Ellen van Neerven (born 1990) is an Aboriginal Australian author, educator and editor. They are
queer
''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...
Van Neerven was born in 1990 to Dutch and Aboriginal parents, and is of the
Mununjali clan
The Mununjali clan are one of nine distinct named clan estate groups of the Yugambeh people, an Aboriginal Australian nation whose traditional lands are the Beaudesert area in the Scenic Rim, Queensland, Australia.
Name
The ethnonym ''Mununj ...
Van Neerven's first book, ''Heat and Light,'' won the 2013 Queensland Literary Awards'
David Unaipon Award
The Queensland Premier's Literary Awards were an Australian suite of literary awards inaugurated in 1999 and disestablished in 2012. It was one of the most generous suites of literary awards within Australia, with $225,000 in prize money across ...
for unpublished Indigenous writers, the 2016 NSW Premier's Literary Award's Indigenous Writers Prize and was shortlisted for the
Stella Prize
The Stella Prize is an Australian annual literary award established in 2013 for writing by Australian women in all genres, worth $50,000. It was originally proposed by Australian women writers and publishers in 2011, modelled on the UK's Baileys W ...
in 2015.
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.
''Throat'' (2020) is van Neerven's second collection of poems, and consists of five themed chapters: "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". ''Throat'' won three prizes at the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards: Book of the Year; the
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry
The Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry is awarded annually as part of the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards for a book of collected poems or for a single poem of substantial length published in book form.Yugambeh language by Shaun Davies.
Van Neerven published a piece in '' Griffith Review'' about sport, entitled "No Limits", in September 2021. 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.
Other activities
In September 2015, in a collaboration with Poets House in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, a recording of six
First Nations Australia Writers Network
The First Nations Australia Writers Network (FNAWN) is the peak advocacy body for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander writers, storytellers and poets in Australia.
History
The seeds for the organisation were sown at the Guwanyi Indigenous ...
(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 Jeanine is a given name. Notable people with the name include:
*Jeanine Áñez (born 1967), Bolivian politician and lawyer who served as Interim President of Bolivia from 2019 to 2020
*Jeanine Bapst (born 1968), Swiss ski mountaineer
*Jeanine Basin ...
Melissa Lucashenko
Melissa Lucashenko is an Indigenous Australian writer of adult literary fiction and literary non-fiction, who has also written novels for teenagers.
In 2013 at The Walkley Awards, she won the "Feature Writing Long (over 4000 words) Award" for ...
,
Bruce Pascoe
Bruce Pascoe (born 1947) is an Aboriginal Australian writer of literary fiction, non-fiction, poetry, essays and children's literature. As well as his own name, Pascoe has written under the pen names Murray Gray and Leopold Glass. Since August 2 ...
, and
Jared Thomas
Jared Thomas (born 1976) is an Australian author of children's fiction, playwright and museum curator. Several of his books have been shortlisted for awards, and he has been awarded three writing fellowships.
In May 2018 he began a 12-month sec ...
.
Van Neerven is co-host and
creative producer
Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...
of two podcasts, ''Extraordinary Voices for Extraordinary Times'', launched in June 2020, and ''Between the Leaves'', launched in October 2020.
Awards and honours
Van Neerven was a recipient of a Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship, an award of given to mid-career creatives and thought leaders.
* 2013: Queensland Literary Awards — The David Unaipon Award for Unpublished Indigenous Writers for ''Heat and Light''
* 2015:
Dobbie Literary Award
The Kibble Literary Awards comprise two awards—the Nita B Kibble Literary Award, which recognises the work of an established Australian female writer, and the Dobbie Literary Award, which is for a first published work by a female writer. The Awa ...
for ''Heat and Light''
* 2015:
Stella Prize
The Stella Prize is an Australian annual literary award established in 2013 for writing by Australian women in all genres, worth $50,000. It was originally proposed by Australian women writers and publishers in 2011, modelled on the UK's Baileys W ...
shortlist for ''Heat and Light''
* 2015:
Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...
Best Young Australian Novelist for ''Heat and Light''
* 2016: NSW Premier's Literary Award — Indigenous Writers Prize for ''Heat and Light''
*2016: Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing for ''Heat and Light''
* 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
* 2019: Queensland Literary Awards — Queensland Premier's Young Publishers and Writers Awards — winner
*2020: University of Queensland Press' inaugural Quentin Bryce Award for ''Throat''
*2020: Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, Judith Wright Calanthe Prize for Poetry: shortlisted for ''Throat''
*2021:
Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry The Victorian Premier's Prize for Poetry, formerly known as the C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry, is a prize category in the annual Victorian Premier's Literary Award. As of 2011 it has an enumeration of 25,000. The winner of this category prize vies w ...
: shortlisted for ''Throat''
*2021: NSW Premier's Literary Awards Book of the Year;
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry
The Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry is awarded annually as part of the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards for a book of collected poems or for a single poem of substantial length published in book form.ALS Gold Medal: shortlisted for ''Throat''
*2022:
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature
The Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature comprise a group of biennially-granted literary awards established in 1986 by the Government of South Australia, announced during Adelaide Writers' Week, as part of the Adelaide Festival. The awards i ...
John Bray Poetry Award: shortlisted for ''Throat''
Selected works
Fiction
* ''Heat and light'', University of Queensland Press (2014)
* ''Writing Black: New Indigenous Writing from Australia'', edited by Ellen van Neerven, State Library of Queensland (2014)
*''Joiner Bay and Other Stories'', edited by Ellen van Neerven, Margaret River Press (2017)
*''Homeland calling : words from a new generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices'', edited by Ellen van Neerven, Desert Pea Media via Hardie Grant Publishing (2020)