Announcing the winner of the inaugural Quentin Bryce Award
UQP is pleased to announce that the inaugural recipient of the UQP Quentin Bryce Award is Ellen van Neerven’s stunning new poetry collection, Throat.
The award, which recognises The Honourable Dame Quentin Bryce, is for a book on UQP’s list each year that celebrates women’s lives and/or promotes gender equality. Ellen van Neerven will receive $5000 in prize money, and an extra $5000 will be put towards marketing and publicity for Throat, courtesy of The University of Queensland.
Of selecting Throat from UQP’s 2020 list, Quentin Bryce says:
‘What a joy it is to have a special connection with the poet Ellen van Neerven through this beautiful book. Throat is exhilarating and confronting, wise and funny, the perfect companion for walks on Country along the river and for looking into the colours of the writer's heart. Van Neerven is strong and proud. Inside this book is the story of the poet’s ancestors’ story, truth told in spades, in magic rhythm, with searing knowing love.’
Of receiving the 2020 UQP Quentin Bryce Award, Ellen van Neerven says:
‘This award means a lot to me as a proud member of my local South-East Queensland First Nations community and as a writer who is actively dedicated to gender equality. I am proud to be the inaugural recipient of an award named in Quentin Bryce’s honour.’
About Throat
Throat is the explosive second poetry collection from award-winning Mununjali Yugambeh author Ellen van Neerven. Exploring love, language, land, van Neerven flexes their muscles and shines a light on Australia’s unreconciled past and precarious present with humour and heart. Unsparing in its interrogation of colonial impulse, this book is fiercely loyal to voicing our truth and telling the stories that make us who we are.
Of Throat, Nakkiah Lui says: ‘Van Neerven’s ability to challenge and expand politics is thrilling, their flair for language exhilaratingly intimate.’
About the UQP Quentin Bryce Award
The award recognises The Honourable Dame Quentin Bryce, who is an alumna of The University of Queensland and was the first woman appointed as a faculty member of its Law School. From 2003 to 2008 she served as the twenty-fourth Governor of Queensland, and from 2008 to 2014 she was the twenty-fifth Governor General of Australia, the first woman to hold the office. Throughout her career Quentin Bryce has been a strong supporter of the arts and Australia’s cultural life, and she is an ambassador for many related organisations, including the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and the Stella Prize.
To honour Quentin Bryce’s impressive career and legacy, The University of Queensland and UQP have jointly established the UQP Quentin Bryce Award. The award recognises one book on UQP’s list each year that celebrates women’s lives and/or promotes gender equality. The University of Queensland has provided $10,000 towards the award: $5000 prize money for the selected author; and $5000 towards additional marketing and publicity.
For more information please contact Louise Cornegé, Marketing & Publicity Manager UQP, on louisec@uqp.uq.edu.au.
