Stella Prize Archives | Michelle Scott Tucker

Joining the Stella team

In a move that surprised me as much as anyone else, I've been selected as the new Executive Director of the Stella Prize. My new role was announced today, and I'll be starting in early August. In a very short time, Stella has made an important impact on the Australian literary landscape. I feel excited – and privileged – to be selected to lead a team whose work remains so relevant and necessary. Not sure yet how, or if, my new role will change what I blog about. I guess [...]

Michelle Scott Tucker2018-07-03T12:36:00+10:00July 3rd, 2018|Life|15 Comments

Stella Prize 2017 Longlist

Wow - this might be the strongest Stella Prize field I've ever seen. Congratulations to all. This year’s longlisted titles are: Victoria: The Queen (Julia Baird, HarperCollins) Between a Wolf and a Dog (Georgia Blain, Scribe) The Hate Race (Maxine Beneba Clarke, Hachette) Poum and Alexandre (Catherine de Saint Phalle, Transit Lounge) Offshore: Behind the Wire on Manus and Nauru (Madeline Gleeson, NewSouth) Avalanche (Julia Leigh, Hamish Hamilton) An Isolated Incident (Emily Maguire, Picador) The High Places (Fiona McFarlane, Hamish Hamilton) Wasted: A Story of Alcohol, Grief and a Death [...]

Michelle Scott Tucker2018-03-24T01:52:27+11:00February 7th, 2017|Writing|14 Comments

Stella Prize Longlist 2016

It was standing room only in the Spiegeltent tonight, at the launch of the Stella Sparks campaign and the announcement of the 2016 Stella Prize longlist. Seven wonderful Australian writers (of fiction and non-fiction, prose and songs) each spoke to the assembled literati about Australian women writers that have inspired, provoked and moved them. Carrie Tiffany (Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living and Mateship with Birds) opened proceedings with a funny and heartfelt story about discovering Elizabeth Jolley's Palomino as a teenager. Tiffany borrowed it from the local library because the [...]

Michelle Scott Tucker2018-03-27T20:30:27+11:00February 10th, 2016|Writing|0 Comments

Stella Sparks – putting your money where your mouth is

I just donated $100 to the Stella Prize and it feels g-o-o-o-d. And if as if that wasn't enough, the nice people at the Stella have thrown in some sweeteners. Thanks, Stellas! They're going to send me two literary journals, in hard copy. That should up the IQ at my place. Apparently the journals will come with a groovy Stella tote. I shall leave it lying around in a casual yet stylish way that indicates how much of a literary insider I am. To whom this will be indicated I'm [...]

Michelle Scott Tucker2018-03-27T20:53:21+11:00January 14th, 2016|Writing|0 Comments

Stella Count Redux – more of the same, I’m afraid

The sterling people behind the Stella Prize* have updated their 2014 analysis of Australian book reviews. This time they examined The Saturday Paper and Sydney Review of Books to discover which authors are reviewed, and who does the reviewing. The answers are, sadly, unsurprising. Or perhaps the results are surprising, given that one might expect such good quality publications to be, oh I don't know, somehow better than that. Although two-thirds of Australian books published are written by women: ...at both the Sydney Review of Books and The Saturday Paper, [...]

Michelle Scott Tucker2018-03-21T14:55:35+11:00October 28th, 2015|Book Review, Writing|0 Comments

Newsflash: Winner of the 2015 Stella Prize is…

Emily Bitto, for her debut novel The Strays. Well. That goes straight to the TBR pile then. Bitto collects $50,000 for her win - congratulations! I've heard nothing but praise for all the shortlisted books, so my sincere congratulations to all of this year's writers: Christine Kenneally, The Invisible History of the Human Race Sophie Laguna, The Eye of the Sheep Ellen Van Neervan, Heat and Light Maxine Beneba Clarke, Foreign Soil Joan London, The Golden Age For the background stories behind each shortlisted book, try this piece, from The [...]

Michelle Scott Tucker2018-03-21T14:55:38+11:00April 21st, 2015|Writing|0 Comments

Prizes – Hazel Rowley, Stella and more

The 2015 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship was won by Caroline Baum. Baum, a freelance journalist, broadcaster and editorial director of Booktopia, will use the $10,000 fellowship to write a biography of Lucie Dreyfus, the wife of Alfred Dreyfus, who was falsely charged with treason in the late 19th century. The Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship encourages a writing proposal by funding travel and research. The focus is on, but not restricted to, biography. Read more about Baum's win here at Books + Publishing. *** The shortlist for the 2015 Stella Prize has [...]

Michelle Scott Tucker2018-03-21T14:55:39+11:00March 12th, 2015|Writing|0 Comments

Newsflash – Stella Prize Longlist Announced

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

Michelle Scott Tucker2018-03-21T14:55:40+11:00February 12th, 2015|Writing|0 Comments

The Stella Count – Women and Book Reviews

Sad fact: The majority of book reviews in Australian publications are still of books by male writers. The Stella Prize, in conjunction with Books+Publishing, has just released the statistics for the 2013 Stella Count, tracking the relative number of reviews of books by women as compared with books by men in most of the major newspapers and literary journals. This year, the Stella Count also indicates the genders of literary reviewers, and provides information on whether books by male or female writers are reviewed by male or female reviewers. Go [...]

Michelle Scott Tucker2018-03-21T14:55:43+11:00September 24th, 2014|Interesting Articles|0 Comments