my-server
← Wiki

Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry

The Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry is awarded annually as part of the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards for a book of collected poems or for a single poem of substantial length published in book form. It is named after Kenneth Slessor (1901–1971).

The prize currently comes with a A$30,000 cash award.

Winners and shortlists

2025

  • Winner: Hasib Hourani – rock flight
  • Chris Andrews – The Oblong Plot
  • Nam Le – 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem
  • Jeanine Leane – Gawimarra: Gathering
  • Kate Middleton – Television

2024

  • Winner: Tais Rose Wae – Riverbed Sky Songs
  • Pooja Mittal Biswas – Hunger and Predation
  • Willo Drummond – Moon Wrasse
  • Libby Hart – Burn
  • Caitlin Maling – Spore or Seed
  • Omar Sakr – Non-Essential Work

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

  • Winner: Bella Li – Argosy
  • Adam Aitken – Archipelago
  • Jordie Albiston – Euclid's dog: 100 algorithmic poems
  • Rico Craig – Bone Ink
  • Nguyễn Tiên Hoàng – Captive and Temporal
  • Omar Sakr – These Wild Houses

2017

2016

  • Winner: Joanne Burns – brush
  • Lionel Fogarty – Eelahroo (Long Ago), Nyah (Looking), Möbö-Möbö (Future)
  • Sarah Holland-Batt – The Hazards
  • Meredith Wattison – terra bravura
  • Chloe Wilson – Not Fox Nor Axe
  • Ouyang Yu – Fainting

2015

2014

  • Winner: Fiona Hile – Novelties, Hunter
  • Justin Clemens – The Mundiad, Hunter
  • Diane Fahey – The Stone Garden: poems from Clare, Clouds of Magellan
  • Liam Ferney – Boom, Grand Parade Poets
  • Kate Middleton – Ephemeral Waters, Giramondo Publishing
  • Jessica Wilkinson – Marionette: A biography of Miss Marion Davies, Vagabond Press

2013

2012

  • Winner: Gig Ryan – New and Selected Poems, Giramondo Publishing
  • Ken Bolton – Sly Mongoose, Puncher and Wattman
  • Susan Hawthorne – Cow, Spinifex Press
  • John Mateer – Southern Barbarians, Giramondo Publishing
  • Claire Potter – Swallow, Five Islands Press
  • Tracy Ryan – The Argument, Fremantle Press

2011

  • Winner: Jennifer Maiden – Pirate Rain, Giramondo Publishing
  • Susan Bradley Smith – Supermodernprayerbook, Salt Publishing
  • Andy Jackson – Among The Regulars, Papertiger Media Inc
  • Jill Jones – Dark Bright Doors, Wakefield Press Pty
  • Anna Kerdijk Nicholson – Possession, Five Island Press
  • Andy Kissane – Out to Lunch, Puncher and Wattmann

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

  • Winner: Jaya Savige – Latecomers, University of Queensland Press.
  • Aidan Coleman – Avenues & Runways, Brandl & Schlesinger
  • Susan Hampton – The Kindly Ones, Five Islands Press
  • Jill Jones – Broken/Open, Salt Publishing
  • Penelope Layland – Suburban Anatomy, Pandanus Books
  • David McCooey – Blister Pack, Salt Publishing

2005

  • Winner: Samuel Wagan Watson – Smoke Encrypted Whispers, University of Queensland Press
  • M. T. C. Cronin – < More or Less Than> 1–100, Shearsman Books Ltd
  • Lidija Cvetkovic – War is Not the Season for Figs, University of Queensland Press
  • John Kinsella – Doppler Effect, Salt Publishing
  • Dipti Saravanamuttu – The Colosseum, Five Islands Press
  • Alan Wearne – The Lovemakers Book Two: Money and Nothing, ABC Books

2004

2003

2002

  • Winner: Alan Wearne – The Lovemakers, Penguin Books Australia
  • Robert Adamson – Mulberry Leaves: New & Selected Poems: 1970–2001, Paper Bark Press
  • Martin Harrison – Summer, Paper Bark Press
  • Dorothy Hewett – Halfway Up the Mountain, Fremantle Arts Centre Press
  • Bronwyn Lea – Flight Animals, University of Queensland Press
  • Gig Ryan – Heroic Money, Brandl & Schlesinger
  • John Tranter – Ultra, Brandl & Schlesinger

2001

2000

1999 and before

Award winners:

See also

Notes