“Cannon” becomes first graphic novel to win Stella Prize
Lee Lai has won the 2026 Stella Prize, $60,000, for her second book, Cannon (Giramondo).
It is the first time a graphic novel has won the award.
Chair of judges Sophie Gee said, “Cannon is already an internationally acclaimed graphic novel. The story Lai tells about her understated heroine Lucy ‘Cannon’ is quietly powerful, striking directly at the reader’s heart. The novel’s settings alternate between modest domestic situations and a bustling restaurant, with a flock of never-explained black birds that swoop in and grab our attention. Lai’s heroine struggles to balance the demands of family, love and work, and is always teetering on the faultlines of joy and rage. This is a novel of immense skill and power that uses words and the visual language of comics to construct a complex and pleasingly unresolved story that readers can’t put down. Cannon will appeal to young adults and old adults and everyone in between. It’s relatable, funny, wise, and very weird in all the best ways.”
Stella CEO and creative director Fiona Sweet said Cannon was a “precise and eloquently written narrative that uses visuality to its benefit”.
“Lee Lai crafts panels to move readers through melancholic atmospheres to crowded, tense palpable scenes that explode from the page,” said Sweet. “The book is a cinematic experience, with filmic compositions and references that showcase the power of graphic storytelling […] I encourage everyone – from seasoned readers familiar with the form, to first-time readers of a graphic novel – to read.”
The author and cartoonist’s debut graphic novel Stone Fruit was shortlisted for the 2022 Stella Prize. In addition to winning the Stella Prize, Cannon has also been shortlisted for the US$150,000 (A$209,673) Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, the Quebec Writers’ Federation Literary Awards and the GLAAD Media Awards. She has also won an Ignatz Award and a Lambda Literary Award and was shortlisted for the American Library Association Awards, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the Barbara Gittings Literature Award.
Cannon was selected from a shortlist of 6 titles announced in April.
Founded in 2012, the Stella Prize aims to uplift books written by Australian women and nonbinary writers “in all their diversity” as well as “support greater participation in the world of literature, and create a more equitable and vibrant national culture”.
The winner of last year’s prize was Michelle de Kretser for her novel Theory & Practice (Text).
Category: Awards Local news
