The Stella Prize and The Hoopla at Sydney Writers Festival
Wendy Harmer’s daily website The Hoopla has joined forces with The Stella Prize for a major Sydney Writers Festival event, bringing together some of Australia’s most popular women writers.
Host Wendy Harmer and Stella Prize chair Sophie Cunningham will be joined by Tara Moss, Anne Summers, Di Morrissey, Anita Heiss and Anna Krien for a fun-filled lunch of literary laughs, trivia and conversation.
The fun event has a serious aim: to raise awareness of The Stella Prize, Australia’s first major literary prize for women’s writing, which will reward the best book by a woman writer each year, regardless of genre. Organisers hope to officially launch the prize in 2013.
The lunch was the brainchild of Wendy Harmer, co-founder of The Hoopla, who was keen to find a way to throw her support behind The Stella Prize.
‘At The Hoopla, we are always looking to make the diverse voices of Australian women heard and appreciated in the national discourse,’ Wendy said. ‘So when we saw The Stella Prize was all about that too, we thought it was a (same-sex) marriage made in heaven.’
Wendy is one of a growing band of official ambassadors for The Stella Prize, along with Claudia Karvan, Kate Grenville, Helen Garner and others.
‘The Stella Prize recognises that women writers and readers are the pillar of the Australian publishing industry,’ says Wendy. ‘We buy the books; we teach the young ones to read; and we want to reward the women writers who enrich our lives by telling our stories.’
Sophie Cunningham, chair of The Stella Prize, says she is ‘delighted’ to have the support of The Hoopla. ‘We’re so pleased to be joining forces with The Hoopla, a really positive, intelligent (and enjoyable) daily source of writing and conversation, by women and for women. It’s a perfect match.’
The Stella Prize Lunch will be held on Friday 18 May at 12 noon, as part of the Sydney Writers Festival. The venue is Settlers Room, Waterfront Restaurant (27 Circular Quay West, The Rocks). The cost is $85 per head.
Bookings 9250 1988 or sydneytheatre.org.au
