The 2021 Stella Prize longlist has been announced:
- Fathoms: the world in the whale by Rebecca Giggs
- Revenge: Murder in Three Part, by S.L. Lim
- The Animals in That Country by Laura Jean McKay
- Witness by Louise Milligan
- Metal Fish, Falling Snow by Cath Moore
- The Wandering by Intan Paramaditha
- Stone Sky Gold Mountain by Mirandi Riwoe
- Blueberries by Ellena Savage
- Song of the Crocodile by Nardi Simpson
- Smart Ovens for Lonely People by Elizabeth Tan
- A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing by Jessie Tu
- The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld
Because the Stella nominations are announced alphabetically, I knew by book two that most of my predictions weren’t going to be listed (Baird, Hannon, Hinton and Mason – you were robbed!). Anyway, I correctly predicted four, continuing my crappy record.
I’ve already read two (Riwoe and Wyld); have a few in the reading stack ready to go (Giggs, Lim and McKay); and have placed a bunch of library reservations.
My first impressions – it’s an extremely varied list and, from what the judges had to say, it seems each book is complex (in terms of themes and structure). Do I have the stamina for reading ten complex books before the shortlist is announced? Unlikely. I’ll probably start with Giggs and her book about whales 🙂
The shortlist will be announced on March 25 and the winner on April 22.