shortlisted Stella Prize authors in 2014, and we congratulate each of these authors on such a significant achievement. We hope that the prize money not only enhances this achievement, but will also provide the opportunity for a research trip, or some time away from paid work, to assist these talented writers to complete their next book. We are delighted to be able to support the Stella Prize in its goal to encourage more great books by talented Australian women.”

The winner of the 2014 Stella Prize will be announced at an award ceremony in Sydney on the evening of Tuesday 29 April.