Lucy Van writes poetry and criticism. She is a senior research associate in the English and Theatre Studies program at the University of Melbourne. She was a writer in residence at Overland (2019-2020), and a Melbourne Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne (2018-2019). Her first poetry collection, The Open (Cordite 2021), was longlisted for the Stella prize, shortlisted for the Mary Gilmore Award and highly commended in the Anne Elder Award.