Here’s the latest I can share based on recent reporting.
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Evelyn Araluen has won the Victorian Prize for Literature (the state’s richest literary award) for her poetry collection The Rot, announced in February 2026. The prize panel described The Rot as “formally bold, emotionally exacting and politically uncompromising,” highlighting its blend of lyric, critique and cultural memory. This marks a major recent milestone in her literary career, following her earlier acclaim for Dropbear.[1][2]
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In addition to the main prize, Araluen also received the Prize for Indigenous Writing (NZ/UK-linked phrasing sometimes used in outlets; the award is part of the same Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards) for The Rot, underscoring recognition of her work within Indigenous writing communities.[1]
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For context, Araluen’s prior acclaimed work includes Dropbear, which won the Stella Prize in 2022, and she has been noted as a Goorie/Koori poet with ongoing contributions as a writer, editor, and educator (including roles with Overland and academic work on Indigenous literatures).[2][5]
If you’d like, I can pull a few recent articles or festival appearances from trusted sources to provide more context around The Rot’s themes, reception, and Araluen’s ongoing projects. I can also summarize critics’ key points or compile a quick timeline of her major awards. Would you like me to do that?
Sources
The Circular keeps the best new Australian non-fiction in circulation; essays, interviews, reviews, features and more.
thecircular.com.auEvelyn Araluen is a Bundjalung descendant, born, raised, and writing poetry in Dharug country. A co-Editor of Overland, educator, and researcher of Indigenous literatures, Evelyn’s debut poetry collection DROPBEAR was released with the University of Queensland Press in 2021. Evelyn’s writing has been awarded the Judith Wright Poetry Prize, the Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers, and the Wheeler Centre Next Chapter. Evelyn recited her poem, Interior Anxious, for our 2021 Winter...
survivorsofsuicide.org.auEvelyn Araluen is a poet, researcher and co-editor of Overland Literary Journal. Her widely published criticism, fiction and poetry has been awarded the Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers, the Judith Wright Poetry Prize, a Wheeler Centre Next Chapter Fellowship, and a Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund grant. Born and raised on Dharug country, she is a descendant of the Bundjalung Nation. Evelyn's debut collection Dropbear won the Stella Prize, and was shortlisted for the 2021...
www.queenscliffeliteraryfestival.com.auArticles by Evelyn Araluen on Muck Rack. Find Evelyn Araluen's email address, contact information, LinkedIn, Twitter, other social media and more.
muckrack.comEvelyn Araluen is a poet, teacher and researcher working with Indigenous literatures at the University of Sydney. She won the the Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers in 2017 and the Judith Wright Poetry Prize in 2018. Her writing has been published in Overland, Cordite, Southerly and more. Born and raised in Dharug country, […]
writingnsw.org.auThe Goorie/Koori poet has won the $100,000 Victorian Prize for Literature for her poetry collection The Rot.
www.sbs.com.auAustralian poems by Australian poets are at the heart of Red Room Poetry, an organisation devoted to creating, publishing and promoting the reading and writing of great new work.
redroompoetry.orgThis week we ask Aboriginal Rights activist, Evelyn Araluen, about her short story ‘Museum’ which is published in Landmarks – the latest anthology curated by Spineless Wonders. During this interview we discover her favourite Australian landscape, who inspires her writing and what inspired her latest micro-lit, ‘Museum.’ Tell us about a landmark that is significant to […]
shortaustralianstories.com.auEvelyn Araluen, author of Dropbear.
www.uqp.com.au