The event opened with a Welcome to Country given by Aunty Kathryn Fisher, a First Nations elder from Magandjin (Meanjin). She was born and grew up on Cherbourg Aboriginal Reserve, and is linked to the Turrbal People through kinship ties. She talked about our shared histories and, interestingly, quoted Albert Einstein’s statement that “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking”. Think about that, she said. Her acknowledgement, as she framed it, was beautiful and generous, and ended with song in language.

She was followed by several speakers, including emcee Suzy Wilson (who, among other things, has been a Stella Judge and founder of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation), Megan McCracken (the Chair of Stella’s Board), Fiona Sweet (Stella’s CEO) and Sophie Gee (the Chair of the Judges). The point was made that this was the first time the announcement has been made outside Sydney or Melbourne, and that next year it will be in Perth. Stella, in other words, continues to think about how to be more inclusive in their practice, across the breadth of what they do.

Then, after the shortlisted authors read short excerpts from their books, the winner was announced and the award presented by Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO … The winner is ….

Lee Lai’s Cannon

Publisher Giramondo’s site describes the book as “a mordantly funny and emotionally turbulent slice of friendship strife”. In addition to the Stella, it has been shortlisted for many awards: Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards for Fiction (2026); the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction (2026); QWF Literary Awards for Fiction (2025); GLAAD Media Awards for Outstanding Original Graphic Novel/Anthology (2025); the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Graphic Novel/Comics (2025); the Doug Wright Awards for Best Book (2026). I look forward to reading it. Although I’m a textual person and don’t find reading graphic novels easy, I think it’s exciting to see a graphic novel win. And, whether or not it would have been my choice, I trust the judges to have made a good decision.

Now, I have to say that advance promotion for the event quoted Sophie Gee as saying that:

“This year’s winner is a delight that goes right to the heart. Be ready for the unexpected, the surprising and genre-defying. This year’s judges couldn’t resist the winning book’s combination of seriousness and playfulness. We loved how the writer tells the stories of many women’s lives, captured in a page-turning narrative that’s beautifully disciplined, emotionally rich and by turns disarmingly funny and alarmingly true to life.”

From this it was pretty obvious which book was going to be the winner, since no other book could really be described that way!

Anyhow, Lee Lai then spoke, and her speech will, I assume be on the website soon. She admitted to being very nervous because her business is more pictures than words! She talked about the original of the book during the pandemic, when she saw inequalities increase. Then, genocide was unleashed on Gaza in 2023. She thought about what she could do, and decided that her real value was not as an artist but as a neighbour – and it is this that informs her book, which is about historical and ongoing colonial terror, about love and rage. She also said she was the first trans person to win the Stella.

Just to remind you, the shortlist was:

• Evelyn Araluen, The rot (poetry) (on my TBR) (CWF Session 5and 6) (Jonathan’s review) (kimbofo’s review) 
• Geraldine Brooks, Memorial days (memoir) (review coming) (Kate’s review) (kimbofo’s review) 
• Miranda Darling, Fireweather (novel) (on my TBR) (kimbofo’s review) 
• Lee Lai, Cannon (graphic novel)
• Marika Sosnowski, 58 facets: On violence and the law (nonfiction) 
• Tasma Walton, I am Nannertgarroook (novel) (my review)

The judges were bookseller, editor, and author, Jaclyn Crupi; academic, author and chair, Sophie Gee; author, screenwriter, and broadcaster, Benjamin Law; journalist, writer, and facilitator, Gillian O’Shaughnessy; author and editor, Ellen van Neerven.

I have now read nine of the 14 winners: Carrie Tiffany’s Mateship with birds (2013, my review), Clare Wright’s The forgotten rebels of Eureka (2014, my rview), Emily Bitto’s The strays (2015, my review), Charlotte Wood’s The natural way of things (2016, my review), Heather Rose’s The museum of modern love (2017, my review), Alexis Wright’s Tracker (2018), Vicki Laveau-Harvie’s The erratics (2019, my review), Jess Hill’s See what you made me do (2020, my review), Evie Wyld’s Bass Rock (2021), Evelyn Araluen’s Dropbear (2022, my review), Sarah Holland-Batt’s The jaguar (2023), Alexis Wright’s Praiseworthy (2024), and Michelle de Kretser’s Theory & practice (2025, my review).

“Writers shape our culture and spark new ways of seeing the world” (Megan McCracken, I think)

Thoughts anyone?