Ellen Van Neerven

The explosive second poetry collection from acclaimed Mununjali Yugambeh writer Ellen van Neerven, Throat explores love, language and land. The winner of the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Indigenous Writers’ Prize, Ellen has been described by Maxine Beneba Clarke (The Hate Race) as a young writer who “best represents all that Australian literature was, is, and will surely be, in the decades to come”.

Hear Ellen talk with Tessa Rose about their irreverent and powerful anthology, which casts a light on our country’s unreconciled past and precarious present.

Supported by Australian Poetry.

Ellen van Neerven (Australian)

Ellen van Neerven is an award-winning writer and editor. Of Mununjali Yugambeh (South East Queensland) and Dutch heritage, Ellen’s first book, Heat and Light, was the recipient of the David Unaipon Award, the Dobbie Literary Award and the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Indigenous Writers Prize. Ellen’s second book, a collection of poetry called Comfort Food, was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Kenneth Slessor Prize and was Highly Commended for the 2016 Wesley Michel Wright Prize. Throat is Ellen’s second poetry collection.

Tessa Rose (Australian)

Tessa Rose is a poet and performer. Her poetry has been published in Cordite Poetry Review and Solid Air: Australian and New Zealand Spoken Word, edited by Anne-Marie Te Whiu and David Stavanger. She has performed at Queensland Poetry Festival, COUPLET, Woodford Folk Festival, Noted Festival and other venues across Australia. She is one half of 24 Hour Gym alongside Pascalle Burton, and occasionally writes and performs under the auspices of the Fanciful Fiction Auxiliary.