‘Stella vs. Miles: women writers and literary value in Australia’, Meanjin, 70, 3, Spring 2011, pp. 32-39
Literary awards, especially national ones like the Miles Franklin Award, are not just prizes that recognise quality writing; they also play a big part in creating canons and helping to build an image of a nation for its community. With this in mind, the author discusses the prevalence of men in Australian literary awards, why this might be so and what it might tell us about Australian cultural history. Natalie Kon-yu in 2014 on what the Stella Prize says about the treatment of female authors and Kon-Yu again on reading female authors in 2015.