"Stella is thrilled to announce Sarah Holland-Batt’s unforgettable and unflinching poetry collection, The Jaguar (University of Queensland Press), as the winner of the 2023 Stella Prize.

Holland-Batt, an award-winning poet and Professor of Creative Writing and Literary Studies at QUT, wrote these poems as she observed the devastation of her father’s worsening Parkinson’s Disease. The result is a remarkable collection that the 2023 Stella Judging Panel said “investigates the body as a site of both pleasure and frailty.”

In alphabetical order by author’s surname, the 2023 Stella Prize shortlist is:

• We Come With This Place by Debra Dank
• big beautiful female theory by Eloise Grills
• The Jaguar by Sarah Holland-Batt
• Hydra by Adriane Howell
• Indelible City by Louisa Lim
• Bad Art Mother by Edwina Preston

This year’s shortlist features two works of nonfiction, a graphic memoir, one book of poetry, and two novels, and celebrates established and debut Australian women writers.