Better Reading Breaking Book News: Women Standing Up For Themselves

Prizes and Awards:

Stella Prize 2019 longlist announced:

The longlist for the 2019 Stella Prize, worth $50,000, has been announced. The prize seeks to recognise and celebrate Australian women writers’ contribution to literature, whilst also challenging gender disparities in the book industry.

The longlisted titles are as follows:

Little Gods (Jenny Ackland, A&U)

Man out of Time (Stephanie Bishop, Hachette)

Bluebottle (Belinda Castles, A&U)

The Bridge (Enza Gandolfo, Scribe)

The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire (Chloe Hooper, Hamish Hamilton)

The Death of Noah Glass (Gail Jones, Text)

Pink Mountain on Locust Island (Jamie Marina Lau, Brow Books)

The Erratics (Vicki Laveau-Harvie, Finch Publishing)

Eggshell Skull (Bri Lee, A&U)

Too Much Lip (Melissa Lucashenko, UQP)

Axiomatic (Maria Tumarkin, Brow Books)

The World Was Whole (Fiona Wright, Giramondo)

The shortlist will be announced on the 8th of March, with the winner of the prize being announced at a ceremony in Melbourne on the 9th of April.

Penguin Literary Prize 2019 Shortlist Announced:

Penguin Random House has announced the shortlist for the 2019 Penguin Literary Prize, valued at $20,000. Now in its second year, the prize seeks to find and develop new authors of literary fiction and non-fiction.

The shortlisted authors and their works are:

Imbi Neeme for ‘The Spill’

Steve Evans for ‘Water and Dust’

Christopher Raja for ‘Keysborough’

Sue Goldstiver for ‘Little Birds’

Kirsten Krauth for ‘Almost a Mirror’

The shortlist was chosen from more than 400 submissions. Along with the $20,000 prize money, the winner will also receive ‘the potential for publication’ with Penguin Random House, and will be announced during the annual Leading Edge Books conference in March.

News:

Australia’s Favourite author is…

Matthew Reilly has been voted ‘Australia’s Favourite Author’ in Booktopia’s annual poll for the second year running. The top ten finalists, published in a list on Booktopia’s website, were:

Matthew Reilly
Celeste Barber
Liane Moriarty
Tim Winton
Jane Harper
Anh Do
Mem Fox
Markus Zusak
Kate Morton
Monica McInerney

Events:

Library Lover’s Day:

Looking for something to do this Valentine’s Day? Library Lover’s Day will be held this year as always on the 14th of February, and the theme for 2019 is ‘Library Love Stories.’ ALIA is running a flash fiction competition open to all Australians; for more information, visit their website.

That’s it for the week. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for future bookish news bulletins. Happy reading!