Stella Prize Winner 2025

The winner of the Stella Prize has been announced. Author Michelle de Krester won for her novel Theory and Practice.

Set in Melbourne in 1986, a young woman is researching the novels of Virginia Woolf. In bohemian St Kilda she meets artists, activists, students. She also meets Kit and as they become lovers, her work on Woolf is sidelined. Theory & Practice looks at desire and jealousy, truth and shame.

“Theory & Practice is an exceptional novel of hyper realism in which Michelle de Kretser, an author at the height of her powers, interrogates the messiness of life found in the gap between theory and practice.” - Astrid Edwards Judges' Chair.

Michelle de Krester gave a remarkable acceptance speech, well worth viewing (below), in which she spoke out against the atrocities in Gaza and made an impassioned plea for supporting the Palestinian people. In doing so she highlighted the cost of speaking out, and the willingness of the media, academia and others to equate commentary denouncing the genocide with anti-Semitism. Absolutely brilliant. 

International Booker Prize Winner 2025

The International Booker Prize 2025 Winner has been announced.

The Winner is Heat Lamp by Banu Mushtaq (translated by Deepa Bhasthi). 

Max Porter, Chair of the judges writes of this winner:

 

"Heart Lamp is something genuinely new for English readers. A radical translation which ruffles language, to create new textures in a plurality of Englishes. It challenges and expands our understanding of translation. These beautiful, busy, life-affirming stories rise from Kannada, interspersed with the extraordinary socio-political richness of other languages and dialects. It speaks of women’s lives, reproductive rights, faith, caste, power and oppression. 

 
‘This was the book the judges really loved, right from our first reading. It’s been a joy to listen to the evolving appreciation of these stories from the different perspectives of the jury. We are thrilled to share this timely and exciting winner of the International Booker Prize 2025 with readers around the world.’

The prize awards £25,000 to the author and £25,000 to the translator, in recognition of the essential work of translators in bringing fiction to a wider audience. 

Dublin Literary Award Winner 2025

The Dublin Literary Award Winner has been announced. After an extremely longlist of seventy-one titles, and a shortlist of six, the judges have determined a single winner.

The Winner of the 100,000 Euro prize is Canadian author Michael Crummey for The Adversary. 

The Adversary is set in an isolated outport in northern Newfoundland. Abe Strapp is planning to marry the daughter of a rival merchant, when Widow Caines disrupts his nuptials. Two mercantile firms - the Caines and the Strapps - are now on a collision course, and locals are forced to take sides. This historical novel is Crummey’s sixth novel. 

The Storyteller

With only days to go before my overseas holiday, I didn't want to start a new novel. Perusing my shelves, I found Nobody's Looking at You (2019) is a collection of essays by the legendary Janet Malcolm. Rather than reading from cover to cover, I have dipped in and out of this collection for many years, savouring her brilliant writing and fascinating choice of subjects. This compilation of narrative non-fiction contains her work that has been previously published in the New Yorker and the New York Review of Books.

Highlights in this eclectic collection are many. The title essay 'Nobody's Looking at You' is about Eileen Fisher, 1980s fashion designer. Performance Artist' about concert pianist Yuja Wang. Malcolm interviews journalist Rachel Maddow for 'The Storyteller'.

Some essays have a nostalgic flair. 'Three Sisters' follows the owners of the Argosy book shop, a family business passed does the generations. 'The Emigre' covers George Jellinek's final taping of The Vocal Scene, his radio show broadcast for thirty-six years. Malcolm writes lovingly about a fellow migrant.   

I was intrigued by her essay 'The Art of Testifying', where Malcolm looks at the ways in which Supreme Court nominees have charmed Congress during their confirmation hearings. It was interesting to read about Justice David Souter (who passed away last week) and the Clarence Thomas hearings, which I remember well.

Malcolm's essays regarding authors and books are delightful, as she writes about Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, Ted Hughes, and reviews Helen Garner's book The First Stone. 

One of my favourite essays is 'Socks' about Constance Garnett's translations of Anna Karenina and attempts by other translators to modernise the language have seen this classic novel loose some of the poetry and magic. 'Remember the Ladies' looks at Alexander McCall-Smith's No 1 Ladies Detective series, which Malcolm clearly loves.

Not all the essays work well for me. 'Comedy Central on the Mall' is one which kind of feels like you had to be there to get it. 'Pandora's Click' is a review of a book about email, which Malcolm originally published in 2007. Now it is terribly dated.

I have read a number of Malcolm's books (before I began blogging), including The Journalist and the Murderer (1990) and The Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes (1994). I admire her curiosity and intellect. She has a knack for finding interesting subjects for her sharp critical eye.

Pulitzer Prize Winners 2025

The 2025 Pulitzer Prize Winners have been announced with awards for Journalism and Books, Drama and Music. Let's take a look at the book award winners and finalists.

The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 

Huzzah! Percival Everett was awarded the Pulitzer for his novel James - a retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This is my favourite book of the past twelve months and I am so pleased that he was recognised. You can read my review here. Finalists were Rita Bullwinkel (Headshot), Stacey Levine (Mice 1961) and Gayl Jones (The Unicorn Woman).

The Pulitzer Prize for Drama

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has won for Purpose, a play about an upper middle class African-American family related to a civil rights activist. Finalists were Cole Escola for Oh, Mary! and Itamar Moses for The Ally.

The Pulitzer Prize for History

Two winners share this year's award: Edda L Fields Black for her work Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid and Black Freedom During the Civil War; and Kathleen DuVal for Native Nations: A Millennium in North America. Seth Rockman was a finalist for Plantation Good: A Material History of American Slavery.  

The Pulitzer Prize for Biography

Jason Roberts was recognised for his biography of Carl Linnaeus and George-Louis de Buffon in Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life. Finalists were David Greenberg for John Lewis: A Life and Amy Reading for The World She Edited: Katherine S White at the New Yorker.   

The Pulitzer Prize for Memoir or Autobiography

Tessa Hulls won for Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir - an account of three generations of Chinese women. Finalists were Alexandra Fuller for Fi: A Memoir of My Son and Lucy Sante for I Heard Her Call My Name: A Memoir of Transition.

The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

Marie Howe was recognised for her collection of poetry New and Selected Poems. Finalists were An Authentic Life by Jennifer Chang and Bluff: Poems by Danez Smith,

The Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction

Benjamin Nathans won for To the Success of our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement - an account of how courageous Russians fought for freedom. Finalists were Rollo Romig for I am on the Hit List: A Journalist's Murder and the Rise of Autocracy in India and Rachel Nolan's Until I Find You: Disappeared Children and Coercive Adoption in Guatemala.

Want more? Watch the prize announcement on YouTube below.

The Safe Keep

Roisin O'Donnell's debut novel Nesting (2025) is an unflinching look at the supports in place for Irish women fleeing domestic violence.

Ciara lives in Dublin with her husband Ryan and two young daughters, Sophie aged four and Ella aged two. Late one afternoon, Ciara makes an immediate decision. She grabs a bunch of clothes off the line, puts her girls in the car and leaves. Ciara has to break free from the coercive control of her husband and no longer feels safe at home. She has spent two many sleepless nights worrying about his wrath. The problem is, throughout their marriage Ryan has successfully isolated Ciara. She has no job, no friends and lives away from her family. Where will she turn?

Ciara looks for support and finds the system is broken. She is put up in a room at Hotel Eden, a depressing dive with strict requirements and a constant fear of being evicted. While there are other families in the same hotel - a whole floor dedicated to temporarily housing the homeless - and she befriends a neighbour who can assist her when child care is needed, it is not a long term solution. 

Ryan bombards her with text messages - alternating between declarations of love which have her doubting her decision, and belittling threats which make her fearful. Her inner voice has her questioning her decisions and her will to stay the course.  

Meanwhile, Ciara is attempting to rebuild her life and provide stability for her children. She spends countless hours trapped in the bureaucracy, filling in forms, waiting, calling for updates. She engages a lawyer. But each time she takes a step forward, she is forced two steps back. With little money, she does what she can for her children. All she needs is for someone, somewhere, to give her a chance. 

The characters are well crafted. Ryan is a terrible villain, but deftly written to showcase the charm that would have attracted Ciara to him and make outsiders unaware of his abuse. Ciara is an interesting character. We learn her backstory, about her studies, travels and other paths she may have chosen. 

There were a couple of things that didn't resonate for me - like the storyline about Ryan's birds which was an unnecessary distraction. But overall, I found this a compelling story about a woman seeking a safe place to call home.

Nesting is a brilliant indictment of the social care system in Ireland, showcasing how the broken, bureaucratic system fails to support people most in need. I described the plot to someone who said it sounded depressing, but I actually found it hopeful, and surprisingly a gripping powerful read. 

Roisin O'Donnell's Nesting was longlisted for the 2025 Women's Prize for Fiction. 

Carol Shields Prize Winner 2025

On 1 May 2025 the winner of the 2025 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction was announced. From the five shortlisted novels vying for this prize, the winner is Canisia Lubrin for Code Noir. 

The judges' citation is as follows:

“Code Noir contains multitudes. Its characters inhabit multi-layered landscapes of the past, present and future, confronting suffering, communion and metamorphosis. Canisia Lubrin’s prose is polyphonic; the stories invite you to immerse yourself in both the real and the speculative, in the intimate and in sweeping moments of history. Riffing on the Napoleonic decree, Lubrin retunes the legacies of slavery, colonialism and violence. This is a virtuoso collection that breaks new ground in short fiction.”

This debut fiction is based on a true set of fictional decrees passed by France's King Louis XIV in 1685, The fifty-nine articles defined the conditions of slavery in the French colonial empire. Lubrin's work is structured in fifty-nine linked fragments.

The winner receives $150,000 USD while the four shortlisted finalists receive $12,500 each. 

Revisiting David Copperfield

The first time I read Charles Dickens' David Copperfield (1850) I was in high school. We had just read Great Expectations as part of the English curriculum and, having enjoyed that, I sought out other Dickens titles. Over the past thirty years or so I have read a number of his books, including Bleak House (while at law school), Oliver Twist and others. 

In 2023 I started a re-read of David Copperfield as preparation for Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead (2022). Accompanied by the audiobook, superbly performed by Richard Armitage, I read about two-thirds before getting distracted and putting this on hold. But this novel has been looming unfinished on my to-be-read pile for some time, so I decided to complete it.

David Copperfield is a bildungsroman which follows the life of young Davy as he grows to adulthood. His father died before he was born, so his mother raises him in a house called the Rookery with a beloved housekeeper Peggotty. When he is seven, Davy's mother remarries the dreadful Mr Murdstone. His stepfather is cruel and sends him to Salem House, a terrible boarding school. While he is away at school, his mother dies and Murdstone inherits the Rookery, leaving David with nothing.

Murdstone sends David to work for a wine merchant in London. While in London he befriends Wilkins Micawber, a loveable landlord who is sent to a debtor's prison. Each time David seems to make friends, his life is upturned. With the Micawbers away, David travels to Dover to find his great-aunt Betsey Trotwood. Betsey renames him Trotwood Copperfield ('Trot') and send him to school where he resides with the kindly Mr Wickfield, his daughter Agnes and the devious clerk Uriah Heep. 

After finishing his education, David apprentices as a lawyer, struggling to get by. He becomes reacquinted with old school friends James Steerforth and Tommy Traddles, and like Charles Dickens' himself, David becomes an author. Eventually David finds love and marries. 

At the outset David asks 'Will I be the hero of my own life?" and the next 600+ pages he answers this question. Written in the first person, the novel is told from David's point of view so we see his naiveté and struggles to understand the adults around him in his childhood.  

Revisiting David Copperfield again, I loved becoming reacquainted with the many delightful characters - devoted Clara Peggotty, donkey-obsessed Betsey Trotwood, evil Mr Murdstone, friendly Micawber, odious Uriah Heep, and charming Steerforth - which make it an enjoyable read. My affection for some of these characters, and the wonderful depiction of them by Richard Armitage, made for a lovely re-read.  However, the novel is very long, as it was initially published as monthly instalments, and there were parts which I found a quite dull and wished to skip over. 

After finishing the novel, I took great pleasure in listening to Sam Mendes' audio production of David Copperfield. This condensed dramatisation is voiced by Ncuti Gatwa (David), Helena Bonham Carter (Betsey Trotwood), Theo James (Steerforth), Indira Varma (Jane Murdstone), Richard Armitage (Murdstone), Toby Jones (Micawber), Jessie Buckley (Peggotty) and Jack Lowden (Uriah Heep). This is a wonderful alternative for people who want to experience the story of David Copperfield without all the superfluous dull bits! Kind of wish I had done this first - as I likely would not have re-read the whole book again!