The 2024 Stella Prize Shortlist has been announced! The twelve nominees have been whittled down to six finalists in the running for this important literary award.
The 2024 shortlist is as follows:- Katia Ariel - The Swift Dark Tide
- Katherine Baron - Body Friend
- Emily O'Grady - Feast
- Sanya Rushdi - Hospital
- Hayley Singer - Abandon Every Hope
- Alexis Wright - Praiseworthy
For more information about these titles, see my post on the longlist.
In compiling this shortlist, the chair of the judging panel, Beejay Wilcox, says:
“All of life and death is here in these pages: illness, madness, love, sex, slaughter, parenthood, sovereignty, climate, Country. But none of the books on this shortlist tell readers what to think. They do not hector, lecture or preach. Rather, they open spaces for doubt and self-examination; for disagreement and camaraderie; for rage, absurdity and exultation; for the grotesque and the gorgeous. They invite us in. And they trust us to make up our own minds. This is the quality that distinguished them in the judging room: their mighty generosity.”
I was not inspired by the longlist and am less excited by the shortlist. The only title that interests me is Feast. Again, I feel the prize should be targeting fiction only - or separated into categories - rather than a catch all. If I had to guess a winner, I would bet on Alexis Wright who is universally excellent.
The winner will be announced on 2 May 2024.