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Ellen van Neerven

Ellen van Neerven

Ellen van Neerven (born in Meanjin (Brisbane) in 1990) 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, Comfort Food, was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Kenneth Slessor Prize and highly commended for the 2016 Wesley Michel Wright Prize. Throat is Ellen’s second poetry collection, a May 2020 release. 

(Photograph by Anna Jacobson)

Ellen van Neerven reviews 'The Drover’s Wife: The legend of Molly Johnson' by Leah Purcell

March 2020, no. 419 • 24 February 2020
Leah Purcell has described how her lifelong fascination with Henry Lawson’s iconic 1892 short story provided her with abundant creative ammunition. Her mother read her the story when she was five; it held a special place for them both. ‘I’d say the famous last line: “Ma, I won’t never go drovin ... she’d tear up”.’ If you haven’t read Lawson’s story or need a refresher: a name ... (read more)

Ellen van Neerven reviews 'The Yield' by Tara June Winch

August 2019, no. 413 • 29 July 2019
Wiradjuri writer Tara June Winch is not afraid to play with the form and shape of fiction. Her dazzling début, Swallow the Air (2006), is a short novel in vignettes that moves quickly through striking images and poetic prose. Her second book, After the Carnage (2017), a wide-ranging short story collection, is set in multiple countries. Winch’s new novel, The Yield, is partly written in reclaime ... (read more)

'Roo Tails' by Ellen van Neerven | States of Poetry Queensland - Series One

States of Poetry Queensland - Series One • 22 February 2016
The ground felt like it did when it's about to storm. My feet were brown and my big toe blistered. My grandmother was talking to my grandfather. A wet patch on my grandmother's back. Her hands roping those tails along the fence. She turned to me and I saw her. Grey. A little heavy. Everything I came here for. A magpie flew lower. Ellen van Neerven Recording ... (read more)

'Bricks and Lightning' by Ellen van Neerven | States of Poetry Queensland - Series One

States of Poetry Queensland - Series One • 22 February 2016
It seems I'm always walkinginto the scene of a crimemoustached copperand fuck-off tapedon't look too closelyyou won't be able to sleepI'm new to this buildingI live now by the river wherethe ducks look like shoesin the waterI go to the department storewe used to frequentI look at grocery receiptsto see how I'm savingand sometimes I get so lonelyI can barely stand ittonight I wanted youlike the rai ... (read more)

'Chips' by Ellen van Neerven | States of Poetry Queensland - Series One

States of Poetry Queensland - Series One • 22 February 2016
Can I saywhite people really bore me sometimesto be exactI grow tired with what's unmentionedidling in surf club bathroomsnothing wrong with the chipsbut they're talking about Tasmaniamy thoughts haunted by islandsmaybe I'm dyingI've too many chipsteeth like stonestake me to be flossedand cleanedI need new solessticking to the floorwhat is happeningwith the dialogue of this countrythey are killing ... (read more)

'Love and Tradition' by Ellen van Neerven | States of Poetry Queensland - Series One

States of Poetry Queensland - Series One • 22 February 2016
for Aunty Nancy Bamaga rising seatakes andbreaks into backyardsto trouble families we cannot livewith the seas in our bellieswe cannot restwith the sea at our legs the tideis comingto strokeour dead we want to knowwho unpluggedour islandof childhood islandof love and traditionlet them seewhat has gone under  Ellen van Neerven Recording ... (read more)