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Sydney Morning Herald
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Sixteen years ago, Nam Le's debut won a major literary prize. His follow-up has done it again
More than 16 years after Melbourne-based Nam Le burst onto Australia's literary scene to critical acclaim and a slew of prizes, his second publication has taken out book of the year in the 2025 NSW Literary Awards. Le's hardcover volume 3 6 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem was also the winner of the individual category, Multicultural NSW Award ($30,000), for what judges said was a work of 'poetic brilliance, power and accessibility'. Established in 1979, this year's NSW Premier's Literary Awards were presented at the NSW State Library on Monday night, kicking off the Sydney Writers' Festival. The Vietnamese born writer was no older than a toddler when his parents brought him to Australia as they made their way as refugees on a boat. In 2009, his acclaimed short story collection The Boat went on to win the NSW Premiers Literary Prize's book of the year as well as the American Pushcart Prize, among other notable awards. Since those accolades, Le has ventured into screenwriting, and collaborated on an online graphic adaption of The Boat. 'My writing process is, in a word, slow,' Le told the Herald via a statement. 'I reckon I must have one of the worst words read/written/rewritten-to-published ratios around. A lot of iceberg for so little tip.' In the years in between publications, Le said he had 'done a lot of living, a lot of writing'. He has two young children, and is still working on the long anticipated second work of fiction.
The Age
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Sixteen years ago, Nam Le's debut won a major literary prize. His follow-up has done it again
More than 16 years after Melbourne-based Nam Le burst onto Australia's literary scene to critical acclaim and a slew of prizes, his second publication has taken out book of the year in the 2025 NSW Literary Awards. Le's hardcover volume 3 6 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem was also the winner of the individual category, Multicultural NSW Award ($30,000), for what judges said was a work of 'poetic brilliance, power and accessibility'. Established in 1979, this year's NSW Premier's Literary Awards were presented at the NSW State Library on Monday night, kicking off the Sydney Writers' Festival. The Vietnamese born writer was no older than a toddler when his parents brought him to Australia as they made their way as refugees on a boat. In 2009, his acclaimed short story collection The Boat went on to win the NSW Premiers Literary Prize's book of the year as well as the American Pushcart Prize, among other notable awards. Since those accolades, Le has ventured into screenwriting, and collaborated on an online graphic adaption of The Boat. 'My writing process is, in a word, slow,' Le told the Herald via a statement. 'I reckon I must have one of the worst words read/written/rewritten-to-published ratios around. A lot of iceberg for so little tip.' In the years in between publications, Le said he had 'done a lot of living, a lot of writing'. He has two young children, and is still working on the long anticipated second work of fiction.
The Guardian
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Nam Le wins book of the year at NSW Literary awards for ‘passionate and bold' depiction of Vietnamese diaspora
More than a decade after attracting international acclaim for his debut The Boat, Nam Le has won book of the year at the NSW Literary awards for his follow-up, a book-length poem titled 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem. Le won the $10,000 top gong as well as the $30,000 NSW multicultural award category, but missed out on the Kenneth Slessor prize for poetry, which went to Lebanese-Palestinian writer Hasib Hourani for another book-length poem, Rock Flight. The $40,000 Christina Stead prize for fiction went to Fiona McFarlane for her collection of crime stories, Highway 13. James Bradley, also a poet as well as novelist and critic, won the $40,000 Douglas Stewart prize for nonfiction for his ode to the ocean, Deep Water. Le, who arrived in Australia as an infant with his Vietnamese refugee parents in the late 1970s, worked as a corporate lawyer before turning to writing full-time. His 2008 debut, The Boat, a collection of short stories, won a slew of literary awards including the UK's Dylan Thomas prize. There was a 16-year gap between The Boat and 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem, released last year. But speaking to Guardian Australia before he knew he had won, Le said his second book had actually been decades in the making. 'How long had I been thinking about it, taking notes for it, starting collecting various fragments of it? I've basically been writing it my whole life,' he said. 'There are poems in there, lines in the book, which existed in old notebooks of mine from 20, 30 years ago.' Sign up for our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning The judges praised 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem, which explores family, racism, war, trauma and the Vietnamese diaspora, for its 'poetic brilliance, power and accessibility'. 'This collection is damning, frank, and unwavering in its exploration of diasporic identity and its implications both personal and political. 'It is passionate and bold in its depiction of otherness, trauma and struggle – demanding consideration, care and intellect of its reader – and cerebral in its reception and contemplation.' McFarlane, a fellow former winner of the Dylan Thomas prize, was also recognised on Monday for Highway 13, a collection of stories all linked to the same serial killer. Judges praised McFarlane's 'beautifully poised prose', calling the book 'an exhilarating example of the magical power of story, turning straw into gold'. 'Highway 13 amplifies our understanding of how violence in one corner of the world can ripple globally and across generations. Our experiences of the emotional truths McFarlane exposes make us witnesses too, but not so much to crime – here we are witnesses to humanity itself.' After seven novels and a book of poetry, Bradley, who was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for services to literature four years ago, received recognition for his first work of nonfiction, Deep Water, which the judges called 'a remarkable combination of great labour and literary skill' that 'tells a story of eternity and rapid change, of vastness and immediacy, and it does so in a masterfully moving way'. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion With a total prize pool of $360,000, the NSW Literary awards are considered Australia's oldest and richest state-based literary prizes. In the children's books categories, Katrina Nannestad won $30,000 for Silver Linings, her children's novel set in 1950s Australia, while Emma Lord won $30,000 for her apocalyptic young adult novel Anomaly. Wathaurong and Ngarrindjeri writer Glenn Shea won the playwriting category for his play Three Magpies Perched in a Tree, in which a juvenile justice worker tries to tackle Indigenous youth incarceration. The Indigenous writers' prize was won by the Juluwarlu Group Aboriginal Corporation for their graphic novel recounting Yindjibarndi creation stories, When the World Was Soft. Other winners include the film-maker Charles Williams who won the Betty Roland prize for scriptwriting for his script Inside, a prison drama starring Guy Pearce, and Elizabeth Bryer, who won the translation category for her translation of Eduardo Sangarcía's The Trial of Anna Thalberg from Spanish into English. The award for new writing went to Australia's first Indigenous person to complete a PhD in clinical psychology, Dr Tracy Westerman, whose book Jilya examines the ways Australia's mental health system fails First Nations people. The people's choice award went to the journalist Lucia Osborne-Crowley for The Lasting Harm, her account of the trial of the convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.
