Artist
Ellen van Neerven
they/them
Ellen van Neerven (EvN) is a Mununjali Yugambeh neurodivergent writer, editor and educator living on Yagera and Turrbal land. Ellen‘s first book, Heat and Light (UQP, 2014) was the recipient of the David Unaipon Award, the Dobbie Literary Award and the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Indigenous Writers Prize. Throat (UQP, 2020) was the recipient of Book of the Year, the Kenneth Slessor Prize and the Multicultural Award at 2021 NSW Literary Awards and the inaugural Quentin Bryce Award. Personal Score: Sport, Culture, Identity (UQP, 2023), a book that weaves history, memoir, journalism and poetry, received the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Non Fiction in 2024. Their latest book is a middle-grade novel titled Ruby's Web (Magabala, 2026).
See Ellen at Trans Book Festival 2026:
Photo credit: Anna Jacobson