12 great books by Australian women

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Celebrating​ the contribution of Australian women to literature for the fourth year running, the Stella Prize has tonight announced its 2016 longlist, for books published in 2015, at the Stella Sparks launch party.

The $50,000 prize has become an influential initiative, significantly boosting book sales and raising author profiles. This year it saw over 170 submissions including fiction and nonfiction books.

Simultaneously, as an organisation, the Stella Prize has set about creating a cultural shift that sees more books by women appear on school curricula and literary prize lists, and increased media coverage due to initiatives such as The Stella Count. It’s also a champion of diversity in literature with events and programs including a panel at the upcoming Indigenous literary festival, Blak & Bright.

Stella Sparks is a fundraising campaign to help gain support for Australian women writers, inviting anyone who supports gender equality in literature to become a founding donor.

Read: How Stella changed Miles

The longlist was selected by a judging panel chaired by author and academic Brenda Walker ​and including writer and social commentator Emily Maguire; award-winning writer and essayist Alice Pung; literary critic and author Geordie Williamson; and bookseller and founder of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, Suzy Wilson.

The Stella Prize is committed to showcasing and promoting the sheer volume of quality writing by women in Australia, explained Walker.