Six books that'll help you through an identity crisis

Dropbear is the most revered book in the country right now

The past winners of the Stella Prize.

Dropbear is the most revered book in the country right now.

Evelyn Araluen's collection of short stories and poems, titled Dropbear, has won the 2022 Stella prize.

The Stella prize for women and non-binary writers has been running for 10 years now and takes in fiction, non-fiction, social history, essays, graphic novels and - for the first time this year - poetry. Making Ms Araleun's win even more momentous.

There was a distinct theme of identity politics and experiences of trauma in all six of the shortlisted books this year and half of the writers are debutantes.

The prize this year was $50,000 and for a decade it has invested more than $500,000 in women's writing.

The prize itself will now continue forever after achieving a financial goal of $3million to hand out prize money like Oprah did with cars. Securing the future of the prize is due in part to a fundraising push by feminist and literary icon Paula McLean, who personally chipped in $1million, and Ellen Koshland.

Unlike other prizes (waves at the Logies), literary prizes in Australia still carry huge cache and cash for winners and shortlisted authors.

Stella boosts sales like the Duchess of Cambridge is able to flog dresses.

Speaking to The Oz, Stella's executive director Jaclyn Booton, said on average and based off independent research from 2018, there is an 824% increase in book sales for the winning books in the week after securing the Stella Prize.

Get them while they last... 

Dropbear -Evelyn Araluen

Dropbear by Evelyn Araluen

Dropbear is a collection of poems and short stories charting her experiences as a descendant of the Bundjalung Nation and as a woman who was born and raised on Dharug country in NSW. A childhood peppered with episodes of Blinky Bill, the music of Nick Cave and films like Wake in Fright.

"It's designed around themes of anti-Australiana, to be in dialogue with ideas of cultural cringe and the kitsch and the ironic and the uncanny in Australia. Particularly thinking about the ways as an Aboriginal person I’ve inherited that literary culture, however complicatedly, with however much resistance is to be expected," Ms Araleun said of her "strange, little book".

Read it with: A charcuterie board. This book is moreish and Ms Araleun's acerbic wit is so powerful it'll cut like blue cheese.

Take Care - Eunice Andrada

Take Care by Eunice Andrada

Take Care is a work of poems that seethes with rage while exploring what it means to survive within systems not designed for tenderness.

"Don’t you hate it when women," is a springboard into: "[Don't you hate it when women] kill the herbs on the windowsill /devote their year’s salary to take-out” to “kill the cop / the colonizer / the capitalist / living rent-free in their heads / demolish the altar built on their backs / without blame /walk away". 

Read it with: A cup of Milo with lots of milk. This is a savage feminist reckoning containing many burns that'll leave you either fist pumping or foetal.

No Document - Anwen Crawford

No Document by Anwen Crawford

No Document is a part essay, part poem that unpacks grief and loss. It considers the ways we might use an experience of grief to continue living, creating and reimagining the world we live in with a greater compassion for everything from border policies to animals.

Read it with: A Twirl. Each page, every stanza will remind you how important it is to have company and someone, or something, by your side.

Bodies of Light - Jennifer Down

Bodies of Light by Jennifer Down

Bodies of Light is an ode to female resilience and a gripping read about love and reconciliation with the past. For anyone who's ever tried to move on without dealing with shit - prepare to be seen.

Read it with: Red Rock Deli Honey Soy chips under a weighted blanket - comfort food and feelings are key for this one.

Stone Fruit - Lee Lai

Stone Fruit - Lee Lai

Stone Fruit is a comic for the coming of age. It follows the lives of queer couple Bron and Ray and is a joyous and heartbreaking journey through a relationship where two people are navigating how to become vulnerable with each other while being understood for who each of them really are.

Read it with: Wine. But with a two glass limit, anymore and you'll feel extremely compelled to call your ex.

Homecoming - Elfie Shiosaki

Homecoming - Eflie

Homecoming is a deeply respectful ode to the persistence of Noongar people in the face of colonisation and its long felt aftershocks. This collection of poetry, prose and historical colonial archives weaves together First Nations truths about the unending love for children - those that were present, those that were taken and those that are missing.

Read it with: The sun on your skin. Get outside, get grounded and fully appreciate country as it is in Noongar culture.