{"id":54862,"date":"2016-02-10T15:49:52","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T04:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.booktopia.com.au\/?p=54862"},"modified":"2016-03-01T09:22:51","modified_gmt":"2016-02-29T23:22:51","slug":"the-2016-stella-prize-longlist-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2016\/02\/10\/the-2016-stella-prize-longlist-announced\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2016 Stella Prize Longlist announced!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The longlist for the 2016 Stella Prize has just been announced, and what an exciting list of Australian authors!<\/p>\n

Named after one of Australia\u2019s most important female authors, Stella Maria Miles Franklin, The Stella Prize celebrates Australian women\u2019s contribution to literature, awarded last year to Emily Bitto for The Strays.<\/em> <\/a><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss the chance to grab a copy of these fantastic books and judge them for yourself with the help of Booktopia.<\/p>\n

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The Women’s Pages<\/h2>\n

by Debra Adelaide<\/h3>\n

\"xthe-women-s-pages\"<\/a>Ellis, an ordinary suburban young woman of the 1960s, is troubled by secrets and gaps in her past that become more puzzling as her creator, Dove, writes her story fifty years later. Having read Wuthering Heights<\/em> to her dying mother, Dove finds she cannot shake off the influence of that singular novel: it has infected her like a disease. Instead of returning to her normal life she follows the story it has inspired to discover more about Ellis, who has emerged from the pages of fiction herself – or has she? – to become a modern successful career woman.<\/p>\n

The Women’s Pages<\/i> is about the choices and compromises women must make, their griefs and losses, and their need to fill in the absent spaces where other women – especially those who become mothers – should have been. And it is about the mysterious process of creativity, about the way stories are shaped and fiction is formed. Right up to its astonishing conclusion, The Women’s Pages <\/i>asserts the power of the reader’s imagination, which can make the deepest desires and strangest dreams come true.<\/p>\n

About the Author<\/b><\/p>\n

\"DebraDebra Adelaide is the author or editor of over twelve books, including the best-selling Motherlove series (1996-98) and Acts of Dog <\/i>(2003). Her novels include The Hotel Albatross (1995), Serpent Dust (1998) <\/i>and the best-selling The Household Guide to Dying<\/i> (2008), which was sold around the world. In 2013 she published her first collection of short stories, Letter to George Clooney, which was long- and short-listed for three literary awards. Her most recent book is the edited collection, The Simple Act of Reading (2015)<\/i>. She is an associate professor in creative writing at the University of Technology, Sydney.<\/p>\n

Learn more or grab your copy of The Women’s Pages<\/em> here<\/a><\/p>\n

Debra answers the Booktopia Book Guru’s Ten Terrifying Questions<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Other Side of the World<\/h2>\n

by Stephanie Bishop<\/h3>\n

\"xthe-other-side-of-the-world.\"<\/a>Cambridge, 1963: Charlotte is struggling. With motherhood, with the changes marriage and parenthood bring, with losing the time and the energy to paint. Her husband, Henry, wants things to be as they were and can’t face the thought of another English winter.<\/p>\n

A brochure slipped through the letterbox slot brings him the answer: ‘Australia brings out the best in you’.<\/p>\n

Despite wanting to stay in the place that she knows, Charlotte is too worn out to fight. Before she has a chance to realise what it will mean, she is travelling to the other side of the world. Arriving in Perth, the southern sun shines a harsh light on both Henry and Charlotte and slowly reveals that their new life is not the answer either was hoping for. Charlotte is left wondering if there is anywhere she belongs and how far she’ll go to find her way home…<\/p>\n

About the Author<\/b><\/p>\n

\"StephanieStephanie Bishop\u2019s first novel was\u00a0The Singing<\/i>, for which she was named one of the Sydney Morning Herald<\/i>\u2019s Best Young Australian Novelists. The Singing<\/i> was also highly commended for the Kathleen Mitchell Award. Her second novel,\u00a0The Other Side of the World<\/i>, was shortlisted for the 2014 Australian\/Vogel\u2019s Literary Award.<\/p>\n

Stephanie’s fiction and poetry have appeared in Southerly, Overland and Island and she is a frequent contributor to The Times Literary Supplement, The Australian, The Sydney Review Of Books, The Australian Book Review and the Sydney Morning Herald. She is a recipient of an Australia Council New Work Grant, an Asialink Fellowship, an Australian Society of Authors Mentorship, a Varuna Mentorship Fellowship and Varuna Residency Fellowship. She holds a PhD from Cambridge and is currently a lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of New South Wales.<\/p>\n