Ellen van Neerven is an award-winning Murri writer who grew up in Brisbane – she is Yugambeh. Her first book – Heat and Light – won the prestigious David Unaipon award for Unpublished Indigenous authors in 2013, and it has since won the Indigenous Writers Prize at the NSW Premiers Literary Awards, an honour she shared with Bruce Pascoe. Ellen just released her collection of poetry – Comfort Food.
She talks to Amy McQuire about her own story, how she began writing, who inspired her and where she hopes to go with black literature. She is also a part of the black&write! Indigenous writing and editing project at the State Library of Queensland.