Small presses shine in Stella shortlist

Six ‘culture shifting’ books have been shortlisted for the $60,000 Stella Prize, which recognises the best books by Australian women.
The spines of six books are shown lined up against a greenish-yellow background.

For the first time in its 11-year history, all six books shortlisted for this year’s Stella Prize – an annual prize for Australian books by women writers that are original, excellent and engaging – are published by small or independent publishers.

Two works of non-fiction, a graphic memoir, one book of poetry and two novels have been shortlisted.

Each of the shortlisted authors receives $4000 in prize money.

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Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts