Announcing the Stella Prize 2020 Shortlist

On the eve of International Women’s Day on Friday 6 March, Australia’s ground- breaking prize championing women’s voices announces this year’s shortlist.

See What You Made Me Do by Jess Hill (Black Inc.)
Diving Into Glass by Caro Llewellyn (Penguin Random House)
There Was Still Love by Favel Parrett (Hachette Australia)
Here Until August by Josephine Rowe (Black Inc.)
The Yield by Tara June Winch (Penguin Random House)
The Weekend by Charlotte Wood (Allen & Unwin)

Louise Swinn, Chair of the 2020 Judging Panel, says:

“Writers across the gamut of their career appear on the 2020 Stella Prize shortlist, which includes authors who are household names alongside some we are just getting acquainted with. The six books on this year’s shortlist are all outward-looking, and they tell stories – of illness, family life, friendship, domestic abuse, and more – in remarkable ways. If language is a tool, or a weapon, then these writers use their skills with tremendous courage. We found a lot to be hopeful about here, too – not just at the stories being told, but at the quality of the art being produced.”

This year each shortlisted author will receive $2,000, in addition to the longlist announcement award of $1,000, the latter is thanks to the generous support of The Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund.

For the fifth year running, each of the shortlistees will also receive a writing retreat supported by the Trawalla Foundation. The Stella Grasstrees Writing Retreat provides shortlisted authors with a three-week immersive retreat at a house in Point Addis on the Victorian coast, including associated travel expenses.

Over these past eight years, the Stella Prize has become a flagship feature of the Australian literary calendar, significantly boosting book sales and raising author profiles.

The 2020 Stella Prize will be awarded in Sydney on the evening of Wednesday 8 April.

To find out more visit the Stella Prize website here.