Lee Lai wins 2026 Stella Prize for Cannon

Lee Lai has won the 2026 Stella Prize for her second book, Cannon, published by Giramondo, a history-making win that sees a graphic novel awarded the $60,000 prize for the first time, thanks to the generous support of the Stella Forever Fund.

“I am thrilled that Lee Lai’s sophomore novel Cannon has won the 2026 Stella Prize. For the first time in the Stella Prize’s 14-year history, the title has been awarded to a graphic novel. ‘Cannon’ is a triumph of the form, a precise and eloquently written narrative that uses visuality to its benefit,” said Stella CEO and Creative Director Fiona Sweet.

“Lee Lai crafts panels to move readers through melancholic atmospheres to crowded, tense palpable scenes that explode from the page. The book is a cinematic experience, with filmic compositions and references that showcase the power of graphic storytelling.”

“This book is an incredibly rewarding read, and I encourage everyone – from seasoned readers familiar with the form, to first time readers of a graphic novel – to read. This win will expose Cannon, a truly exceptional feat of the graphic novel form, to new readers nationwide,” said Sweet.

Lee Lai is an Australian cartoonist living in Tio’tia:ke (colonially known as Montreal, Canada). In 2021, she was selected as one of the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 for her debut graphic novel, Stone Fruit, which went on to win several awards, including the Lambda Literary Award, the Cartoonist Studio Prize, the Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize, and two Ignatz Awards.

Her comics have appeared in The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, the New York Times, Granta and the Museum of Modern Art’s Magazine. Her second graphic novel Cannon (Giramondo, 2025) won the Stella Prize in 2026.

It was also shortlisted for a Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, the QWF Literary Awards, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the GLAAD Media Awards, and is a finalist for the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction. Cannon was also named a ‘best book of 2025’ by the New York Times, the Sydney Morning Herald, NPR, Guardian Australia and ABC Arts.

“Lee Lai’s 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,” said 2026 Stella Prize Chair of Judges, Sophie Gee.

Lai’s heroine struggles to balance the demands of family, love and work, and is always teetering on the fault lines 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.”

This year, Stella received over 200 entries vying for the annual Stella Prize award of $60,000 for one extraordinary book. After completing the rigorous judging process, The Stella 2026 judges Sophie Gee (Chair), Jaclyn Crupi, Benjamin Law, Gillian O’Shaughnessy and Ellen van Neerven have chosen Cannon as the winner of the 2026 Stella Prize.