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.
The prize currently comes with a A$30,000 cash award.
Winners and Shortlists
2020">2020 in literature">2020
- Peter Boyle – Enfolded in the Wings of a Great Darkness
- Joanne Burns – apparently
- Zenobia Frost – After the Demolition
- Lisa Gorton – Empirical
- Natalie Harkin – Archival-Poetics
- David Malouf – An Open Book
2019">2019 in literature">2019
- Winner: Judith Bishop – Interval
- Michael Farrell – I Love Poetry
- Penelope Layland – Things I’ve Thought To Tell You Since I Saw You Last
- Philip Neilsen – Wildlife of Berlin
- Mark Reid – Blindside
- Chris Wallace-Crabbe – Rondo
2018">2018 in poetry">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">2017 in poetry">2017
- Winner: Peter Boyle – Ghostspeaking
- Paul Hetherington – Burnt Umber
- Jill Jones – Breaking the Days
- Antigone Kefala – Fragments
- John Kinsella – Firebreaks: Poems
- Ellen van Neerven – Comfort Foot
2016">2016 in poetry">2016
- Winner: Joanne Burns – brush
- Lionel Fogarty – Eelahroo, Nyah, Möbö-Möbö
- Sarah Holland-Batt – The Hazards
- Meredith Wattison – terra bravura
- Chloe Wilson – Not Fox Nor Axe
- Ouyang Yu – Fainting
2015">2015 in poetry">2015
- Winner: David Malouf – Earth Hour
- Michael Aiken – A Vicious Example
- Judith Beveridge – Devadatta's Poems
- Anne Elvey – Kin
- Libby Hart – Wild
- John Mateer – Unbelievers, or The Moor
2014">2014 in poetry">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">2013 in literature">2013
- Winner: Ali Cobby-Eckermann – Ruby Moonlight, Magabala Books
- Kate Fagan – First Light, Giramondo Publishing
- Michael Farrell – Open Sesame, Giramondo Publishing
- Anthony Lawrence – The Welfare of my Enemy, Puncher & Wattman
- Kate Lilley – Ladylike, UWA Publishing
- Vivian Smith – Here, There and Elsewhere, Giramondo Publishing
2012">2012 in literature">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">2011 in literature">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">2010 in literature">2010
- Winner: Jordie Albiston – The Sonnet According to "M"
- Emily Ballou – The Darwin Poems
- Judith Beveridge – Storm and Honey
- Emma Jones – The Striped World
- Morgan Yasbincek – White Camel
2009">2009 in literature">2009
- Winner: LK Holt – Man Wolf Man, John Leonard Press.
- Michael Brennan – Unanimous Night, Salt Publishing
- David Brooks – The Balcony, University of Queensland Press
- Sarah Holland-Batt – Aria, University of Queensland Press
- Kerry Leves – A Shrine To Lata Mangeshkar, Puncher & Wattman
- Alan Wearne – The Australian Popular Songbook, Giramondo
2008">2008 in literature">2008
- Winner: Kathryn Lomer – Two Kinds of Silence
- Joanne Burns – an illustrated history of dairies
- Brook Emery – Uncommon Light
- Peter Kirkpatrick – Westering
- David Malouf – Typewriter Music
- Phyllis Perlstone – The Edge of Everything
2007">2007 in literature">2007
- Winner: John Tranter – Urban Myths, University of Queensland Press
- Robert Adamson – The Goldfinches of Baghdad, Flood Editions
- Laurie Duggan – The Passenger, University of Queensland Press
- Les Murray – The Biplane Houses, Black Inc.
- Simon West – First Names, Puncher and Wattmann
- Fay Zwicky – Picnic, Giramondo Publishing Company
2006">2006 in literature">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">2005 in literature">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">2004 in literature">2004
- Winner: Pam Brown – Dear Deliria: New & Selected Poems, Salt Publishing
- Jordie Albiston – The Fall, White Crane Press
- M. T. C. Cronin – beautiful, unfinished Salt Publishing
- Brook Emery – Misplaced Heart, Five Islands Press
- Philip Hammial – In the Year of Our Lord Slaughter's Children, Island Press
- John Tranter – Studio Moon, Salt Publishing
2003">2003 in literature">2003
- Winner: Jill Jones – Screens Jets Heaven
- Alison Croggon – Attempts at Being
- Kate Lilley – Versary
- Emma Lew – Anything the Landlord Touches
- Sarah Day – New and Selected Poems
- Robert Gray – Afterimages
2002">2002 in literature">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">2001 in literature">2001
- Winner: Ken Taylor – Africa, Five Islands Press
- Jennifer Compton – Blue, Ginninderra Press
- Brook Emery – and dug my fingers in the sand, Five Islands Press
- Philip Hammial – Bread, Black Pepper
- J. S. Harry – Sun Shadow, Moon Shadow, Vagabond Press
- Wendy Jenkins – Rogue Equations, Fremantle Arts Centre Press
2000">2000 in literature">2000
- Winner: Jennifer Maiden – Mines, Paper Bark Press/Australian Humanities Research Foundation
- Richard James Allen – Thursday's Fictions, Five Islands Press
- M. T. C. Cronin – Everything Holy, Balcones International Press
- Jennifer Harrison – Dear B, Black Pepper
- Kevin Hart – Wicked Heat, Paper Bark Press
- John Millett – Iceman, Five Islands Press
1999 and before
- 1999: Lee Cataldi – Race Against Time, Penguin Books Australia
- 1998: no awards were presented
- 1997: Anthony Lawrence – The Viewfinder, University of Queensland Press
- 1996: Eric Beach – Weeping for Lost Babylon, HarperCollins and J. S. Harry – Selected Poems, Penguin Books Australia
- 1995: Peter Boyle – Coming Home From the World, Five Islands Press
- 1994: Barry Hill – Ghosting William Buckley, William Heinemann Australia
- 1993: Les Murray – Translations from the Natural World, Isabella Press
- 1992: Elizabeth Riddell – Selected Poems, Collins Angus & Robertson
- 1991: Jennifer Maiden – The Winter Baby, Collins Angus & Robertson
- 1990: Robert Adamson – The Clean Dark, Paper Bark Press
- 1989: John Tranter – Under Berlin, University of Queensland Press
- 1988: Judith Beveridge – The Domesticity of Giraffes, Black Lightning Press
- 1987: Philip Hodgins – Blood and Bone, Angus & Robertson
- 1986: Robert Gray – Selected Poems 1963–83, Angus & Robertson
- 1985: Kevin Hart – Your Shadow, Angus & Robertson
- 1984: Les Murray – The People's Other World, Angus & Robertson
- 1983: Vivian Smith – Tide Country, Angus & Robertson
- 1982: Fay Zwicky – Kaddish and Other Poems, University of Queensland Press
- 1981: Alan Gould – Astral Sea, Angus & Robertson
- 1980: David Campbell – Man in the Honeysuckle, Angus & Robertson