It seems fitting that today, on International Women’s Day, the shortlist for the 2019 Stella Prize has been unveiled.
This relatively new prize, which is worth $50,000 to the winner, was set up in 2013 to champion women writers in Australia. Both fiction and non-fiction is eligible.
I would normally have posted the longlist, but I was travelling (in Australia) at the time of the announcement so never quite got around to it. (But if you are interested you can see it on the official website.)
As usual, I plan on reading everything on the short list (I made sure to buy pretty much the entire longlist when I was home), which comprises the following titles:
- Little Gods by Jenny Ackland (fiction)
- The Bridge by Enza Gandolfo* (fiction)
- Pink Mountain on Lotus Island by Jamie Marina Lau* (fiction)
- The Erratics by Vicki Laveau-Harvie (non-fiction)
- Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko* (fiction)
- Axiomatic by Maria Tumarkin* (non-fiction)
Please keep popping back here as I will update the hyperlinks above as and when I review each title.
The winner will be announced in Melbourne on Tuesday 9 April.
* These books are available in the UK as ebooks.
Reading Matters 
I’ll be linking to your review of Pink Locust when you get there. I have tried twice to read that book!
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Ooh, that sounds like it might be a bit of a challenging read. I see she’s only 20 years old!
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Look, don’t take any notice of me… I might just be showing my age!
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We’ll soon find out! I’m planning on reading it early next week.
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Such a great plan! reading Little Gods right now.
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Hope you’re enjoying it. I struggled to find a copy in WA when I was there. Looking forward to reading it.
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It was hard to find. Even in local libraries Eventually a library e book and e audiobook rescued me
Halfway through a seriously good read
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I’ll be interested in your reaction to Axiomatic! And Purple Mountain. I haven’t read the latter, but the former has garnered some very mixed opinions. I liked it though.
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I need to buy both these books as I couldn’t find them in Oz but knew they were available here as Kindle editions. I’m looking forward to reading the whole list. It seems quite a diverse bunch of books so I know there’s bound to be one or two I won’t like, but hopefully there will be a few I love!
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Hopefully there will be. You really liked The erratics. You’ll probably like Little gods, and from what I hear The bridge. I really also liked Axiomatic though I’m not sure it’s the sort of book to win. I’m really liking Too much lip. I have no idea about Lau’s book. Hmm, there’s a lot of “really liking” going on here isn’t there?
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I haven’t heard of any of these – look forward to hearing more about them.
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Stay tuned, Cathy 🙂
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Good move buying books while you were in Aus! I’m reading The Bridge at the moment and enjoying it. Locust Mountain up next (I borrowed it from the library), and then Little Gods (I have a copy). Still trying to get my hands on the other two…
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Hmmm…. not sure the bank account agrees… I came home with 15 books in my suitcase!
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