Dr Evelyn Araluen Corr wins prestigious literary prize
Dr Evelyn Araluen Corr has been awarded the prestigious Victorian Prize for Literature at the 2026 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards for her poetry collection The Rot. The award is Australia’s richest state-based literary prize, valued at $100,000.
The poetry collection also won the Indigenous Writing category, valued at $25,000.
Evelyn is a Goorie and Koori poet, editor and educator, and is a Lecturer in Indigenous Arts and Culture at the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development based at the Victorian College of the Arts.
Published in 2025 by the University of Queensland Press, The Rot explores issues including gender, late-stage capitalism, settler-colonialism and global injustice.
Judges for the Victorian Premier’s Literary Prize noted that The Rot is a work of remarkable poetic intelligence that “pushes contemporary Indigenous writing into new territory, blending lyric, critique and cultural memory with precision and risk”. They added that the collection stands as a vital intervention in this country’s cultural conversation.
On receiving the prize, Evelyn said: “I began work on this collection shortly after coming on board at the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development. It's been a really affirming experience over the last eighteen months to feel like I've grown into my creative practice as a poet and First Nations storytelling practitioner alongside other mob in such a collaborative and communal environment.”
Professor Marie Sierra, Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, said: “This is a momentous achievement. Evelyn brings a fierce intelligence and insight to both her teaching and creative practice, and I congratulate her on this fitting recognition of her wonderful new collection.”
Evelyn is the co-editor of Overland Literary Journal, Chairperson of the Institute of Postcolonial Studies Board of Directors, and co-convening editor of the Journal of Postcolonial Studies.
Her poetry debut Dropbear was published by the University of Queensland Press in 2021, and won the 2022 Stella Prize for Australian Women’s Literature.