$1 million donation to Stella Forever Fund

On its tenth anniversary, the literary foundation that supports women writers has received a significant boost.

Paula McLean, a Sydney philanthropist and a previous Deputy Chair of the Stella prize, has gifted $1 million to the Stella Forever Fund in one of the biggest donations of its kind in Australia.

The Stella Prize, established in 2013, is Australia’s largest annual book prize for women writers (worth $50,000), and has made an important contribution to the careers of many female Australian writers since then.

Unlock Padlock Icon

Unlock this content?

Access this content and more

Thuy On is Reviews Editor of ArtsHub and an arts journalist, critic and poet who’s written for a range of publications including The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, Sydney Review of Books, The Australian, The Age/SMH and Australian Book Review. She was the books editor of The Big issue for 8 years. Her debut, a collection of poetry called Turbulence, came out in 2020 and was released by University of Western Australia Publishing (UWAP). Her second collection, Decadence, was published in July 2022, also by UWAP. Her third book, Essence, will be published in 2025. Twitter: @thuy_on Instagram: poemsbythuy