Lee Lai wins 2026 Stella Prize for her graphic novel Cannon

Cannon by the acclaimed Australian cartoonist Lee Lai has been named the winner of the 2026 Stella Prize. The announcement was made on 13 May at a ceremony in Brisbane with the author in attendance. The win marks the first time that a graphic novel has received the top honour in the award’s history; Lai’s debut book, Stone Fruit, was shortlisted in 2022.

Worth $60,000, the Stella Prize is awarded annually to ‘the most excellent, original and outstanding book written by an Australian woman or non-binary writer’. 

Cannon was published in hardcover last year by Giramondo in Australia, and by Drawn & Quarterly in Canada, where the Melbourne-born author is based. It will also be published in French, German, Italian and Spanish. The book was a finalist for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, the Quebec Writers’ Federation Literary Awards, the GLAAD Media Awards and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and is currently in the running for a Doug Wright Award and the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction – the North American equivalent to the Stella, celebrating ‘creativity and excellence in fiction by women and non-binary writers in Canada and the United States.’

See the Stella judges’ report for Cannon below.

Reliable and dutiful Cannon (real name: Lucy; nickname Luce; ironically – or perhaps not – Luce Cannon) has myriad responsibilities. During the day, she helps her avoidant mother by taking care of her elderly gung-gung (maternal grandfather). At night, she works in the pressure-cooker kitchen of a fine dining restaurant. In her off-hours, she’s a confidante and troubleshooter for best friend Trish. However, Cannon is about to crack – something we see in a dizzying flashforward in the first pages. Cannon is a compelling depiction of a fracturing friendship between two queer, second-generation Chinese women. It is also a bruising examination of the lifelong weight that people – often women – carry, the profound toll it takes to be the “responsible one”, and what can happen when you are being taken advantage of repeatedly. (Bonus: it is also, somehow, very funny.) Lai’s elegant artistry evokes horror and poignancy, shock and delight, and Cannon is an incontestable reminder that – in the hands of a masterful artist and storyteller – the very best graphic novels can do what prose alone cannot. And Cannon is absolutely one of the best.

‘This year’s winner is a delight that goes right to the heart,’ Stella Prize Chair of Judges Sophie Gee further commented. ‘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.’

‘[Cannon] is a story about small-scale human follies, and the excruciating process of learning and growing through them,’ said Lee in her acceptance speech. ‘It’s also a book about love and about rage, and those are two emotions that have fuelled my efforts as an artist and as an organiser for the past many years. If I must think about the fact that this book is landing for somebody else, then my big hope is that it acts as a catharsis and an encouragement to experience some real love, or some real anger, and that one might use that for something worthwhile.’ 

Lai will commence a brief tour of Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. Public events include a conversation with Prize Judge Benjamin Law tonight, an event at RMIT in Melbourne on Monday, and a Queerstories and prize-winners panel at the Sydney Writers’ Festival next week. She toured the east coast of Australia earlier this year following previous book tours across Canada, the United States and Italy. View photos from the Sydney launch of Cannon on our Facebook, and hear a recording of the event here.

Giramondo has had a number of titles recognised by The Stella Prize since it began in 2013. Alexis Wright is distinguished as the only author to have won the prize twice, in 2018 for Tracker and in 2024 for Praiseworthy. Our other finalists include Sanya Rushdi for Hospital, Anwen Crawford for No Document, Yumna Kassab for The House of Youssef, Fiona Wright for The World Was Whole and the late Beverley Farmer for This Water: Five Tales. Several poetry titles have also been listed since the genre was included for consideration, including TAKE CARE and KONTRA by Eunice Andrada, and Naag Mountain by Manisha Anjali.

Publicity enquires relating to the Stella Prize can be directed to stacey@daydreamnation.co.