Australian Essays

What is an Essay?

Wikipedia describes it thus:

_{An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author’s own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have traditionally been sub-classified as formal and informal. Formal essays are characterized by “serious purpose, dignity, logical organization, length,” whereas the informal essay is characterized by “the personal element (self-revelation, individual tastes and experiences, confidential manner), humour, graceful style, rambling structure, unconventionality or novelty of theme,” etc.}

On this page I will be highlighting Australian essays only. That is, essays written by Australian authors (about any topic) or essays written in or about Australian (by any author). I will avoid adding articles and journalism to this list; it is getting long enough as it is!

Australia has one significant essay prize (that I know of) happy to stand corrected.

• Calibre Essay Prize – “open to all essayists writing in English. We seek essays of between 2,000 and 5,000 words on any subject. We welcome essays of all kinds: personal or political, literary or speculative, traditional or experimental. Founded in 2007, the Calibre Prize is one of the world’s leading prizes for a new non-fiction essay.”

Links to my review will be linked to the title. Other bloggers and their reviews will follow in brackets.

• Thea Astley | The Monstrous Accent on Youth (1968) Sue @Whispering Gums
• Louisa Atkinson | A Voice in the Country: January (1860) Sue @Whispering Gums
• Carmel Bird | Fair Game: A Tasmanian Memoir (2015) Sue @Whispering Gums
• John Birmingham | On Father (2019) Lisa @ANZLit Lovers
• Judith Brett | The Coal Curse (2020) Lisa @ANZLit Lovers
• Chris Bowen | On Charlatans (2021) Lisa @ANZLit Lovers
• Julian Bull | Aussie Albert (2017) Nancy @NancyElin
• Sophie Cunningham | City of Trees: Essays on Life, Death and the Need for a Forest (2019)
• Paul Daley | On Patriotism (2018) Lisa @ANZLit Lovers
• Tim Flannery | After the Future: Australia’s New Extinction Crisis (2012) Sue @Whispering Gums
• Kate Forsyth | Stories as Salvation (2013) Sue @Whispering Gums
• Helen Garner | Why She Broke: The Woman, Her Children and the Lake (2017) Sue @Whispering Gums
• Alice Gorman | Trace Fossils (2017)
• Stan Grant | The Australian Dream: Blood, History and Becoming (2016)
  • On Identity (2019) Sue @Whispering Gums & Lisa @ANZLit Lovers & Janine @Resident Judge
• Germaine Greer | On Rape (2018) Lisa @ANZLit Lovers
• Billy Griffiths | Caring for Country (2017)
• Ashley Hay and Natasha Cica (editors) | Griffith Review 69: The European Exchange (2020) Lisa @ANZLit Lovers
• Rebecca Huntley | Australia Fair (2019) Lisa @ANZLit Lovers
• Linda Jaivin | Found in Translation: In Praise of a Plural World (2013) Sue @Whispering Gums
• Susan Johnson | On Beauty (2009) Lisa @ANZLit Lovers
• Anna Krien | Us and Them: On the Importance of Animals (2012) Sue @Whispering Gums
• Amanda Lohrey | The Clear Voice Suddenly Singing (1997)
• Melissa Lucashenko | Sinking Below Sight (2013) Sue @Whispering Gums
  • How Green is My Valley (2006) Sue @Whispering Gums
• Sally McManus | On Fairness (2019) Lisa @ANZLit Lovers
• David Malouf | On Experience (2008) Lisa @ANZLit Lovers
• Kathy Marks | Channelling Mannalargenna: Surviving, Belonging, Challenging, Enduring (2013) Sue @Whispering Gums
• Catriona Menzies | The Australian Face: Essays from the Sydney Review of Books (2017) Nancy @NancyElin
• Shireen Morris (editor) | A Rightful Place: A Road Map to Recognition (2017)
• Katherine Murphy | The End of Certainty, Scott Morrison and Pandemic Politics (2020) Lisa @ANZLit Lovers
• Vance Palmer | Battle (1942) Sue @Whispering Gums
• John Pickrell (editor) | Best Australian Science Writing (2018) Nancy @NancyElin
• Nichoals Rothwell | Quicksilver (2016) Nancy @NancyElin
• Kevin Rudd | The Case for Courage (2021) Lisa @ANZLit Lovers
• Leigh Sales | On Doubt (2017)
• Julianne Schultz & Ashley Hay (editors) | Griffith Review 63: Writing the Country (2019)
• Margaret Simons | Cry Me A River (2020) Lisa @ANZLit Lovers
• Sebastian Smee | Net Loss: The Inner Life in the Digital Age (2018) Sue @Whispering Gums & Lisa @ANZLit Lovers
• Don Watson | Enemy Within (2018) Nancy @NancyElin
• Hugh White | Without America: Australia in the New Asia (2017) Nancy @NancyElin
  • Great Expectations (2020) Lisa @ANZLit Lovers
• Geordie Williamson (editor) | Best Australian Essays (2016) Nancy @NancyElin
• Fiona Wright | Small Acts of Disappearance: Essays on Hunger (2015) Nancy @NancyElin & Sue @Whispering Gums

If you have any Australian essay posts or reviews that you would like to be included in this list, please leave a comment below, with your URL.