Evelyn Araluen is an Australian poet and literary editor. She won the 2022
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 ...
with her first book, ''Dropbear''.
Career
Araluen is a descendent of the
Bundjalung people
The Bundjalung people, also spelt Bunjalung, Badjalang and Bandjalang, are Aboriginal Australians who are the original custodians of the northern coastal area of New South Wales, Australia, located approximately northeast of Sydney, an area th ...
and was born on
Dharug
The Dharug or Darug people, formerly known as the Broken Bay tribe, are an Aboriginal Australian people, who share strong ties of kinship and, in pre-colonial times, lived as skilled hunters in family groups or clans, scattered throughout much ...
land.
Her poetry has been published in ''The Best Australian Poems 2016'', '' Overland, Cordite Poetry Review'' and '' Southerly'' and other literary journals. She contributed a chapter, "Finding Ways Home", to
Anita Heiss
Anita Marianne Heiss (born 1968) is an Aboriginal Australian author, poet, cultural activist and social commentator. She is an advocate for Indigenous Australian literature and literacy, through her writing for adults and children and her memb ...
' ''
Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia
''Growing Up Aboriginal In Australia'' is a 2018 biographical anthology compiled and edited by Anita Heiss and published by Black Inc. It includes 52 short written pieces by Aboriginal Australians from many walks of life and discusses issues li ...
''.
After being runner-up in the 2016 Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers for her poem, "Learning Bundjalung on Tharawal", she won the following year for her short story, "Muyum: a transgression". In 2017 she also won first and third prizes in the ''Overland'' Judith Wright Poetry Prize for New and Emerging Poets for "Guarded by birds" and "Dropbear poetics".
In 2018 Araluen received one of the
Wheeler Centre
The Wheeler Centre, originally Centre of Books, Writing and Ideas, is a literary and publishing centre founded as part of Melbourne's bid to be a Unesco Creative City of Literature, which designation it earned in 2008. It is named after its pat ...
's inaugural Next Chapter grants, providing 12 months' mentoring by
Tony Birch
Tony Birch (born 1957) is an Aboriginal Australian author, academic and activist. He regularly appears on ABC local radio and Radio National shows and at writers’ festivals. He was head of the honours programme for creative writing at the Un ...
and a three-day writing retreat at
Varuna, The Writers' House
Varuna, The National Writers’ House is Australia's national residential writers' house located in Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia. The former home of writers Eleanor and Eric Dark, it was gifted to the Australia ...
.
In 2019 she and Jonathan Dunk were appointed co-editors of ''Overland'', an established Australian literary journal and in November that year were joint recipients of a Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund grant. She also won the inaugural Professional Development Award at the 2021
Melbourne Prize
The Melbourne Prize is an Australian architectural award. It is awarded annually at the Victorian Architecture Awards by a jury appointed by the Victorian chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects to architectural projects that have made ...
.
Her first book, ''Dropbear'' was published by the
University of Queensland Press
Established in 1948, University of Queensland Press (UQP) is an Australian publishing house.
Founded as a traditional university press, UQP has since branched into publishing books for general readers in the areas of fiction, non-fiction, poetr ...
in March 2021. It won the 2022
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 ...
and was highly commended in the 2021
Anne Elder Award
The Anne Elder Trust Fund Award for poetry was administered by the Victorian branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers from its establishment in 1976 until 2017. From 2018 the award has been administered by Australian Poetry. It is awarded ann ...
. It was also shortlisted for the 2021
Judith Wright Calanthe Award
The Arts Queensland Judith Wright Calanthe Award is awarded annually as part of the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards for a book of collected poems or for a single poem of substantial length published in book form.
Winners
2020
* Winner: Pi ...
, the 2022
Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing
The Victorian Premier's Prize for Indigenous Writing is a prize category in the annual Victorian Premier's Literary Award
The Victorian Premier's Literary Awards were created by the Victorian Government with the aim of raising the profile of cont ...