Waanyi writer Alexis Wright has won the Stella Prize for her fourth novel Praiseworthy, becoming the first person to win the prestigious literary prize twice.
On Thursday night, Wright, 73, was awarded the $60,000 prize which is dedicated to women and non-binary writers. She previously won the award in 2018 for Tracker, a non fiction collective memoir.
Praiseworthy follows the story of the four members of the Steel family, and what happens when a haze cloud descends on their remote town, set in Northern Queensland.
Beejay Silcox, the chair of the Stella Prize judges, called the 700-page book “mighty in every conceivable way”.
“Mighty of scope, mighty of fury, mighty of craft, mighty of humour, mighty of language, mighty of heart,” Silcox said.
“Praiseworthy is not only a great Australian novel – perhaps the great Australian novel – it is also a great Waanyi novel.
“And it is written in the wild hope that, one day, all Australian readers might understand just what that means. I do not understand. Not yet. But I can feel history calling to me in these pages. Calling to all of us. Imagine if we listened.”
On winning the award, Wright explained that she does not write expecting to win prizes.
“In the Aboriginal world we work very hard, but that often does not equate to great success – or accolades,” Wright said.
“My work has flowed from a commitment I made long ago to always challenge myself as a writer, to take risks and explore the world through my imagination. My main motivation with Praiseworthy was to complete the book and rise to the challenges it presented.”
Wright explained that she inspired to write Praiseworthy after asking some “hard questions” about climate change and “the concerns I have about the survival of our ancient culture”.
“I was concerned to explore what unabated global warming will mean for increasing numbers of poor people in the world. What will it mean for many Aboriginal people who are already living through unprecedented times on a daily basis, as they have done for well over two centuries without much relief, nor respect for their sovereign rights,” Wright said.
Wright said she had the “greatest respect” for the Stella Prize and its commitment to women writers.
Praiseworthy has also won the Queensland Literary Awards Fiction Book Award.