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 36 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”.

Melbourne-based Nam Le wins NSW Premier’s Literary awards’ best book for the second time with his second book. Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

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.

“I’ve spent a lot of time being fascinated by, and trying out, different [writing] forms. I try to only put things out I can stand behind.

“The difficulty is that what I like and look for in writing doesn’t remain fixed, so the (private) work just keeps going.”

Other winners in this year’s NSW Literary Awards included Fiona McFarlane for her book Highway 13, which won The Christina Stead Prize for Fiction ($40,000).

The Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-fiction ($40,000) went to James Bradley for Deep Water, a look at the oceans and the part they play in nature, history and climate.

Hasib Hourani’s rock flight by Giramondo Publishing has been awarded the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry ($30,000) while Katrina Nannestad’s Silver Linings received the Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature ($30,000).

This year’s winners were selected from 733 entries, with the judges impressed by the “fearless integrity” of these Australian writers and their willingness to “engage with the beauty of violence of our world”.

The judges said Le’s poetry collection brought the writer’s signature intellectual rigour and political exploration of race and identity into the mix.

The work was best understood not as segmented, discrete poems but as one continuous poem.

“This collection is damning, frank, and unwavering in its exploration of diasporic identity and its implications both personal and political,” they said.

“Each piece offers a nuanced dance between past and present, capturing the complexities of identity, dislocation and the enduring bonds of family.”

Le said he didn’t set out to write 36 Ways, but “it kept insisting – even as I was writing other stuff – and I eventually realised it was the book I needed to write”.

“It’s a return to poetry, my first love and discipline, and it’s a return to first principles, which was what I needed,” he said.

“The book is very important to me. I had to fight to get it published. It captures and holds in tension what I feel about writing – my truths as a writer, I suppose you could say – and it calibrates all my work, both before and after. I feel freer knowing it’s out there.”

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