The winner of the 2015 Stella Prize is announced tonight. I’m excited.

The Prize, in its third year, celebrates Australian women’s contribution to literature and is worth a tidy $50,000. Both fiction and nonfiction books are eligible for entry.

Over the past six weeks, I’ve participated in the Stella Prize Shortlist Book Group and although I don’t have my final review finished (Hawaii got in the way), I have read the complete shortlist and have #ALLTHEOPINIONS.

The books are as follows:

Foreign Soil by Maxine Beneba Clarke
The Strays by Emily Bitto
The Invisible History of the Human Race by Christine Kenneally
The Eye of the Sheep by Sofie Laguna
The Golden Age by Joan London
Heat and Light by Ellen van Neerven

The book I think (hope) will win: The Golden Age – it’s accomplished in every sense of the word. Foreign Soil is a strong contender because it’s relevant, contemporary and if the judges feel like awarding the prize to a short story collection, this would be the year. I have a soft spot for The Eye of the Sheep and would be thrilled if Laguna took home the Prize but for me, fresh from six weeks of reading, it’s all about The Golden Age. Stay tuned.