Twelve Australian women authors of books published in the last year have been selected from 150 entries to form the Stella Prize longlist.
A panel - Kerryn Goldsworthy, Corline Baum, Tony Birch, Sarah Blasko and Melissa Lucashenko - chose their pick of the best Australian writing by women authors.
The Stella Prize is in its third year and was established to celebrate Australian women writers and to increase their profile in the Australian literature scene. It is named after Stella Maria 'Miles' Franklin, the author of 'My Brilliant Career'.
Clare Wright was the winner of the 2014 Stella Prize for ‘The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka’. It is a narrative-driven, rewriting of the story of the Eureka Stockade from the perspective of women, previously excluded from the history.
It was based on ten years of archival research.
“Winning the Stella Prize was a real game changer for me. For one thing, my book which had been selling quite strongly actually sold out all over the country within 24 hours,” Ms Wright has told SBS.
“It definitely also brought a level of media attention to the book… And it just seemed to launch into the public imagination in a way that hasn’t gone away since then. I’ve spent the past year on a national speaking tour.
“All the statistics show that women are unrepresented in literary prizes, in the books pages in our major newspapers and magazines.”
Ms Wright says the vast majority of the books reviewed in this country are those written by men.
“And also, you could say, about topics that are considered to appeal to men. That flies directly in the face that most of the audience are women and so there needed to be a prize that drew attention to the great wealth of talent.”
Ms Wright says the Stella Prize is less about the winner, and more about celebrating the writers on the whole list.
“One of the things the list does is to show the range and breadth of talent that you can have: first time authors sitting against a literary icon like Helen Garner,” says Ms Wright.
“I think we should all be incredibly proud of the books written by women in this country.”
The 2015 Stella Prize winner will be announced on April 21.
The 2015 Stella Prize longlist
'Foreign Soil' by Maxine Beneba Clarke
'The Strays' by Emily Bitto
'Only the Animals' by Ceridwen Dovey
'This House of Grief' by Helen Garner
'Golden Boys' by Sonya Hartnett
'The Invisible History of the Human Race by Christine Kenneally
'The Eye of the Sheep' by Sofie Laguna
'The Golden Age' by Joan London
'Laurinda' by Alice Pung
'Nest' by Inga Simpson
'Heat and Light' by Ellen van Neerven
'In My Mother’s Hands' by Biff Ward
