Described as a ‘gripping’ and ‘gothic’ novel, Evie Wyld’s The Bass Rock has taken out the prize for Australian women’s writing worth $50,000.
Author Evie Wyld won The Stella Prize 2021 for a book written while caring for her newborn. Photo by Urszula Soltys.
Celebrating the honour from the UK, Wyld told ArtsHub, ‘In a year in which women’s work has been so sidelined with domestic drudgery and childcare taking up so much of our time and energy, it feels just that extra bit wonderful to be part of this prize that recognises the work of women and non-binary writers.’
Wyld paid tribute to the Stella Prize shortlisted titles and their authors. ‘The other books on the list are outstanding – I went through a really dry patch with reading over the pandemic and I have to say it’s these five books that have got me out of that spell.’ The shortlist for this year’s award showcased contemporary writers including as Rebecca Giggs, SL Lim, Laura Jean McKay, Mirandi Riwoe and Louise Milligan.
‘A TRUE WORK OF ART’
A gothic tale that intertwines the lives of three women across four centuries, The Bass Rock delves into the legacy of male violence and the ways in which family traumas reverberate across time and place.
On envisioning The Bass Rock Wyld told ArtsHub, ‘Originally I just wanted to get it out of my head – I had a newborn and I felt desperate about losing myself and my work, and I wrote during his nap – about an hour a day. So I didn’t have time to sit back and ponder what I was going to write, I just had to do it, quickly, and it was in those spaces that most of the violence of the book was written. I suppose something to do with the shock of how motherhood takes you.’
It was the idea of reimagining her British grandmother’s life, and looking through old photographs that sparked the themes of her novel.
Wyld said of her grandmother: ‘She inherited two young grieving boys when she married my grandfather, and I’m afraid she wasn’t what they needed. I knew her through the lens of my father and so always kept her at a distance, she was fierce and sad and very alone.
Read the Stella Prize judges’ full report.
