The work of seven UTS authors have been longlisted for the prestigious 2016 Stella Prize, celebrating Australian women’s contribution to literature.
Five alumni including, Tegan Bennett Day, Stephanie Bishop, Jen Craig, Mireille Juchau and Charlotte Wood as well as Debra Adelaide and former UTS academic Amanda Lohrey were named among the 12 authors longlisted for the prize.
“The Creative Writing Program at UTS has always produced great writers, and this line up is no exception. I don't think any other program in the country could deliver this sort of success for women writers,” said Professor Mary Spongberg, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
Tegan Bennett Daylight, who has graduated with three degrees from UTS, was recognised for her short story collection, Six Bedrooms, which was also highly commended in the 2016 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards shortlist in December, and contains several stories submitted as part of her Doctor of Creative Arts (2012).
Stephanie Bishop, who completed a Bachelor of Arts in Communication (Writing and Cultural Studies) (Hons) (2002) was recognised for her work The Other Side of the World.
Master of Arts in Writing (2007) graduate, Jen Craig, was recognised for her second novel, Panthers and the Museum of Fire, reviewed in the May 2015 edition of UTS’s U Mag.
Mireille Juchau, winner of the 2016 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction, was also longlisted for her novel The World Without Us, praised by the Sydney Morning Herald for her “poise, wit, sensitivity and also the complexity of her writing”. Mireille holds a BA Communications (Hons) (1995), and has also held the position of UTS Creative Writing Scholar in residence.
Master of Creative Arts (2010) graduate, Charlotte Wood, was recognised for her work, The Natural Way of Things, which was also shortlisted in the 2016 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.
UTS Associate Professor Debra Adelaide was also named for her novel, The Women's Pages, as was past staff member Amanda Lohrey, for A Short History of Richard Kline, who played an important role in the early success of UTS’s highly-regarded creative writing program.
The shortlisted titles will be announced on Thursday 10 March, with the winner of the 2016 Stella Prize announced in Sydney on Tuesday 19 April.
Interested in finding out more about creative writing at UTS? Check out our Creative Writing courses, sample some of the best works in the annual UTS Writers’ Anthology, or sign up to the UTS Writers’ Network.