Australia’s most prestigious state literary accolade has been awarded to Evelyn Araluen, whose recent poetry collection has been lauded by the judges for its extraordinary poetic insight.

The Goorie/Koori poet clinched the $100,000 Victorian Prize for Literature for her work, The Rot, during the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards ceremony held in Melbourne on Wednesday evening.

In addition to this honor, Araluen also secured the $25,000 Prize for Indigenous Writing.

The judges praised The Rot as a creation of exceptional poetic intellect, describing it as formally daring, emotionally intense, and politically unyielding. Araluen is credited with advancing contemporary Indigenous literature by artfully combining lyricism, critique, and cultural heritage with both precision and daring.

Her poetry navigates the complexities of intergenerational trauma, systemic oppression, and the relentless endeavor to endure, all the while rejecting sentimentality and embracing deep compassion. By merging tradition with innovation, she crafts a voice that is both flexible and introspective, keenly aware of the power of language.

The $25,000 fiction award was presented to Omar Musa, who resides between Borneo and Brooklyn, for his family epic, Fierceland.

Micaela Sahhar won the non-fiction category with her debut memoir, Find Me at the Jaffa Gate: An Encyclopaedia of a Palestinian Family.

Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah won the $2000 popular-vote People’s Choice Award for her novel Discipline, with the book also highly commended in the fiction category.

While voting for the popular award was underway in January, Abdel-Fattah was removed from the line-up for Adelaide Writers’ Week, sparking a mass boycott that culminated in the event’s cancellation.

She is slated to appear at a replacement event in Adelaide, as well as the Newcastle and Sydney writers’ festivals later in 2026.

The award for young adult writing, renamed the John Marsden Prize in honour of the late writer and teacher, went to Margot McGovern’s horror novel This Stays Between Us.

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