‘One of the first Chinese-language works about breast cancer, Mourning a Breast was considered groundbreaking for its time, delving into both the physical and psychological responses to the disease, exposing common myths about breast cancer and confronting the shame often associated with it.’

‘Song in the Grass feels to me like a record collection. It’s a handful of favourite albums, a box of lyrics, a soundtrack to living in the Blue Mountains while walking over ‘the long bridge of motherhood’, as the book might say. But it’s also an almanac of environmental care, and a love letter to poetry as an art that is most alive when shared in communities. With other players and listeners – just like music.’

‘If my Grandad had seen the future / he would have said, small acts of care / are worth leaving. He’d have painted / imitation grain on window casing / and planted Crystal Palace lobelia.’ 

‘A brilliant and experimental work of fiction that stretches the boundaries of the novel form in new and exciting ways. Engaged with matters of climate and justice, Praiseworthy’s innovativeness is matched only by its timeliness.’

‘In Chinese Fish, Yee cooks up a rich variety of poetic material into a book that is special and strange; this is poetry at its urgent and thrilling best.’

‘Astro Architecture sits within a future landscape. A speculative landscape of migration into Space, a movement of peoples and spiritualities working to decentre the colonial past, present and future of Space travel.’

Alexis Wright has made history by becoming the first author to win the Stella Prize for the second time with Praiseworthy, an epic work described by the judges as ‘a canon-crushing Australian novel for the ages.’

‘Many passages in Praiseworthy featured butterflies as if they were ‘force fields’, and an interpretation of this appeared when I flipped and rotated the swan image. The form dynamised the concept. A storm picks up on the front cover, pushes around the spine, and appears to tail out on the back cover.’

‘Radical metamorphic bodily changes occur throughout Naag Mountain during violent scenes and traumatic events, but most significantly, these transformations also take place throughout moments of deep love and celebration.’

Two Giramondo authors are shortlisted for the 2024 Stella Prize: Alexis Wright for her epic novel , and Sanya Rushdi for her deeply personal work of fiction, Hospital.

‘When the two moons are released from shadow, we unravel the living reel and project the propaganda onto the sky. When we hear the ringing of temple bells, we hear songs that have been backmasked. When we hear the singing of conch shells, we hear songs that have travelled generations to be heard.’

One of the richest literary prizes in the world, the Dublin Literary Award is presented each year to a novel written or translated into English. Wright is the first Australian to be shortlisted for the award since 2015. 

We celebrate one of Australia’s best-loved writers and a long-time supporter of Giramondo, David Malouf, with a recorded interview, Malouf’s contributions to HEAT, and a poetic tribute from Nicholas Jose.

‘I can talk for as long as you like, no problem. You’ll just have to tell me when to stop. How far back do you want to take it? Because Lily is what it’s about, in my opinion. And the mother is part of the story too. Father too. Goes without saying. But maybe better to pick them up later. Shall we start with the crash? Seems an obvious place.’

‘I lost my left arm today. It came off clean at the shoulder. Janice 2 picked it up and brought it back to the hotel. I would have thought it would affect my balance more than it has. It is like getting a haircut.’

‘I sought to recover the dignity, beauty and complexity of the girmityas, who otherwise only resided in the shadow of the archive and dissipating cultural memory. Living close to the sugar cane plantations on Minjungbal country, I came to understand history as a living, continuing phenomenon.’