Holland-Batt didn't feel ready to write the poems about her father until after he died:"It felt like a subject that was too monumental to approach," she told ABC Arts. This is the second year in a row that the prize for women and non-binary writers has been won by a work of poetry (following Evelyn Araluen's debut Dropbear), after a broadening of the prize's remit in 2022. "It feels very special to be recognised by an organisation that I think has done a lot for women writers, and a lot for Australian literature, to shift the culture." She tells ABC Arts: "It's really surreal and incredibly exciting and a bit astonishing. It was the friendship, generosity, and camaraderie of women that not only saw me through this difficult time, but that has been the sustaining armature of my writing life." In a statement responding to her win, Holland-Batt said: "I wrote this book during an intensely challenging period, as my father was dying, and just after. Big Beautiful Female Theory by Eloise Grills." capture grief and loss and love through unforgettable imagery, often blended with humour."Ĭhair of the judging panel, author Alice Pung, wrote that Holland-Batt's book "unflinchingly observes the complex emotions of caring for loved ones, contending with our own mortality and above all – continuing to live". The judges' report described the collection, Holland-Batt's third, as "accessible, lyrical and wise", and the poems about the poet and her father as "tender memorable". Sarah Holland-Batt has won the $60,000 Stella Prize for her intimate and affecting poetry collection The Jaguar, about her relationship with her late father, who suffered from Parkinson's disease.
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