Poet Ellen van Neerven wins Book of the Year, Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry and Multicultural NSW Award at NSW Premier’s Literary Awards

Young Mununjali Yugambeh author Ellen van Neerven pulled off a hat-trick at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards for their second poetry collection, Throat, at an online ceremony on Monday evening.

Awarding van Neerven’s collection the Book of the Year (worth $10,000), the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry ($30,000) and the Multicultural NSW Award ($20,000), the judges praised the work’s “beauty, honesty and power” and said it “confirms their place as one of the sharpest and most compelling poets of their generation”.

“Throat is simultaneously intimate and radical, giving us an insight into van Neerven’s life, experiences, and thoughts, while piercing the trauma at the core of this country.”

Accepting their awards from Turrbal and Yuggera…