The list of Stella Prize winners provides us with a glimpse of the exciting contemporary voices in the Australian literary landscape. Each year, an excellent, original and outstanding book, written by an Australian woman or non-binary writer, wins the prestigious literary award.
According to the Stella Prize website, the purpose of the prize is to “promote books by Australian women writers in all their diversity, support greater participation in the world of literature, and create a more equitable and vibrant national culture”.
The inaugural prize was awarded in 2013. Here is a list of all the Stella Prize winners, and where you can purchase them.
The complete list of Stella Prize winners
2025
Theory & Practice – Michelle de Kretser
Fiction · Text Publishing
A mesmerising account of desire and jealousy, truth and shame. It’s 1986, and a young woman arrives in bohemian St Kilda to research the novels of Virginia Woolf. But twists of life and love send her work into disarray.
Buy Theory & Practice from Dymocks, QBD Books or Amazon
2024
Praiseworthy – Alexis Wright
Fiction · Giramondo Publishing
A cry of outrage against oppression and disadvantage. The north of Australia is the setting of this epic. There, in a small town dominated by a haze cloud, a family grapples with climate, madness, repatriation, suicide and power.
Buy Praiseworthy from Dymocks, QBD Books or Amazon
2023
The Jaguar – Sarah Holland Batt
Poetry · University of Queensland Press
What does it mean to be mortal? Told with lyric intensity and linguistic mastery, these poems, shaped by grief, challenge the reader to view ruthless witness as a form of love.
Buy The Jaguar from Dymocks, QBD Books or Amazon
2022
Dropbear – Evelyn Araluen
Poetry and Prose · University of Queensland Press
Biting satire and lyrical fury combine in this mix of poetry and essays, which confront the tropes and iconography of an unreconciled nation, and offer hope for a decolonial future.
Buy Dropbear from Dymocks, QBD Books or Amazon
2021
The Bass Rock – Evie Wyld
Fiction · Penguin Random House
Three women’s lives tangle across four centuries, linked to the Bass Rock on the Scottish mainland. Each woman’s choices are circumscribed by the men in their lives, but they still find hope.
Buy The Bass Rock from Dymocks, QBD Books or Amazon
2020
See What You Made Me Do – Jess Hill
Nonfiction · Black Inc
A confronting account of how abusers exert control and an investigation of the violence many women experience, which dismantles the flawed logic of victim-blaming and makes you question what you thought you knew.
Buy See What You Made Me Do from Dymocks, QBD Books or Amazon
2019
The Erratics – Vicki Laveau-Harvie
Nonfiction · Fourth Estate
A compelling memoir of family, pain and legacy. When Vicki Laveau-Harvie’s mother is hospitalised, she and her sister travel to their parents’ isolated home in Canada. There, they discover that their mother has made her husband a virtual prisoner in his own home.
Buy The Erratics from QBD Books, or Amazon
2018
Tracker – Alexis Wright
Nonfiction · Giramondo Publishing
A collective memoir and tribute to a charismatic Aboriginal leader. Taken from his family and brought up in a mission, Tracker Tilmouth went on to transform Aboriginal politics, working tirelessly for Aboriginal self-determination.
Buy Tracker from Dymocks, QBD Books, or Amazon
2017
The Museum of Modern Love – Heather Rose
Fiction · Allen & Unwin
Arky Levin is separated from his wife, for whom he is keeping one devastating promise. He sees Marina Abramovic in The Artist is Present, and as the performance unfolds over weeks, so does Arky, who begins to understand what is missing from his life.
Buy The Museum of Modern Love from Dymocks, QBD Books or Amazon
2016
The Natural Way of Things – Charlotte Wood
Fiction · Allen & Unwin
An exploration of misogyny and corporate control, and the story of two friends, courage and sisterly love. Two women awake from a drugged sleep to discover they’ve been imprisoned in an abandoned property in the middle of a desert.
Buy The Natural Way of Things from Dymocks, QBD Books, or Amazon
2015
The Strays – Emily Bitto
Fiction · Affirm Press
Evan Trentham and wife, Helena, gather like-minded artists outside the conservatism of the 1930s Melbourne art world. Their utopian circle is far from idyllic, and ambition, sacrifice, and compromised loyalties leave a lasting mark on Evan’s daughters and the young observer Lily.
Buy The Strays from Dymocks, QBD Books, or Amazon
2014
The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka – Clare Wright
Nonfiction · Text Publishing
A tribute to the unbiddable women of Ballarat and a bold look at an Australian legend that asks: What if the women and children were there beside the men?
Buy The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka from Dymocks, QBD Books, or Amazon
2013
Mateship With Birds – Carrie Tiffany
Fiction · Pan Macmillan
In an Australian country town in the 1950s, a lonely farmer, Harry, observes the kookaburras while his neighbour, Betty, observes him. She’s escaped to the country with her children. But when Harry gets close to one of them, boundaries are crossed.
Who won the Stella Prize in 2025?
As you can see from our list of Stella Prize winners, the 2025 Stella Prize winner was Michelle de Kretser for her novel Theory & Practice.
What is the Stella Prize?
The Stella Prize is an annual Australian literary award that champions original works by Australian women and non-binary writers. It was first awarded in 2013.
Why is it called the Stella Prize?
The Stella Prize is named after famed Australian author Stella Maria ‘Miles’ Franklin, who wrote My Brilliant Career. This work was adapted into a film starring Judy Davis and Sam Neill. A TV series of the same name is currently in production.
Another Australian literary award is also named after her: The Miles Franklin Literary Award.
Who can win the Stella Prize?
The Stella Prize is open to Australian women or non-binary writers.
