Ellen van Neerven

Van Neerven was born in 1990 to Dutch and Aboriginal parents,[1] and is of the Mununjali clan of the Yugambeh nation.[2][3]

They studied creative writing at the Queensland University of Technology.[4]

They are openly queer[5] and non-binary, using they/them pronouns.[6]

Van Neerven's first book, Heat and Light, won the 2013 Queensland Literary Awards' David Unaipon Award for unpublished Indigenous writers,[7] the 2016 NSW Premier's Literary Award's Indigenous Writers Prize[8] and was shortlisted for the Stella Prize in 2015.[9]

Their second book, the poetry collection Comfort Food, was published in 2016. One of van Neerven's stories, Confidence Game, was featured in SBS podcast series, True Stories, in 2015.[10]

Throat (2020) is van Neerven's second collection of poems, and consists of five themed chapters:[2] "The haunt-walk in"; "Whiteness is always approaching"; "I can't wait to meet my future genders"; "Speaking outside"; and " Take me to the back of my throat".[11][12] Throat won three prizes at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards: Book of the Year; the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry; and the Multicultural NSW Award.[2]

Van Neerven has also had some of their poetry translated into their grandmother's Yugambeh language by Shaun Davies.[13]

Van Neerven published a piece in Griffith Review about sport, entitled "No Limits", in September 2021.[14] Described as "part creative memoir, part reportage, part theoretical essay and part history lesson", the piece examines the exclusionary nature of sport, which leads to a very low rate of participation by non-binary people.[15]

In September 2015, in a collaboration with Poets House in New York, a recording of six First Nations Australia Writers Network (FNAWN) members reading their work was presented at a special event, which was recorded. Van Neerven was one of the readers, along with Jeanine Leane, Dub Leffler, Melissa Lucashenko, Bruce Pascoe, and Jared Thomas.[16]

Van Neerven is co-host and creative producer of two podcasts,[6] Extraordinary Voices for Extraordinary Times, launched in June 2020,[17] and Between the Leaves, launched in October 2020.[18][19]

Van Neerven was a recipient of a Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship, an award of A$160,000 given to mid-career creatives and thought leaders.[20]

• 2013: Queensland Literary Awards — The David Unaipon Award for Unpublished Indigenous Writers for Heat and Light
• 2015: Dobbie Literary Award for Heat and Light
• 2015: Stella Prize shortlist for Heat and Light[9]
• 2015: Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist for Heat and Light[21]
• 2016: NSW Premier's Literary Award — Indigenous Writers Prize for Heat and Light[8]
• 2016: Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing for Heat and Light[22]
• 2017: The poem "Mango" from van Neerven's collection Comfort Food (2016) was chosen as a sample text in the English Paper 1 examination of the New South Wales Higher School Certificate[23]
• 2019: Queensland Literary Awards — Queensland Premier's Young Publishers and Writers Awards — winner[24]
• 2020: University of Queensland Press' inaugural Quentin Bryce Award for Throat[25]
• 2020: Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, Judith Wright Calanthe Prize for Poetry: shortlisted for Throat[26]
• 2021: Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry: shortlisted for Throat[27]
• 2021: NSW Premier's Literary Awards Book of the Year; Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry; and the Multicultural NSW Award, for Throat[28][2]
• 2021: ALS Gold Medal: shortlisted for Throat[29]
• 2022: Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature John Bray Poetry Award: shortlisted for Throat[30]

• Personal Score (2023) – poetry, autobiography, history

• Birch, Tony (27 August 2014). "Heat and Light, [by] Ellen Van Neerven". Readings.
• Patrić, Alec (September 2014). "[Untitled review of Heat and light]". Australian Book Review. 364: 48.

• Official website