Malaysian-Australian author Omar Musa is known for influences beyond the written word. Whether it is his poetry or beat-dropping hip-hop, and thought-provoking visual art, he leaves an impact. Having been born to parents who are also literary figures led to diversification at an early age. “My parents are both true believers in the arts, which is not just fun and entertaining but essential to the soul. I was very privileged when I was growing up, because they would often take me to concerts or exhibitions. I remember they would be super playful with words; making up stories and poems and jokes,” said Musa, who finds it exciting to experiment with genre, blend and cross-pollinate. Continuing, Musa, who has released five hip-hop records and four books of poetry, tells us, “I never had gadgets or games. They would give me a pencil and a piece of paper and tell me, ‘If you have these, you’ll never be bored.’ Which was true. I could always draw something or scribble my thoughts down.”
Musa’s first novel Here Come The Dogs was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award and the International Dublin Literary Award. He also has an interest in wood-cutting and is a playwright, and was named one of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Young Novelists of the Year in 2015. His second book, Fierceland (2025), up for the Victorian Premier’s Prize for Fiction 2026, picks up themes that have had a profound effect on Musa. Talking about going back to his roots for the novel, he said: “I have been returning to Malaysia, Borneo, for a long time to connect with my family, friends, and the arts and music scene. I have a very deep connection to the place. In writing Fierceland, I also moved back to Kota Kinabalu for two years, and I believe it allowed me to write more truthfully and engagingly.”
What kept Musa fascinated were “delving deeply into palm oil and logging corruption, the spirit of the forest, the legacy of colonialism and how a nation finds its feet (or falters) in independence. I spoke to so many people and had incredible adventures all over Borneo — up the rivers and in the forests of Sabah, Sarawak and Kalimantan — to deepen my experiences and gain new insights.”
Curiosity has been the driving force for Musa, who wrote a one-man play, Since Ali Died, for Griffin Theatre Company, that chronicled the death of his childhood hero and legendary boxer Muhammad Ali. Reflecting on his curious mind, he shared: “If you approach everything with curiosity, it means there’s this endless well of inspiration. I’d like to think I can draw inspiration from almost anything: a podcast about ChatGPT, a conversation about a breakup overheard on the train, a monitor lizard living in a drain in Borneo.” Musa also draws a lot of inspiration from the artists and writers around him, such as Sydney-based multi-disciplinary artist Abdul Abdullah; Malaysian contemporary artist Yee I-Lann; Scottish poet-author Michael Pedersen; Vietnamese-Australian writer Nam Le, and Malaysian-Australian multi-disciplinary artist Tiyan Baker. He also keeps going back to Ryunosuke Akutagawa, also known as the father of the Japanese short story.
Fierceland is most definitely a work of fiction, but Musa makes us note that small elements in the story draw upon his family history and his lived experiences. How much of him are Roz and Harun in the book? “Only small parts and tiny elements, but I have tried to take those elements and magnify, distort and intensify them; use them as seeds to grow something wholly new.” And out of the two, who is he closer to the most? “I suppose I am closer to Roz, since we are both chaotic artists. Having said that, Roz and Harun are their own people,” said Musa, further opening up about the challenges of telling the story with honesty and compassion. “It’s often very challenging to grapple with issues like identity, belonging and migration, because they are slippery and complicated. Some of them make you very angry. Maybe the greatest challenge is to come up with a structure/form that doesn’t completely confuse or overwhelm the reader, but synthesises all of these ideas into something both compelling and challenging. I’d like to think that I always approach the subject matter with humanity and empathy, even if it’s very dark.”
Musa has been a strong voice of the migrants, and he puts it out in clear words through all his works, whether in written or oral form, on the stage or off it. Born and raised in Australia to a migrant father from Malaysia, his ethnicity and religion have naturally invited racism. In exploring these lived stories and issues, he is trying to shine a light on them and, in some way, create more understanding and empathy. “I see it like this — sometimes I’m starting fires, sometimes I’m building bridges. Each is necessary, from time to time,” says Musa, whose next literary work will be an anthology of short stories, to be released in July in Australia. It will be very surreal and is about characters grappling with grief, technology and faith.
In terms of music he is planning to drop an album of the play, The Offering, by his wife, American cellist Mariel Roberts Musa, and him. The composition includes cello, rapping, electronic music, storytelling and field recordings from the reef and forests of Borneo.
