Stella Prize shortlist announced

Australia’s Stella Prize has cut its 2026 field down to six books, and the shortlist is unusually mixed: two novels, one memoir, one poetry collection, one graphic novel and one hybrid work about violence and the law. The winner of the 60,000 Australian dollar prize will be announced on May 13, 2026. (stella.org.au) The Stella Prize is one of Australia’s best-known literary awards, and it is specifically for books by women and non-binary writers. Stella says the prize exists to promote those writers “in all their diversity” and to push for a more equitable literary culture. (stella.org.au, avidreader.com.au) This year’s shortlist came from 212 entries, which were first narrowed to a 12-book longlist in March and then to six on April 8 and 9, 2026. The judging panel is chaired by Sophie Gee and includes Jaclyn Crupi, Benjamin Law, Gillian O’Shaughnessy and Ellen van Neerven. (stella.org.au, stella.org.au) The six shortlisted books are *The Rot* by Evelyn Araluen, *Memorial Days* by Geraldine Brooks, *Fireweather* by Miranda Darling, *Cannon* by Lee Lai, *58 Facets: On Violence and the Law* by Marika Sosnowski, and *I Am Nannertgarrook* by Tasma Walton. The publishers range from large houses like Hachette and Scribe to smaller literary presses like Giramondo, University of Queensland Press and Bundyi. (booksandpublishing.com.au) That spread of formats is part of the point. Stella’s judges said the final six show “creative vitality, literary rigor, and expressive richness,” and the official shortlist description notes that the books move across time, place and form rather than clustering around one safe genre. (stella.org.au, readings.com.au) One book stands out on format alone: *Cannon* by Lee Lai is the graphic novel on the list, which means a comics work is competing directly against prose, memoir and poetry. Another outlier is *58 Facets: On Violence and the Law*, which Stella describes as hybrid critical and creative writing rather than a standard non-fiction book. (stella.org.au) The shortlist also keeps a strong Indigenous presence in view. Tasma Walton’s *I Am Nannertgarrook* and Evelyn Araluen’s *The Rot* both come through a literary culture in Australia where questions of Country, language, history and inheritance have become central rather than peripheral to major prize lists. (booksandpublishing.com.au, stella.org.au) Geraldine Brooks is the most internationally familiar name on the shortlist, and her inclusion puts a globally known novelist beside writers who are better known inside Australian literary circles. That mix is often how the Stella list works in practice: one or two books arrive with an existing audience, and the shortlist gives the others a much bigger shop window. (booksandpublishing.com.au, russh.com) The ceremony calendar is already set. Stella held its shortlist event in Surry Hills, Sydney, on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, with Kate Evans and Amy Thunig-McGregor presenting the conversation around the six books before the winner is named in May. (stella.org.au) If you use prize lists as a reading map, this one is less a stack of lookalike novels than a six-book cross-section of what Australian publishing is backing right now. Poetry, comics, memoir, legal criticism and fiction all made the final cut, which tells you the judges were rewarding range as much as reputation. (stella.org.au, booksandpublishing.com.au)