BIO
“Rapper, poet, author and visual artist, Omar Musa is arguably one of the most exciting creators in Australia right now” — The New York Times Style Magazine: Australia
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Short biography:
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Omar Musa is a Bornean-Australian author, visual artist and poet from Queanbeyan, Australia. He has released four poetry books (including Killernova), five hip-hop records (including The Fullness), and received a standing ovation at TEDx Sydney at the Sydney Opera House.
His debut novel Here Come the Dogs was long-listed for the International Dublin Literary Award and Miles Franklin Award and he was named one of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Young Novelists of the Year in 2015.
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His one-man play, Since Ali Died, won Best Cabaret Show at the Sydney Theatre Awards in 2018. He has had several solo exhibitions of his woodcut prints, including All My Memories Are Mistranslations.
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Long biography:
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Omar Musa is a Bornean-Australian author, visual artist and poet from Queanbeyan, Australia. He has released four poetry books (including Killernova), four hip hop records (including The Fullness), and written an acclaimed one man play, Since Ali Died. He was named one of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Young Novelists of the Year in 2015 and long-listed for the Miles Franklin Award for his novel Here Come the Dogs. His work has appeared in Best Australian Short Stories and Best Australian Poems.
Musa’s book of poetry and woodcut art Killernova (Penguin Random House Australia, 2021) explored themes including borderlessness, South-East Asian colonial history, ancestral legacies, seafaring, islands, oceans, addiction and race in Australia. It celebrated his unexpected journey into woodcut prints under the tutelage of punk rock/activist collective Pangrok Sulap in his homeland of Malaysian Borneo. Killernova won the Special Book Award at ACT Notable Book Awards, was long-listed for Australian Literature Society Gold Medal and Highly Commended for the ACT Book of The Year.
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In 2018, Musa wrote a one man play, Since Ali Died, for Griffin Theatre Company, about the death of his childhood hero Muhammad Ali. It was an exploration of his relationship with Islam, Australian racism, friendship and addiction. Musa did a critically acclaimed national tour of Since Ali Died in venues such as Melbourne Arts Centre, Sydney Festival, Brisbane Festival, Canberra Theatre, OzAsia Festival in Adelaide and Darwin Festival. It was awarded Best Cabaret Show at the Sydney Theatre Awards in 2018.
Musa’s debut novel, Here Come the Dogs (Penguin Australia, The New Press USA, 2014/2015), explored themes such as Australian racism, powerlessness and masculinity. Here Come the Dogs won the People’s Choice Award at the ACT Book of Year Awards, was long-listed for the Dublin International Literary Award and Miles Franklin Award, and was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Literary Award for New Writing and the South Australian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction.
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His short fiction has appeared in The Griffith Review, Overland, Meanjin, Kill Your Darlings, Best Australian Short Stories and in 2024, he won 1st place in the Writers' Studio Short Story Competition for "The Vape Lord of Queanbeyan."
Musa has had several solo exhibitions of his woodcut prints, including Welcome to Leopard Beach at M16 Gallery and All My Memories Are Mistranslations at Humble House Gallery.
Musa received a standing ovation at TEDx Sydney at the Sydney Opera House. He has performed at venues such as the Brixton Academy in London, Sydney Opera House, Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City and The National Museum in Brasilia, Brazil and appeared at international writers festivals such as Sydney Writers Festival (Australia), Read My World Festival (Netherlands), Lagos International Poetry Festival (Nigeria), Edinburgh International Book Festival (Scotland), Toronto International Festival of Authors (Canada), Makassar International Writers Festival (Indonesia), among others. He has shared stages with writers such as Ocean Vuong, Irvine Welsh, Kae Tempest, Mitchell S. Jackson, Nam Le, Michael Pedersen and Hollie McNish.