There is a particular kind of moment that defines the current cultural era – when an institution founded for one purpose becomes the loudest celebrant of its own undoing. Australia’s Stella Prize, the country’s premier literary award for women, has just had such a moment.
This year’s $60,000 prize was awarded to Lee Lai for her graphic novel Cannon. Lai is a biological female and uses female pronouns but identifies as transgender and presents as a man. A literary prize for women, in other words, has just been handed with great fanfare to a woman who has publicly stepped out of the category of “woman.” If there is a more efficient illustration of what peak woke looks like in 2026, it is hard to think of one.
When the Stella was founded in 2012, the rationale was clear and compelling. Australia’s most prestigious literary award, the Miles Franklin, had a long record of overlooking female writers. In its first fifty years only a handful of women had won. Whether that imbalance reflected entrenched bias among judges, or simply the strongest books in any given year, the outcome for women was the same – they were missing out on the platform, support and recognition the award confers.
The Stella – named, fittingly, after Miles Franklin’s own first name – was created to correct that. It was a women’s prize, for women writers, championed by women publishers, editors and authors who believed that female authors deserved equal recognition.This is not a piece about an individual writer’s worth. It has thrown a double standard into sharp focus: women’s categories are increasingly available to anyone who steps inside them.
The cheering of a woman who has set aside her womanhood for a trans-identity is also, unmistakably, a signal that a biological man who claims a female identity would be welcomed with open arms.
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