Hasib Hourani’s rock flight wins the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry
Hasib Hourani’s debut collection rock flight has won the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry at the 2025 NSW Literary Awards. The announcement was made on Monday 19 May by the State Library of NSW as part of the Sydney Writers’ Festival.
Now published to critical acclaim in three continents, this debut collection by the Lebanese-Palestinian writer, editor, arts worker and educator is a powerful testament to the displacement and dispossession of the Palestinian people.
‘Narratives of occupation, grief and resistance are difficult to capture straight-forwardly,’ said Hourani in his acceptance speech. ‘I wrote rock flight in order to explore both historical and speculative acts of liberation in Palestine. And so rock flight is both a book about protests, and one that acts as a protest for Palestinian liberation.’
Read the judges’ comments below.
rock flight is a conceptually inventive collection that weaves together the political and deeply personal to create a powerful voice speaking against the moral, military and bureaucratic violences of colonialism. Unconventional forms combine with free verse to create a multilayered call to action, mobilising disparate fields of relationship, reference and understanding to form a cohesive whole that compels attention and empathy.
Hasib Hourani’s work is grounded in the history and personal experience of Palestinian dispossession, detailing connection to land and people. The writing locates the human and immediate in events that have been distorted, ignored or manipulated by government and media. The poems are rich with symbolic suggestion, crafted to speak against cruelty and legal incoherence. rock flight is a rendering of crimes, a guide for survival, and a recognition of the disruptive potential of paper, voice and stone.
rock flight was also shortlisted for the UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing. You can watch Hourani’s acceptance speech on the State Library’s livestream, as well as a recording of him reading from the book on the Giramondo Instagram. He will be appearing at three Sydney Writers’ Festival events this week.
