Lebanese-Palestinian poet Hasib Hourani has been awarded the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry at the 2025 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, recognising his debut collection rock flight as one of the year’s most compelling literary works.
The awards ceremony, held on Monday, 19 May at the State Library of New South Wales, celebrated excellence in Australian literature across 14 categories, with a total of $360,000 in prize money awarded to writers in genres including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, playwriting, and children’s literature.
Hourani, a poet and arts worker based on Wangal Country in Sydney, received high praise from judges for rock flight (Giramondo, 2024), describing it as “a rendering of crimes, a guide for survival, and a recognition of the disruptive potential of paper, voice and stone.”
Blending free verse, erasure poetry, typographic experimentation, and lyric essay, rock flight explores the complexities of statelessness and inherited displacement. The judges lauded the work’s formal innovation and political urgency, calling it “a multilayered call to action.”
“This masterful long poem shows astonishing control over a wide variety of formal and technical elements,” the judges stated. “The writing locates the human and immediate in events that have been distorted, ignored or manipulated by government and media.”
Hourani, a 2020 recipient of The Wheeler Centre’s Next Chapter Scheme, has previously been published in literary journals including Meanjin, Overland, Australian Poetry, and Cordite.
His award comes at a time of deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where the death toll from the ongoing conflict has surpassed 53,000. Hourani’s work resonates with particular poignancy in this context, drawing on his experience of being “born stateless” to give voice to both personal grief and broader resistance.
Other Finalists Highlight Diverse Voices
The 2025 awards also showcased a range of emerging and established authors whose work explores themes of identity, migration, and memory.
Jumaana Abdu was shortlisted for the Multicultural NSW Award for her debut novel Translations, which tells the story of a woman and her daughter starting over in rural New South Wales after experiencing profound loss.
“There is an elegant and quiet power in Abdu’s tale,” the judges commented. “Translations is about the connective tissue of relationships… Her writing is elevated and evocative.”
Samah Sabawi was recognised for her memoir Cactus Pear For My Beloved, which traces her family’s journey from British-ruled Palestine to Redland Bay in Queensland. The judges called it “a luminous and lyrical tribute to family, exile and resistance,” noting its rich portrayal of love, memory, and the Palestinian connection to land and identity.
Abbas El-Zein was a finalist in the nonfiction category for Bullet, Paper, Rock, a memoir that intertwines personal narrative with the political landscape of Lebanon, from 1970s Beirut through the Arab Spring.
“El-Zein’s writing is a dazzling combination of precision and playfulness,” the judges said. “It shimmers, shapeshifts and beckons the reader to follow.”
A Celebration of Literary Excellence
The NSW Premier’s Literary Awards continue to be one of Australia’s most significant celebrations of the written word, offering recognition and support for writers who challenge, inspire and illuminate through storytelling. Hourani’s win underscores the power of poetry to address urgent contemporary issues with artistry and emotional depth.
