The Rot (book)

The Rot
AuthorEvelyn Araluen
LanguageEnglish
PublisherUniversity of Queensland Press
Publication date4 November 2025
ISBN9780702268960

The Rot is a 2025 collection of poetry and prose by Evelyn Araluen, an Aboriginal Australian poet of the Bundjalung people. It was published by the University of Queensland Press. It received the 2026 Victorian Prize for Literature, the 2026 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards – Indigenous Writing award, and the ABIA 2026 Small Publishers' Adult Book of the Year. It was shortlisted for the 2026 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Poetry and the 2026 Stella Prize, amongst other honours.

Critical reception

Writing for The Guardian, Alison Croggan describes the collection as an "experiential plunge into the nightmare of the present moment". The Rot considers colonialism and postcolonialism, the "livestreamed" siege on Gaza, womanhood, girlhood, and personal and digital archives.

Thomas Ford from The Conversation, described the collection as "an almost lyric novel in its sustained attention to the feeling or effect of politics today" offering readers an "eerie insomniac beauty, attuned precisely to our dark times.

Awards

Awards for The Rot
Year Award Result Ref.
2026 Victorian Prize for Literature Winner
Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing Winner
ABIA Small Publishers' Adult Book of the Year Winner
Prime Minister's Literary Award for Poetry Shortlisted
Stella Prize Shortlisted

References

  1. ↑ UQP (18 July 2025). "The Rot". University of Queensland Press. Archived from the original on 14 July 2026. Retrieved 11 October 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 The Wheeler Centre (11 October 2026). "2026 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Shortlist". The Wheeler Centre. Retrieved 11 October 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. 1 2 Pengelly, Vanessa (21 May 2026). "Australian Book Industry Award Winners 2026". ABIA. Retrieved 10 October 2026.
  4. 1 2 "Announcing the shortlist for the 2026 Prime Minister's Literary Awards | Creative Australia". creative.gov.au. Retrieved 10 October 2026.
  5. 1 2 "The Stella Prize 2026 Shortlist – The Stella Prize". Retrieved 10 October 2026.
  6. 1 2 Croggon, Alison (27 November 2025). "The Rot by Evelyn Araluen review – headlong language and bitter truths imbued with tenderness". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 October 2026.
  7. ↑ Ford, Thomas H. (10 November 2025). "Grim, funny and unremitting, Evelyn Araluen's The Rot is a book attuned to dark times". The Conversation. doi:10.64628/AA.mac64uamr. Retrieved 11 October 2026.