Maria van Neerven

Maria van Neerven is a Mununjali poet from the Yugambeh nation living in Meanjin. Her work focuses on colonisation, racism, discrimination, family and mental health. Growing up in a large Indigenous family she had to deal with these issues daily. Maria has been published in journals including Aniko Press, Meanjin, Westerly Magazine, Splinter and APJ. She was the winner of the David Unaipon Award in 2023 and a Next Chapter Fellow in 2024. Two Tongues is her first poetry collection 2026.