The Stella Prize 2021 longlist will be announced tomorrow night (tune in here).
Unlike the judges, I’ve only read a dozen or so eligible books but I’m aware of a bunch that keep crossing my radar. On that rather flimsy basis, I’m predicting the longlist*.
Phosphorescence by Julia Baird
Fathoms: The World in the Whale by Rebecca Giggs
A Room Made of Leaves by Kate Grenville
The Loudness of Unsaid Things by Hilde Hinton
Kokomo by Victoria Hannan
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
The Animals in That Country by Laura Jean McKay
The Mother Fault Kate Mildenhall
Stone Sky Gold Mountain by Mirandi Riwoe
Blueberries by Ellena Savage
Where The Fruit Falls by Karen Wyld
Loner by Georgina Young
Some of these selections are my personal wishlist, and if the list was 15 books long, I’d have included Show Me Where It Hurts by Kylie Maslen; Smart Ovens for Lonely People by Elizabeth Tan; and Hysteria by Katerina Bryant.
The shortlist will be announced on March 25 and the winner on April 22.
*The longlist is made up of twelve books, usually a mix of fiction and non-fiction, memoirs and short stories (all must have been published in 2020).
Most unknown to me although Sorrow and Bliss keeps popping up on my Twitter timeline
I imagine Sorrow and Bliss will appear in the UK (it is set in London and I assumed the author was British initially). I would love to see it longlisted, shortlisted and win the Prize (but fear it will be relegated to that category favoured by some publicists – ‘women’s fiction’ – and therefore dismissed as lightweight (which it isn’t).
Equally, I’d like to see Phosphorescence win – perhaps it was a case of reading the right book at the right time, but I got so much from it; have given copies to friends; and refer back to it frequently.
I hope it’s not like last year when a dozen books I’d never heard of (and didn’t fancy reading) got listed 🙄 I’d like to see The Animals in That Country make the cut. I don’t think it’s eligible (published only this week) but Debra Oswald’s The Family Doctor should be on the list. It rages against domestic violence in a way that is quite profound for what is essentially a crime novel come thriller. It’s extraordinarily good. I’ll likely review it next week.
Same – I was underwhelmed by last year’s longlist and wasn’t feeling particularly excited about any one book.
I haven’t read Animals yet but it’s in my reading stack (not the sort of thing I’d normally go for but the thing I enjoy about longlist reading is discovering authors and books that I wouldn’t have otherwise).
Oswald will have to wait for next year (but sounds like I should seek it out ASAP).
Can’t help thinking McKay and Riwoe will be in. And I’d like to see Wyld in too. Haven’t read any of these but they are on my radar. What about Vida? I think Lohrey’s Labyrinth is likely, and Tan’s Smart ovens though I haven’t read these yet, either. I don’t expect to have read much of the list this year, but what’s new? I’ve read Janson, Lynch and Paull but they may not have the recognition.
I’ve heard of only two – Phosphorescence (but only because it’s the starting book for 6 degrees this month) and the Kate Grenville which I have as an ebook and would have read months ago if it had been in paper format. I seem to buy ebooks and then forget all about them
I’m going to throw in a late suggestion, because I’ve been thinking all day – and that’s for Grace Karskens’ People of the river. Stella tends to like good and interesting history, though this may not be quite up their alley?
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Wrote my review, said my piece, I think Laura Jean McKay’s ‘The Animals in That Country’ will be the winner on sheer originality.