22. How to Read a Poem

In this episode of Fully Lit Live, we bring you a panel discussion recorded at the Blue Mountains Writers Festival in November 2025.

James Jiang, editor of the Sydney Review of Books, hosts Willo Drummond and Hasib Hourani for an exploration of how poems work - in the body, on the page, and in your ears.

From a discussion of formative reading experiences to a shared close reading of Emma Lew’s Marshes, this conversation is an intimate encounter with poetry and its enduring value.

If you’re a devoted reader of poetry, or someone who is yet to approach it, this episode is for you.

GUESTS

Hasib Hourani is a Lebanese-Palestinian writer, editor, arts worker and educator. His debut book, rock flight, won the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry and the Mary Gilmore Award, and was shortlisted for the 2025 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Poetry.

Willo Drummond is a poet and lecturer in creative writing. Her debut collection Moon Wrasse was shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and commended in the Five Islands Poetry Prize for a First Book of Poetry.

James Jiang is a critic and scholar, and editor of the Sydney Review of Books.

CREDITS

Fully Lit is brought to you by Impact Studios at UTS, the Sydney Review of Books, and the UTS Writing and Publishing Program, and is produced by Regina Botros.

Executive Producer: Sarah Gilbert

Mixed by Siobhan Moylan