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.
