Stella Prize Winner 2023

The winner of the Stella Prize was announced tonight. Sarah Holland-Batt was  awarded the prize for her poetry collection The Jaguar. 

Holland-Batt's poetry is about the grief and loss of her father from Parkinson's disease. These poems reflect on mortality. Holland-Batt has previously been recognised with the 2016 Prime Minister's Literary Award for poetry. The judges write 'accessible, lyrical and wise, this is a book from a poet at the height of her powers.' 

Sarah Holland-Battt received the award and its $60,000 prize money. She is an award-winning poet and Professor of Creative Writing and Literary Studies at QUT. Her previous works include Aria and The Hazards, the latter earning Holland-Batt the 2016 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Poetry.

In announcing this prize, the Chair of the Judging Panel, Alice Pung, said:

"In The Jaguar, Sarah Holland-Batt writes about death as tenderly as we’ve ever read about birth. She focuses on the pedestrian details of hospitals and aged care facilities, enabling us to see these institutions as distinct universes teeming with life and love. Her imagery is unexpected and unforgettable, and often blended with humour. This is a book that cuts through to the core of what it means to descend into frailty, old age, and death. It unflinchingly observes the complex emotions of caring for loved ones, contending with our own mortality and above all – continuing to live." 

This is the second consecutive year the prize has been awarded to a poet, following the 2022 award to Evelyn Araleun for Dropbear.