collection of essays

The 25 Greatest Essay Collections of All Time

Today marks the release of Aleksandar Hemon’s excellent book of personal essays, The Book of My Lives , which we loved, and which we’re convinced deserves a place in the literary canon. To that end, we were inspired to put together our list of the greatest essay collections of all time, from the classic to the contemporary, from the personal to the critical. In making our choices, we’ve steered away from posthumous omnibuses (Michel de Montaigne’s Complete Essays , the collected Orwell, etc.) and multi-author compilations, and given what might be undue weight to our favorite writers (as one does). After the jump, our picks for the 25 greatest essay collections of all time. Feel free to disagree with us, praise our intellect, or create an entirely new list in the comments.

The Book of My Lives , Aleksandar Hemon

Hemon’s memoir in essays is in turns wryly hilarious, intellectually searching, and deeply troubling. It’s the life story of a fascinating, quietly brilliant man, and it reads as such. For fans of chess and ill-advised theme parties and growing up more than once.

Slouching Towards Bethlehem , Joan Didion

Well, obviously. Didion’s extraordinary book of essays, expertly surveying both her native California in the 1960s and her own internal landscape with clear eyes and one eyebrow raised ever so slightly. This collection, her first, helped establish the idea of journalism as art, and continues to put wind in the sails of many writers after her, hoping to move in that Didion direction.

Pulphead , John Jeremiah Sullivan

This was one of those books that this writer deemed required reading for all immediate family and friends. Sullivan’s sharply observed essays take us from Christian rock festivals to underground caves to his own home, and introduce us to 19-century geniuses, imagined professors and Axl Rose. Smart, curious, and humane, this is everything an essay collection should be.

The Boys of My Youth , Jo Ann Beard

Another memoir-in-essays, or perhaps just a collection of personal narratives, Jo Ann Beard’s award-winning volume is a masterpiece. Not only does it include the luminous, emotionally destructive “The Fourth State of the Matter,” which we’ve already implored you to read , but also the incredible “Bulldozing the Baby,” which takes on a smaller tragedy: a three-year-old Beard’s separation from her doll Hal. “The gorgeous thing about Hal,” she tells us, “was that not only was he my friend, he was also my slave. I made the majority of our decisions, including the bathtub one, which in retrospect was the beginning of the end.”

Consider the Lobster , David Foster Wallace

This one’s another “duh” moment, at least if you’re a fan of the literary essay. One of the most brilliant essayists of all time, Wallace pushes the boundaries (of the form, of our patience, of his own brain) and comes back with a classic collection of writing on everything from John Updike to, well, lobsters. You’ll laugh out loud right before you rethink your whole life. And then repeat.

Notes of a Native Son , James Baldwin

Baldwin’s most influential work is a witty, passionate portrait of black life and social change in America in the 1940s and early 1950s. His essays, like so many of the greats’, are both incisive social critiques and rigorous investigations into the self, told with a perfect tension between humor and righteous fury.

Naked , David Sedaris

His essays often read more like short stories than they do social criticism (though there’s a healthy, if perhaps implied, dose of that slippery subject), but no one makes us laugh harder or longer. A genius of the form.

Against Interpretation , Susan Sontag

This collection, Sontag’s first, is a dazzling feat of intellectualism. Her essays dissect not only art but the way we think about art, imploring us to “reveal the sensuous surface of art without mucking about in it.” It also contains the brilliant “Notes on ‘Camp,'” one of our all-time favorites.

The Common Reader , Virginia Woolf

Woolf is a literary giant for a reason — she was as incisive and brilliant a critic as she was a novelist. These witty essays, written for the common reader (“He is worse educated, and nature has not gifted him so generously. He reads for his own pleasure rather than to impart knowledge or correct the opinions of others. Above all, he is guided by an instinct to create for himself, out of whatever odds and ends he can come by, some kind of whole- a portrait of a man, a sketch of an age, a theory of the art of writing”), are as illuminating and engrossing as they were when they were written.

Teaching a Stone to Talk , Annie Dillard

This is Dillard’s only book of essays, but boy is it a blazingly good one. The slender volume, filled with examinations of nature both human and not, is deft of thought and tongue, and well worth anyone’s time. As the Chicago Sun-Times ‘s Edward Abbey gushed, “This little book is haloed and informed throughout by Dillard’s distinctive passion and intensity, a sort of intellectual radiance that reminds me both Thoreau and Emily Dickinson.”

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man , Henry Louis Gates Jr.

In this eloquent volume of essays, all but one of which were originally published in the New Yorker , Gates argues against the notion of the singularly representable “black man,” preferring to represent him in a myriad of diverse profiles, from James Baldwin to Colin Powell. Humane, incisive, and satisfyingly journalistic, Gates cobbles together the ultimate portrait of the 20th-century African-American male by refusing to cobble it together, and raises important questions about race and identity even as he entertains.

Otherwise Known As the Human Condition , Geoff Dyer

This book of essays, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in the year of its publication, covers 25 years of the uncategorizable, inimitable Geoff Dyer’s work — casually erudite and yet liable to fascinate anyone wandering in the door, witty and breathing and full of truth. As Sam Lipsyte said, “You read Dyer for his caustic wit, of course, his exquisite and perceptive crankiness, and his deep and exciting intellectual connections, but from these enthralling rants and cultural investigations there finally emerges another Dyer, a generous seeker of human feeling and experience, a man perhaps closer than he thinks to what he believes his hero Camus achieved: ‘a heart free of bitterness.'”

Art and Ardor , Cynthia Ozick

Look, Cynthia Ozick is a genius. One of David Foster Wallace’s favorite writers, and one of ours, Ozick has no less than seven essay collections to her name, and we could have chosen any one of them, each sharper and more perfectly self-conscious than the last. This one, however, includes her stunner “A Drugstore in Winter,” which was chosen by Joyce Carol Oates for The Best American Essays of the Century , so we’ll go with it.

No More Nice Girls , Ellen Willis

The venerable Ellen Willis was the first pop music critic for The New Yorker , and a rollicking anti-authoritarian, feminist, all-around bad-ass woman who had a hell of a way with words. This collection examines the women’s movement, the plight of the aging radical, race relations, cultural politics, drugs, and Picasso. Among other things.

The War Against Cliché , Martin Amis

As you know if you’ve ever heard him talk , Martin Amis is not only a notorious grouch but a sharp critical mind, particularly when it comes to literature. That quality is on full display in this collection, which spans nearly 30 years and twice as many subjects, from Vladimir Nabokov (his hero) to chess to writing about sex. Love him or hate him, there’s no denying that he’s a brilliant old grump.

Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories From History and the Arts , Clive James

James’s collection is a strange beast, not like any other essay collection on this list but its own breed. An encyclopedia of modern culture, the book collects 110 new biographical essays, which provide more than enough room for James to flex his formidable intellect and curiosity, as he wanders off on tangents, anecdotes, and cultural criticism. It’s not the only who’s who you need, but it’s a who’s who you need.

I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman , Nora Ephron

Oh Nora, we miss you. Again, we could have picked any of her collections here — candid, hilarious, and willing to give it to you straight, she’s like a best friend and mentor in one, only much more interesting than any of either you’ve ever had.

Arguably , Christopher Hitchens

No matter what you think of his politics (or his rhetorical strategies), there’s no denying that Christopher Hitchens was one of the most brilliant minds — and one of the most brilliant debaters — of the century. In this collection, packed with cultural commentary, literary journalism, and political writing, he is at his liveliest, his funniest, his exactingly wittiest. He’s also just as caustic as ever.

The Solace of Open Spaces , Gretel Ehrlich

Gretel Ehrlich is a poet, and in this collection, you’ll know it. In 1976, she moved to Wyoming and became a cowherd, and nearly a decade later, she published this lovely, funny set of essays about rural life in the American West.”Keenly observed the world is transformed,” she writes. “The landscape is engorged with detail, every movement on it chillingly sharp. The air between people is charged. Days unfold, bathed in their own music. Nights become hallucinatory; dreams, prescient.”

The Braindead Megaphone , George Saunders

Saunders may be the man of the moment, but he’s been at work for a long while, and not only on his celebrated short stories. His single collection of essays applies the same humor and deliciously slant view to the real world — which manages to display nearly as much absurdity as one of his trademark stories.

Against Joie de Vivre , Phillip Lopate

“Over the years,” the title essay begins, “I have developed a distaste for the spectacle of joie de vivre , the knack of knowing how to live.” Lopate goes on to dissect, in pleasantly sardonic terms, the modern dinner party. Smart and thought-provoking throughout (and not as crotchety as all that), this collection is conversational but weighty, something to be discussed at length with friends at your next — oh well, you know.

Sex and the River Styx , Edward Hoagland

Edward Hoagland, who John Updike deemed “the best essayist of my generation,” has a long and storied career and a fat bibliography, so we hesitate to choose such a recent installment in the writer’s canon. Then again, Garrison Keillor thinks it’s his best yet , so perhaps we’re not far off. Hoagland is a great nature writer (name checked by many as the modern Thoreau) but in truth, he’s just as fascinated by humanity, musing that “human nature is interstitial with nature, and not to be shunned by a naturalist.” Elegant and thoughtful, Hoagland may warn us that he’s heading towards the River Styx, but we’ll hang on to him a while longer.

Changing My Mind , Zadie Smith

Smith may be best known for her novels (and she should be), but to our eyes she is also emerging as an excellent essayist in her own right, passionate and thoughtful. Plus, any essay collection that talks about Barack Obama via Pygmalion is a winner in our book.

My Misspent Youth , Meghan Daum

Like so many other writers on this list, Daum dives head first into the culture and comes up with meat in her mouth. Her voice is fresh and her narratives daring, honest and endlessly entertaining.

The White Album , Joan Didion

Yes, Joan Didion is on this list twice, because Joan Didion is the master of the modern essay, tearing at our assumptions and building our world in brisk, clever strokes. Deal.

• BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

The Best Essay Collections to Add to Your TBR List

Discover big ideas in small doses.

Anyone who has read very much of it knows that some of the best prose around is happening in nonfiction. From personal essays to political ones, cultural criticism to travelogues, these 10 books represent some of the best essay writing of the last century, spanning continents and languages, tackling subjects that range from political unrest to pulp fiction—and everything in-between. 

So, if you’re ready to expand your mind and change your outlook, add these essay collections to your TBR list today!

A Day in the Life of Roger Angell

By Roger Angell

While you may not recognize Roger Angell’s name, you probably know who he is. The stepson of legendary author E. B. White, Angell has worked for the New Yorker in various capacities for decades, including as a frequent contributing writer. 

He has written about all sorts of subjects, especially baseball, and this unique collection pulls together a variety of his best-loved pieces, including his famous Christmas poems, a variety of parodies, and a “tense correspondence over a short fiction contest that pays only in baked goods.”

Related: "Your Horoscope," by Roger Angell

My Seditious Heart

By Arundhati Roy

A New York Times  bestseller and Booker Prize winner, Arundhati Roy is many things, and in My Seditious Heart  she proves that among those is an “electrifying political essayist” ( Booklist ). 

Collecting essays from two decades of her life, this “lucid and probing” ( Time Magazine ) book presents a lifetime of battling for social and political justice and human rights, from American capitalism to the Hindu caste system and beyond. “The scale of what Roy surveys is staggering,” writes The New York Times Book Review . “Her pointed indictment is devastating.”

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Men Explain Things to Me

By Rebecca Solnit

In these “personal but unsentimental essays” ( The New York Times ), National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author Rebecca Solnit provides the perfect “antidote to mansplaining” ( The Stranger ). 

From the title essay, which explores why men talk over women and what the ultimate cost of that is, to essays about Virginia Woolf and marriage equality, Solnit’s unsparing prose has been called “ essential feminist reading ” by The New Republic – and simply “essential” by Marketplace .

Collection of Sand

By Italo Calvino

Newly translated into English for the first time by Martin McLaughlin, this “brilliant collection of essays” and travelogues, the last piece of new writing published by the legendary Italo Calvino before his death, “may change the way you see the world around you” ( The Guardian ). 

From antique maps to Japanese gardens, Calvino takes us on a tour of the world, but also of his own mind, in the process heightening our appreciation of the visual world around us. 

Slouching Towards Bethlehem

By Joan Didion

In her first work of nonfiction, one of America’s most “dazzling” prose stylists ( The New York Times ) also establishes herself as a singular voice on American culture, painting a vivid portrait of a nation in the midst of tumultuous change. 

First published in 1968, Slouching Towards Bethlehem has become a modern classic , hailed as “a rare display of some of the best prose written today in this country” by the New York Times Book Review . No wonder Time Magazine chose it as one of the 100 best and most influential nonfiction books to date.

Related: Joan Didion: Her Books, Life and Legacy

Essays After Eighty

By Donald Hall

A former Poet Laureate of the United States, Donald Hall has “wrought his prose to a keen autumnal edge” in his waning years, according to The Wall Street Journal . This collection of essays written, as the title implies, after he turned 80, sees Hall reflecting on his life, on his career, on writing itself, and on the view out his window. 

“Alternately lyrical and laugh-out-loud funny ” ( The New York Times ), these essays show that Hall has never lost his deft touch, nor his passion for life and all of its mysteries, whimsies, and wonders.

Freedom Is a Constant Struggle

By Angela Y. Davis

Author of such classic works as Women, Race, and  Class, Angela Y. Davis made a name for herself as an activist and scholar with a penetrating insight into social issues. 

In this new collection of essays, she tackles some of the most pressing issues that affect our present moment , from the Black Lives Matter movement to Palestine and beyond, calling upon us all to imagine a better world – and do the important work required to make it possible.

Illuminations

By Walter Benjamin

A German cultural critic who has been called one of most original thinkers of the 20th century, Walter Benjamin fled Germany in 1932, as the Nazi party rose to power, and died in exile before the end of the second World War. 

Hannah Arendt, herself one of the most influential political theorists of the modern age, hand-assembled this collection of some of Benjamin’s most famous and most important essays, including his legendary “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” to form this unforgettable book from a unique mind.

Tell Me How It Ends

By Valeria Luiselli

An American Book Award Winner and a finalist for both the Kirkus Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, this “essay in forty questions” is a “moving, intimate” account of serving as a translator for undocumented children facing deportation ( The New York Times Book Review ). 

As a volunteer worker, Luiselli translated these forty questions from a court form to ask undocumented children who were under threat of deportation. By structuring her writing around them, she helps to put a vitally human face on children who are thrust into an often-uncaring system in this book that is, “Worth of inclusion in a great American (and international) canon of writing about migration” ( Texas Observer ).

Maps and Legends

By Michael Chabon

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay “makes an inviting case for bridging the gap between popular and literary writing” ( O, The Oprah Magazine ) in this appreciation of everything from pulp fiction to comic books, horror to westerns. 

By writing about the stories that move him, speak to him, and inspired him to write, Chabon also talks about his own identity as an author, and what storytelling means to all of us, whether he’s writing about Superman or Sherlock Holmes.

Related: 12 Michael Chabon Books You Won't Be Able to Put Down

Keep Reading: 10 Essential Essay-Length Memoirs You Can Read Online for Free

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A Collection of Essays Paperback – October 21, 1970

Purchase options and add-ons.

• Print length 336 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Mariner Books Classics
• Publication date October 21, 1970
• Reading age 14 years and up
• Dimensions 5.31 x 0.83 x 8 inches
• ISBN-10 0156186004
• ISBN-13 978-0156186001
• See all details

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com review.

This essay alone would be worth the cover price, and the dozen other pieces collected here prove that, given the right thinker/writer, today's journalism actually can become tomorrow's literature. "The Art of Donald McGill," ostensibly an appreciation of the jokey, vaguely obscene illustrated postcards beloved of the working classes, uses the lens of popular culture to examine the battle lines and rules of engagement in the war of the sexes, circa 1941. "Politics and the English Language" is a prose working-out of Orwell's perceptions about the slippery relationship of word and thought that becomes a key premise of 1984 . "Looking Back on the Spanish War" is as clear-eyed a veteran's memoir of the nature of war as you're likely to find, and Orwell's long ruminations on the wildly popular "good bad" writers Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling showcase his singular virtues--searing honesty and independent thinking. From English boarding schools to Gandhi's character to an early appreciation of Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer , these pieces give an idiosyncratic tour of the first half of the passing century in the company of an articulate and engaged guide. Don't let the idea that Orwell is an "important" writer put you off reading him. He's really too good, and too human, to miss. --Joyce Thompson

About the Author

George Orwell (1903–1950), the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, was an English novelist, essayist, and critic. He was born in India and educated at Eton. After service with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, he returned to Europe to earn his living by writing. An author and journalist, Orwell was one of the most prominent and influential figures in twentieth-century literature. His unique political allegory  Animal Farm  was published in 1945, and it was this novel, together with the dystopia of 1984 (1949), which brought him worldwide fame. 

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mariner Books Classics; First Edition (October 21, 1970)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0156186004
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0156186001
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 14 years and up
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 0.83 x 8 inches
• #19 in Historical Event Literature Criticism
• #19 in Political Literature Criticism
• #625 in Essays (Books)

About the author

George orwell.

George Orwell is one of England's most famous writers and social commentators. Among his works are the classic political satire Animal Farm and the dystopian nightmare vision Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell was also a prolific essayist, and it is for these works that he was perhaps best known during his lifetime. They include Why I Write and Politics and the English Language. His writing is at once insightful, poignant and entertaining, and continues to be read widely all over the world.

Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell) was born in 1903 in India, where his father worked for the Civil Service. The family moved to England in 1907 and in 1917 Orwell entered Eton, where he contributed regularly to the various college magazines. From 1922 to 1927 he served with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, an experience that inspired his first novel, Burmese Days (1934). Several years of poverty followed. He lived in Paris for two years before returning to England, where he worked successively as a private tutor, schoolteacher and bookshop assistant, and contributed reviews and articles to a number of periodicals. Down and Out in Paris and London was published in 1933. In 1936 he was commissioned by Victor Gollancz to visit areas of mass unemployment in Lancashire and Yorkshire, and The Road to Wigan Pier (1937) is a powerful description of the poverty he saw there.

At the end of 1936 Orwell went to Spain to fight for the Republicans and was wounded. Homage to Catalonia is his account of the civil war. He was admitted to a sanatorium in 1938 and from then on was never fully fit. He spent six months in Morocco and there wrote Coming Up for Air. During the Second World War he served in the Home Guard and worked for the BBC Eastern Service from 1941 to 1943. As literary editor of the Tribune he contributed a regular page of political and literary commentary, and he also wrote for the Observer and later for the Manchester Evening News. His unique political allegory, Animal Farm was published in 1945, and it was this novel, together with Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), which brought him world-wide fame.

It was around this time that Orwell's unique political allegory Animal Farm (1945) was published. The novel is recognised as a classic of modern political satire and is simultaneously an engaging story and convincing allegory. It was this novel, together with Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), which finally brought him world-wide fame. Nineteen Eighty-Four's ominous depiction of a repressive, totalitarian regime shocked contemporary readers, but ensures that the book remains perhaps the preeminent dystopian novel of modern literature.

Orwell's fiercely moral writing has consistently struck a chord with each passing generation. The intense honesty and insight of his essays and non-fiction made Orwell one of the foremost social commentators of his age. Added to this, his ability to construct elaborately imaginative fictional worlds, which he imbued with this acute sense of morality, has undoubtedly assured his contemporary and future relevance.

George Orwell died in London in January 1950.

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20 Brilliant Essay Collections

Essay collections exist in a kind of literary no-man’s-land. They’re non-fiction, but they don’t often slip neatly into a particular category (like “science” or “history”). Often, they draw from the author’s own life, but they don’t follow the chronology we expect of a memoir or autobiography . But if you can figure out where they’re shelved in your local independent bookshop, essay collections can make for some of the best reads. Check out these twenty brilliant essay collections, from all kinds of authors about all kinds of subjects.

Men Explain Things To Me by Rebecca Solnit

Men Explain Things To Me is a slim little essay collection with a provocative title and a brilliant premise. Rebecca Solnit writes about the lived experience of women in the patriarchy in seven essays (or nine, if you get a later edition) from the last twenty years. She addresses violence against women, marriage equality, the influence of Virginia Woolf, the erasure of women from the archive, fraught online spaces, and more. Solnit was even credited with coining the term “mansplaining” – even though the word itself doesn’t appear in the title essay, and she later said she didn’t necessarily agree with such a gendered term.

Feel Free by Zadie Smith

Zadie Smith is a once-in-a-generation literary darling, writing beloved fiction and brilliant non-fiction with the same zeal. In Feel Free , her 2018 essay collection, she addresses questions we all find ourselves pondering from time to time. Why do we love libraries? How will we explain our inaction on climate change to future generations? What are online social networks doing to us? Her answers are categorised in the book’s five sections: In the World, In the Audience, In the Gallery, On the Bookshelf, and Feel Free (from which the essay collection gets its name). Smith interrogates major world-changing events and small personal disruptions with equal fascination, which makes for an illuminating read.

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

Roxane Gay has built a career on being forthright, unabashed, and holding a microphone to the best and worst of the little voices in our heads. Bad Feminist is a collection of her essays, most published individually elsewhere prior to the 2014 release, grouped thematically. They’re all loosely tied to the overarching ideas of feminism and womanhood, what it means to do it well, and what the consequences are for doing it badly. As the title suggests, in one of the collection’s most memorable moments, she addresses the difficulty of reconciling her feminism with her love of hip-hop music and the colour pink. She contends throughout this essay collection that it’s better to be a ‘bad feminist’ than to be no kind of feminist at all. Read my full review of Bad Feminist here.

Shrill by Lindy West

Have you ever felt like you just take up too much space in a world that wants you to be small and quiet? Lindy West has, and that’s what she writes in Shrill , the first of her hilarious and insightful essay collections. She lays bear the shame and humiliation that comes with the journey to self-awareness and self-acceptance, in a world that insists you be smaller and quieter. West has battled internet trolls, waged war against rape jokes, and reached an uneasy accord with her unruly body and mind. These essays are brilliant, relatable and hilarious for all women who have felt like they didn’t quite fit.

How To Write An Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee

How To Write An Autobiographical Novel seems like an odd title for an essay collection, but it makes sense once you hear Alexander Chee’s explanation behind it. On book tours and at speaking events regarding his novels, he found himself facing the same question over and over: “how much of this fictional story is autobiographical?”. He started thinking about how we forge identities in literature, giving rise to this brilliant collection of essays. It’s his “manifesto on the entangling of life, literature, and politics, and how the lessons learned from a life spent reading and writing fiction have changed him”.

Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby

Samantha Irby describes herself as a “cheese fry-eating slightly damp Midwest person… with neck pain and no cartilage in [her] knees… who still hides past due bills under her pillow”. Wow, No Thank You a collection of her essays about… stuff. Life. Ridiculous jobs. Trying to make friends as an adult. The lost art of making a mix-tape. Living in a place where most people don’t share your politics. Getting your period and bleeding all over the sheets of your Airbnb. Trying to remember why you ever found nightclubs fun. There’s even a whole essay of “Sure, sex is fun, but have you ever…” jokes (the format might mystify you if you’re not on Twitter , but it’s hilarious). Read my full review of Wow, No Thank You here.

Dead Girls by Alice Bolin

Are you sick of the trope where a nice, skinny, white girl shows up dead and that’s all we ever get to know about her? You’re not the only one. Alice Bolin’s Dead Girls interrogates “iconic American works from the essays of Joan Didion and James Baldwin to Twin Peaks, Britney Spears, and Serial, illuminating the widespread obsession with women who are abused, killed, and disenfranchised, and whose bodies (dead and alive) are used as props to bolster men’s stories”. This is one of those essay collections that will stick with you, and change the way you consume stories forever.

If you want alternatives to read, check out my list of crime thrillers without dead girls here .

Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino

Jia Tolentino has been called “a peerless voice of our generation” and a “Joan Didion of our time”. Trick Mirror is one of the most critically acclaimed essay collections of recent years, a “dazzling collection of nine entirely original essays… [that] delves into the forces that warp our vision”. Have you ever wondered why we think what we do and the way we do? Normally, that’s the kind of question we’d leave to marketing professionals and moral philosophy professors, but Tolentino addresses it in an accessible and relatable way. She wants us to understand what advertising, social media, consumerism, and the whole she-bang has done to our consciousness and our understanding of ourselves.

A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace

I’ll confess: David Foster Wallace is kind of my literary secret shame. The man was hardly a paragon of virtue, he treated the women in his life horribly, and he clearly had a lot of troubles that were never adequately addressed. But damn, if his essays aren’t some of the funniest I’ve ever read! Seriously, A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again is one of those brilliant essay collections that will have you howling with laughter so loud your neighbours might call the cops. Wallace is, at turns, cynical, curious, credulous, and cutting – and yet his essays feel seamless. They’re long, they’re stuffed with footnotes that would make a lit professor weep, and yet you’ll read them feeling like no time is passing at all because you’re having so much fun. I can’t speak for his fiction, but his essay collections? Must-reads, especially this one!

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

Any library of brilliant essay collections is woefully incomplete without David Sedaris, especially his 2000 collection Me Talk Pretty One Day . It’s over twenty years old, and yet it’s still as pertinent and resonant as ever. Sedaris’s wry humour and keen observations, of everything from family life to travel to cooking to education, are timeless. It’s truly masterful, a kind of comic genius you don’t see everyday. It’s also a great read for when your attention span is shot. The essays are short enough that you can read the whole thing in bite-sized chunks, but the through-line is strong enough that it will keep pulling you back in. Read my full review of Me Talk Pretty One Day here.

I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron

I find it hard not to build up a head of steam when I talk about Nora Ephron, because she is criminally underrated. Because she wrote about women and their relationships (to each other and themselves), instead of men with businesses or guns, she’s relegated to the “chick lit” and “rom-com” shelves, described as “fluffy” instead of ingenious. Want proof? Pick up I Feel Bad About My Neck , one of the most brilliant and incisive essay collections you’ll read anywhere. With her trademark candour and dry humour, she tackles the unspeakable: aging as a woman in a society that values perpetual youth.

Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud by Anne Helen Petersen

Scan the headlines of any celebrity gossip website, and you’ll notice: times have changed. We’re a long way from Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly. The women of today’s front pages are boundary pushers, provocative and powerful in ways that women of previous generations wouldn’t dare dream about. Anne Helen Petersen has had a lot of cause to study these women in her role as a Buzzfeed editor, and she’s written Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud to explain what she’s seen. She “uses the lens of “unruliness” to explore the ascension of powerhouses like Serena Williams, Hillary Clinton, Nicki Minaj, and Kim Kardashian, exploring why the public loves to love (and hate) these controversial figures”.

All About Love by bell hooks

“The word ‘love’ is most often defined as a noun, yet we would all love better if we used it as a verb,” writes bell hooks in All About Love, one of her most widely-read and lauded essay collections. She posits that our society is descending into lovelessness. Not romantic lovelessness – we’re drowning in smooches – but the kind where we lack basic compassion and empathy for each other, and ourselves. We are divided and discontented, due to “society’s failure to provide a model for learning to love”. You’ll want to set aside a lot of time to read and think about this one, to really absorb its message – if you do, it’ll change your life.

Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race is Eddo-Lodge’s first essay collection. It started with her blog post of the same name that she published back in 2014, but there’s no need to go trawling the internet for it: Eddo-Lodge reproduces it in full in the preface. It serves as a thesis statement, framing and contextualising everything that is to follow. So, the $64,000 question: why isn’t Eddo-Lodge talking to white people about race? Well, basically, she’s fed up: with white denial, with white self-flagellation, with trying to shake hands with a brick wall. Ironically, this is a collection of essays about race and racism that every white person should absolutely read. Read my full review of Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race here.

Rogues by Patrick Radden Keefe

If you loved Say Nothing and Empire Of Pain (like I did), you’ll be overjoyed (as I was) to get your hands on a copy of Rogues , a collection of Patrick Radden Keefe’s most celebrated essays from The New Yorker . These delightfully detailed investigative pieces focus on his favourite subjects: “crime and corruption, secrets and lies, the permeable membrane separating licit and illicit worlds, the bonds of family, the power of denial”. They’re like delectable bite-sized true crime tales, all meticulously researched and fact-checked so as to ensure they’re completely believable. Each and every one is masterfully crafted, perfectly balanced, and totally gripping. Read my full review of Rogues here.

How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran

The best essay collections combine both sweeping views of the way we live our lives and the minutiae of how the author lives their own. How To Be A Woman is the perfect example. Caitlin Moran interrogates what it means to be a woman in the 21st century, with broad observations as well as deeply personal (not to mention riotously funny) anecdotes. From abortions to Brazilian waxes to pop culture to reproduction, Moran explores the opportunities and constraints for women in all areas of life. She “lays bare the reasons why female rights and empowerment are essential issues not only for women today but also for society itself”.

Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton

When you think about it, essay collections are a medium well suited to the millennial generation, with our attention spans ruined by television and our ingrained narcissism and all. Dolly Alderton’s Everything I Know About Love is to our generation what Bridget Jones’s Diary was to the Gen Xers. In it, she writes about contemporary young adulthood and all its essential components: “falling in love, finding a job, getting drunk, getting dumped, realizing that Ivan from the corner shop might just be the only reliable man in her life, and that absolutely no one can ever compare to her best girlfriends”.

Figuring by Maria Popova

If you’ve ever Googled any kind of lofty question – what did Toni Morrison say makes life worth living? is stoicism a solution to anxiety? what the heck is a ‘growth mindset’? – chances are you’ve stumbled upon BrainPickings.org (now renamed The Marginalian). The mind behind the brilliant website is Maria Popova, and while her online archives constitute about a hundred essay collections’ worth of material, she’s condensed her best and made her contribution in the form of Figuring . This one is a must-read for the literary nerds and the philosophy students and the history buffs. It features snippets and essential lessons from the lives of figures like Herman Melville , Frederick Douglass, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Walt Whitman.

Axiomatic by Maria Tumarkin

It took Maria Tumarkin nine years to research and write Axiomatic , one of the most powerful essay collections you’ll encounter at your local independent bookstore. She seeks to understand grief, loss, and trauma, and how they inform who we are as people. So, as you can probably already tell, it’s not exactly a light read – but if you’re in the mood to do some deep thinking, it’s an excellent selection. Each of its five sections is based on an axiom about the past and present (like “history repeats itself” or “time heals all wounds”), and examines true stories from Tumarkin’s own life and those around her to illustrate her wider points.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

The problem with essay collections about successful people is that too many of them are of the “here’s how you can be successful too, invest in this stock and get rich quick!” variety. Outliers is the exception (and you have no idea how hard it was not to call it an ‘outlier’ just now). Malcolm Gladwell takes an intellectual look at the best and the brightest, the shining stars of innovation and industry, with the aim of finding out what exactly makes them different. This isn’t just about waking up early or taking cold showers; there are very specific concoctions of culture, community, and cunning that get people to the very top of the game, and Gladwell lays them out for us.

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Features & Discussion

Previous post

November 26, 2022 at 1:54 AM

Wow this is such a great list and now I want to read them all? I have, in fact, read a handful of them – but am adding a whole bunch more to my wishlist.

Some brilliant essay collections I’ve read in recent years are Notes To Self by Emilie Pine, Notes Made While Falling by Jenn Ashworth, Miss Fortune by Lauren Weedman, How We Love by Clementine Ford. Notes From No-Man’s Land by Eula Biss is uneven, but the first essay in it is unforgettable. It’s only now that I realise I apparently never read essay collections by men…

December 13, 2022 at 9:16 PM

Interesting, I was fifty-fifty on whether I’d check out How We Love, but your commendation is definitely weighing the scale in its favour! Thank you 😀

December 3, 2022 at 2:47 PM

A favorite genre of mine that I don’t read enough in. Bookmarking this post for future reference. (One of my favorite essayists is C.S. Lewis, the master philosopher and apologist IMHO.)

Oooh! I’ve not read any of C.S. Lewis’s essay, great tip Hannah – I’ll be keeping an eye out for them!

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The Greatest "Essays" Books of All Time

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 291 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page .

List Calculation Details

Essays are a category of books that typically consist of a collection of written works by a single author or multiple authors. These works are typically non-fiction and explore a wide range of topics, from personal experiences and opinions to social and political issues. Essays are often characterized by their informal tone, personal voice, and the author's unique perspective on the subject matter. They can be thought-provoking, informative, and entertaining, and are often used as a means of exploring complex ideas and issues in a more accessible and engaging way.

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1. Essays by Michel de Montaigne

This collection of essays explores a wide range of topics such as solitude, cannibals, the power of the imagination, the education of children, and the nature of friendship. The author employs a unique and personal approach to philosophy, using anecdotes and personal reflections to illustrate his points. The essays provide a profound insight into human nature and condition, and are considered a significant contribution to both literature and philosophy.

2. Pensées by Blaise Pascal

"Pensées" is a collection of philosophical and theological thoughts and ideas by a renowned French mathematician and physicist. The book delves into various aspects of human existence, exploring the nature of faith, reason, and the human condition. It also presents arguments for the existence of God, including the famous wager argument. The book is known for its profound insights into the human experience and its exploration of the complexities of belief and doubt.

3. Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion

This book is a collection of essays that capture the essence of the 1960s in California. It portrays a society in the midst of social and cultural upheaval, as traditional norms are challenged by the counterculture movement. The author explores various themes including morality, self-respect, and the nature of good and evil, while providing a vivid picture of the era through her insightful and incisive observations.

4. Poems of W. H. Auden by W. H. Auden

This book is a collection of poems by a renowned 20th-century poet. The poems cover a wide range of themes, including love, politics, religion, and the human condition. The poet's unique style combines traditional forms with modernist free verse and his work is known for its technical achievement, emotional depth, and engagement with moral and political issues. The collection provides an overview of the poet's career, showcasing his development and evolution as a writer.

5. The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus

This book is a philosophical essay that explores the concept of absurdity, and how individuals should respond to life's inherent meaninglessness. It posits that life is essentially absurd due to the conflict between our desire for understanding and the chaotic, indifferent universe. The author argues that the only proper response to this absurdity is to live life to its fullest, embracing and rebelling against the absurdity, rather than resorting to suicide or turning to religion or philosophy for false comfort. The story of Sisyphus, condemned to eternally roll a boulder up a hill only for it to roll back down, is used as a metaphor for the human condition.

6. Against Interpretation by Susan Sontag

This book is a collection of essays that challenge the traditional methods of interpretation and criticism of art and culture. The author argues that in our attempt to interpret and find deeper meaning, we often overlook the sensory experience of the work itself. The book encourages readers to experience art in its raw form, focusing on the form, color, and sounds, rather than trying to decipher a hidden meaning. It is a call for a new, more direct approach to consuming art and culture.

7. The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson

This book is a comprehensive collection of works by a renowned American philosopher and poet. It includes his most influential essays, lectures, and poetry, providing readers with a deep insight into his thoughts on nature, self-reliance, love, friendship, freedom, and the importance of intellectual independence. The book serves as a guide to the author's transcendental philosophy and his belief in individualism, nonconformity, and the inherent goodness of man and nature.

8. Collected Essays of George Orwell by George Orwell

This book is a compilation of essays by a renowned author, known for his sharp wit and critical eye. It covers a wide range of topics, from politics and language to literature and culture. The author's insightful and often provocative viewpoints provide a unique perspective on the world, challenging readers to question their own beliefs and assumptions. His straightforward writing style and keen observations make these essays as relevant today as when they were first published.

9. Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke

This book is a collection of 10 letters written by a renowned poet to a young aspiring poet, offering advice and guidance on matters of life, love, and the pursuit of poetry. The author encourages the young poet to look inward for inspiration and to embrace solitude as a means of self-discovery. He also emphasizes the importance of patience, personal growth, and the necessity of experiencing life's hardships to truly understand and depict the human condition in poetry.

10. Mythologies by Roland Barthes

This book is a collection of essays that explore the layers of cultural and societal meanings that are imbued in everyday objects, activities, and phenomena. The author decodes the symbols and signs embedded in things as varied as wrestling, soap detergents, toys, and even the face of Greta Garbo. The book is a pioneering exploration of semiotics, the study of signs and symbols, and it challenges readers to question and understand the cultural connotations and ideologies that are presented as natural or given in our everyday lives.

11. Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin

This book is a collection of essays that vividly capture the author's life in Harlem, his travels in Europe, and his views on everything from the sweet music of black church revivals to the biting prejudice of the 'then' contemporary world. It's an exploration of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in both Western societies and the American society. The author's reflections on his experiences as a black man in white America are profoundly insightful and continue to resonate today.

12. Tristes Tropiques by Claude Lévi-Strauss

"Tristes Tropiques" is a blend of autobiography, travel literature, and anthropology by a renowned scholar. The book is a recounting of the author's travels and anthropological work, primarily in Brazil, in the 1930s. It provides a critical and philosophical reflection on his experiences and observations, offering insights into indigenous tribes like the Nambikwara and Tupi-Kawahib, and exploring themes of cultural change, the nature of anthropology, and the author's own disillusionment with Western civilization.

13. Symposium by Plato

In "Symposium", a group of notable men including philosophers, playwrights, and politicians gather at a banquet and decide to each give a speech in praise of the god of love. Each speech presents a different perspective on love, ranging from the purely physical to the spiritual. The dialogue culminates with the speech of Socrates, who presents a philosophical view of love as a means of ascending to contemplation of the divine.

14. The Liberal Imagination by Lionel Trilling

"The Liberal Imagination" is a collection of essays that scrutinize and challenge the ideas, politics, and cultural norms of liberal society. The author argues that liberalism often simplifies complex issues and overlooks the inherent contradictions and conflicts in human life. Using literature as a tool, he delves into the nuances of these issues and encourages readers to engage in critical thinking and self-examination. The book is a profound exploration of the strengths and weaknesses of liberal thought and its impact on society.

15. Selected Essays of T. S. Eliot by T. S. Eliot

This book is a collection of critical and reflective essays by a renowned poet and literary critic. The author explores a variety of topics including literature, culture, society, and religion. The essays offer an insightful and thought-provoking commentary on the works of other writers, as well as the author's own views on literary theory and criticism. The collection serves as an important resource for understanding the author's intellectual development and his influence on 20th century literature and criticism.

16. Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton

"Orthodoxy" is a classic work of Christian apologetics that explores and defends the beliefs that are central to Christian faith. The author presents his personal journey towards faith, arguing for the reasonableness of Christianity. He challenges popular assumptions of his time about religion, faith, and the world while presenting a compelling case for orthodox Christian belief, using both logic and wit. The book combines personal anecdotes, historical critique, and philosophical discourse to present a deeply intellectual and sincere exploration of Christianity.

17. Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

The book is a seminal work on the philosophy of non-violent resistance, advocating for individual freedom and the refusal to obey unjust laws. The author argues that individuals have a duty to prioritize their conscience over the dictates of laws and that governments are inherently prone to corruption and should not command absolute allegiance from their citizens. The book has greatly influenced many nonviolent resistance movements around the world, including those led by Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

18. Christ Stopped at Eboli: The Story of a Year by Carlo Levi

The book is a memoir about the author's year of exile in a remote region of southern Italy during the fascist regime. It depicts the harsh living conditions, poverty, and backwardness of the area, where the peasants' lives are ruled by superstition and tradition. Despite the difficulties, the author finds beauty and dignity in the people and their way of life, and he paints a vivid picture of their culture, beliefs, and struggles. The title refers to the locals' belief that they have been forgotten by modernity and even by God.

19. The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

This book is a powerful exploration of race relations in America in the early 1960s. The author presents his experiences and observations in the form of two essays. The first is a letter to his 14-year-old nephew, discussing the role of race in American history. The second essay takes a broader look at the civil rights movement and the author's own experiences with religion and identity. Throughout, the author presents a passionate plea for the recognition of the humanity and dignity of all people, regardless of race.

20. The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon

"The Pillow Book" is a collection of personal observations, anecdotes, and reflections by a woman in the Heian court of Japan. It presents a detailed and vivid picture of court life, including the lavish ceremonies, the rivalries and intrigues, the idle pastimes of the courtiers, and the romantic escapades of the empress and her consorts. The book also contains lists, poetry, and personal musings, providing a unique perspective on the culture and customs of the Heian period.

21. Essays of E. B. White by E. B. White

This book is a collection of essays written by a renowned American writer, offering a wide range of topics including nature, politics, literature, and personal experiences. The author's distinct style of writing, characterized by wit, humor, and profound insight, is evident throughout the book. The essays serve as a reflection of the author's thoughts and observations about life, society, and the world, providing readers with an intimate look into his mind and perspective.

22. The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

"The Anatomy of Melancholy" is a comprehensive and detailed exploration of melancholy, a term used to describe a variety of mental states, including depression, anxiety, and sadness. The author examines the causes, symptoms, and treatments of melancholy from a variety of perspectives, incorporating elements of psychology, philosophy, history, and literature. The book is notable for its extensive use of classical sources, its humorous and satirical style, and its profound insights into human nature and the human condition.

23. A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace

"A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" is a collection of seven essays that blends humor, insight, and philosophical pondering. The author explores a wide range of topics, from the impact of television on contemporary literature to the despair of the American cruise industry, and even the nature of David Lynch's films. The book is a brilliant showcase of the author's unique ability to see the extraordinary in the ordinary, all while using his sharp wit and expansive intellect to explore the complexities of modern life.

24. The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Matsuo Bashō

"The Narrow Road to the Deep North" is a travelogue that depicts the author's journey through the remote and desolate northern regions of Japan. The narrative combines prose and haiku poetry to capture the beauty and spirituality of nature, as well as the author's introspective thoughts and philosophical insights. The journey is not just physical but also spiritual, as the author seeks to understand his place in the world and the essence of the human condition.

25. Kafka's Other Trial by Elias Canetti

This book is a detailed examination and interpretation of the correspondence between a renowned author and his fiancée, Felice Bauer. The author uses these letters to analyze the writer's psyche, his relationships, and his work. The book provides a unique insight into the author's life and the influence of his engagement on his writing, particularly his novel "The Trial". The author's struggle between his commitment to writing and his relationship with Felice forms the central theme of the book.

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Nine New Women-Authored Essay Collections

"Essay" could perhaps use a rebranding as the word may conjure up something you've been assigned to write in school, rather than something pleasurable to consume. Essay collections usually have an overarching question or theme, but each individual essay works as a self-contained narrative or argument inviting you to read at your own pace, skip around, and take in the central topic from multiple angles. From essay-style memoirs to more heady topics touching on culture, politics, and art, enjoy these collections below, all by women, released this past spring and summer.

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by CJ Hauser

Ten days after calling off her wedding, CJ Hauser went on an expedition to Texas to study the whooping crane. After a week wading through the gulf, she realized she'd almost signed up to live someone else's life. Expanding on her viral sensation essay “The Crane Wife,” the author presents this deeply personal, candid and humorous memoir-in-essays that ponders what more expansive definitions of love might offer us all. 

She's Nice Though: Essays on Being Bad at Being Good

by Mia Mercado

Pondering her identity as an Asian woman living in the Midwest, including what “nice” means—and why anyone would want to be it, the author, in this thought-provoking and funny collection of essays, offers a mind-bending glimpse into our misperceptions and misconceptions as humans.

Some of My Best Friends: Essays in Lip Service

by Tajja Isen

Catapult  editor-in-chief and award-winning voice actor Tajja Isen explores the absurdity of living in a world that has grown fluent in the language of social justice but doesn’t always follow through. These nine daring essays explore the sometimes troubling and often awkward nature of that discord. Isen takes on the cartoon industry’s pivot away from colorblind casting, the pursuit of diverse representation in the literary world, the law’s refusal to see inequality, and the cozy fictions of nationalism. Isen deftly examines the quick, cosmetic fixes society makes to address systemic problems and reveals the unexpected ways they can misfire.

Brown Neon: Essays

by Raquel Gutiérrez

Part butch memoir, part ekphrastic travel diary, part queer family tree, Raquel Gutiérrez’s debut essay collection,  Brown Neon,  gleans insight from the sediment of land and relationships. Whether contemplating the value of adobe as both vernacular architecture and commodified art object, highlighting the feminist wounding and transphobic apparitions haunting the multigenerational lesbian social fabric, or recalling a failed romance, Gutiérrez traverses complex questions of gender, class, identity, and citizenship with curiosity and nuance.

Awake With Asashoryu and Other Essays

by Elisabeth Sharp McKetta

Whether she is spending sleepless nights watching the sumo wrestler Asashoryu with her father, settling into a new life in a fishing hamlet in Cornwall, struggling with a beloved and ultimately untrainable corgi named Goblin, or emerging from a night in the woods rethinking who she might be, McKetta’s essays sparkle and twist round and about—funny and insightful and compelling.

I'll Show Myself Out: Essays on Midlife & Motherhood

by Jessi Klein

The New York Times best-selling author and Emmy Award-winning writer and producer hilariously destroys the cultural myths and impossible expectations of modern-day motherhood and explores the humiliations, poignancies, and possibilities of midlife.

How to Read Now: Essays

by Elaine Castillo

A deeply personal and searching history of one woman’s reading life, and a wide-ranging and urgent intervention into our globalized conversations about why reading matters today. Castillo attacks the stale questions and less-than-critical proclamations that masquerade as vital discussion: reimagining the cartography of the classics, building a moral case against the settler colonialism of lauded writers like Joan Didion, taking aim at Nobel Prize winners and toppling indie filmmakers, and celebrating glorious moments in everything from popular TV like  The Watchmen  to the films of Wong Kar-wai and the work of contemporary poets like Tommy Pico.

Ripe: Essays

by Negesti Kaudo

Essays at the intersection of race, sexuality, and pop culture that confront Kaudo's experience as a Black woman and ask what it means to own one's Blackness and body when contemporary white America simultaneously denigrates and appropriates Black culture. 

Crying in the Bathroom

by Erika L. Sánchez

In these essays, Sánchez writes about everything from sex to white feminism to debilitating depression, revealing an interior life rich with ideas, self-awareness, and perception. Raunchy, insightful, unapologetic, and brutally honest,  Crying in the Bathroom  is Sánchez at her best—a book that will make you feel that post-confessional high that comes from talking for hours with your best friend.

Summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.

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17 Top Publishers of Essay Collections

By Hiten Vyas

Have you written a collection of essays?

Do you now want to publish your work? If so, it makes sense to find a publishing house that has experience in publishing essays.

Continue reading to find out about 17 top publishers of essay collections.

1. Coffee House Press

Coffee House Press is an independent publishing house based in Minneapolis. Founded in 1972, it started out as a small letterpress operation before evolving into an internationally recognized publisher of poetry, essays, and literary fiction. Today, Coffee House Press continues to publish the works of both emerging and established writers, acting as a catalyst between authors and readers.

Coffee House Press has annual reading periods during which they are open for submissions of novels, essay collections, and long-form essays. There is no set length requirement for submissions, but they do not accept single essays, single poems, and chapbooks. Do note that Coffee House Press only accepts 300 submissions per reading period, so make sure you submit as soon as the reading period begins. Visit their Submittable page to learn more about their submission guidelines. For general inquiries, you can reach Coffee House Press here .

2. Red Hen Press

Located in Los Angeles, Red Hen Press was founded by Mark E. Cull and Kate Gale in 1994 out of their desire to keep creative literature alive. And that desire is still the foundation of everything they do—from publishing outstanding literary works, to promoting literacy in local schools. Red Hen Press publishes non-fiction, literary fiction, and poetry—particularly novels, memoirs, essay collections, poetry collections, creative non-fiction, and hybrid works. To get a better idea of the kind of work they usually publish, you can check out their catalog and submission guidelines .

They are currently accepting unsolicited submissions via their Submittable page , and interested authors may submit a completed manuscript or a sample of at least 20 pages. It usually takes them 3 to 6 months to respond to submissions.

3. Two Dollar Radio

Two Dollar Radio is a small, family-run press that has garnered national acclaim since its establishment in 2005. They publish original, creative, and subversive books that defy conventional storytelling. Some of the authors whose work they have published are Hanif Abdurraqib, Barbara Browning, Mark de Silva, Paul Kingsnorth, Janet Livingstone, and more.

They are currently open for submissions through their Submittable page . Submissions must include the full manuscript—no proposals or excerpts. If you are interested in submitting your work, it is important that you familiarize yourself with their previous publications since you will be asked to provide a short statement on why you feel they are the right publisher for your manuscript. You can find more information about their submission guidelines here .

4. Unsolicited Press

Unsolicited Press is a small Oregon-based press that publishes creative non-fiction, literary fiction, and poetry. What sets Unsolicited Press apart from other publishers is that every single person who works there is also a writer, and they consider publishing a partnership between the author and the press. They are always open for submissions, and they are currently actively seeking poetry collections, essay collections, memoirs, novels, and creative non-fiction. They also welcome experimental literature. All submissions must adhere to their submission guidelines , or else they will not be read.

If you are interested in submitting an essay collection, you will need to prepare a query letter and book proposal, along with the first three chapters of your manuscript. Do note that they only accept submissions in Word format. Once you are ready, you can send them your submission via email .

5. Sarabande Books

Sarabande Books is a non-profit press that was founded in 1994. They currently have more than 200 titles in print, and they publish approximately 10 books each year, primarily focusing on fiction, poetry, and essays. They have a dedicated readership and have earned a reputation for publishing innovative books with diverse voices. Authors previously published by Sarabande Books have gone on to win or have been shortlisted for numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, Lambda Literary Awards, National Book Critics Circle Award, and more.

Their annual reading period for essay collections is during the month of September. They are interested in essay collections between 150 and 250 pages. Individual essays in the collection may have already been published in magazines or chapbooks, but the collection as a whole must be previously unpublished. All submissions must follow their guidelines and must be sent through their Submittable page . General inquiries may be sent through Sarabande’s online contact form .

6. Black Lawrence Press

Founded by Colleen Ryor in 2004, Black Lawrence Press is an independent publisher that specializes in fiction, creative non-fiction, and contemporary poetry. The books they publish are distributed to Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and various bookstores and retailers across the country. Black Lawrence Press has open reading periods twice a year—one in June and another in November—during which they accept submissions of novels, novellas, prose chapbooks, lyric essay collections, short story collections, biographies, poetry chapbooks, and creative non-fiction.

Black Lawrence Press is quite strict about formatting, so make sure you adhere to the guidelines stated here . If you are ready to send in your submission, you can do so through their Submittable page .

7. Bauhan Publishing

Bauhan Publishing is an independent publishing house with roots going all the way back to the 1930s. It has gone through several different names since its establishment, but its commitment to craftsmanship remains. Even with the rise of on-demand publishing and new media, Bauhan Publishing believes that their traditional publishing model gives them an edge that newer companies don’t have. In addition to publishing high-quality books, Bauhan also hosts the annual Monadnock Essay Collection Prize for book-length collections of non-fiction essays.

Bauhan Publishing does not currently accept unsolicited submissions, but you can visit their Submittable page to stay updated about their upcoming reading periods and contests. If you have any questions for the Bauhan Publishing team, you can reach them here .

8. C&R Press

Since 2006, C&R Press has been publishing exceptional books—especially those written by progressive, LGBTQ, female, minority, immigrant, and submerged voices. Although C&R Press started out as a poetry publisher, they have since expanded their scope and now also publish short story collections, essay collections, novels, and more.

Publishing at least 12 books each year, C&R Press is always eager to receive submissions of full-length manuscripts in any genre. Short stories, essays, memoirs, and hybrid work are all welcome. Should you be interested in getting published by C&R Press, you can view their submission guidelines and submit your manuscript here . If you have any additional questions or concerns, you can reach C&R Press via email .

9. Manchester University Press

Located in the heart of the most vibrant cities in the UK, Manchester University Press publishes study guides, essay collections, multi-authored collections, monographs, and trade books for general readers. Their areas of interest include modern history, history of art and design, sociology, economics, literature, film, archeology, business, politics, international law, and theater.

If your manuscript falls under any of the aforementioned areas, you can submit a proposal to Manchester University Press by emailing the appropriate editor . But before emailing your proposal, make sure you read their submission guidelines . You can also get in touch with Manchester University Press here .

10. Seren Books

One of the leading independent publishers in Wales, Seren Books has been publishing high-quality fiction, non-fiction, and poetry since 1981. Many of the books they have published over the decades have won major literary awards—not only in the UK but internationally as well. It is recommended that you check out their past publications to learn more about the kinds of books they are interested in publishing, but at the core of everything they publish are stories well told.

Seren Books welcomes unsolicited submissions all year. If you are interested in submitting your work for their consideration, you can visit the submissions page on their website.

11. Vehicule Press

Founded in Quebec in 1973, Vehicule Press began as the publishing arm of Vehicule Art, Inc., one of the first artist-run galleries in Canada. Today, Vehicule Press continues to publish non-fiction, fiction, and poetry from Canada’s most talented writers. Some of their award-winning publications include The Love Monster by Missy Marston, A Place in Mind: The Search for Authenticity by Avi Friedman, Garbage Head by Christopher Willard, and Boxing the Compass by Richard Greene.

Vehicule Press is currently accepting non-fiction submissions. Prospective authors can submit their work by visiting the Vehicule Press submissions page and contacting the appropriate editor . General inquiries can be sent to Vehicule Press via email .

12. Book*hug Press

Formerly BookThug Press, Book*hug is an independent literary press in Ontario, Canada that specializes in literary non-fiction, contemporary fiction, poetry, drama, and translations. Their main goal is to publish books that reflect and contribute to Canadian culture and society. In particular, they are looking for writing that is innovative, bold, and not afraid to take risks. They especially welcome work written by LGBTQ writers, women writers, deaf and disabled writers, indigenous writers, and writers of color. They do not, however, publish children’s books, genre fiction, self-help books, or cookbooks.

Book*hug is always open for submissions. If you would like Book*hug to consider your work, you can check out their submission guidelines for instructions on how and where to submit your manuscript. If you require additional assistance, you can reach the Book*hug team here .

13. Guernica Editions

Established in 1978, Guernica Editions is named after the Spanish city that fell victim to aerial bombs in the 1930s. Guernica’s founders chose the name with the hope that the books they publish will change the world and make it a better place. Guernica publishes Canadian literature, specifically fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. One of Guernica’s most significant contributions to the literary world is their promotion of ethnic minority writers including African-Canadian writers, Italian-Canadian writers, and others.

Guernica accepts manuscript submissions between January and April, and they are interested in poetry collections, essay collections, literary non-fiction, and novels. All queries and manuscripts must be sent as attachments via email . To learn more about their process and policies, check out Guernica’s submission guidelines here .

14. House of Anansi

House of Anansi is a Canadian publisher that was founded by writers David Godfrey and Dennis Lee in 1967. They have published the works of renowned Canadian writers, including Margaret Atwood, Erin Moure, Matt Cohen, and Michael Ondaatje. Today, House of Anansi specializes in publishing fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and drama from both established and emerging writers. They publish around 50 new titles each year.

House of Anansi is currently closed for submissions, but you can keep an eye out for open calls and upcoming reading periods by checking their Submittable page . They only accept submissions from Canadian writers, and all submissions must be done online. If you have any questions or concerns, you can reach the House of Anansi team here .

15. Giramondo Publishing Company

Giramondo Publishing Company was established in 1995 with the aim of publishing adventurous and innovative literature written by Australian writers. Many of the titles they have published have won major literary prizes, such as the Prime Minister’s Literary Award, the Miles Franklin Literary Award, and the Nita Kibble Literary Award. They publish non-fiction, fiction, poetry, and short-form books.

Giramondo is always open for submissions, and they welcome both fiction and non-fiction manuscripts, including essay collections. All submissions must be sent through their Submittable page and must include your curriculum vitae, a brief synopsis of your work, and three sample chapters. For more information, you can find Giramondo’s submission guidelines here .

16. Pan MacMillan Australia

Pan MacMillan Australia is the Australian imprint of MacMillan Publishers, one of the largest and most popular publishing houses in the world. Pan MacMillan Australia publishes a range of high-quality books across various genres, including children’s literature, fiction, non-fiction, biographies, memoirs, and more.

Australian authors who wish to get published can participate in Pan MacMillan’s Manuscript Monday initiative. On the first Monday of every month, Pan MacMillan accepts electronic submissions from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, Australian Eastern Standard Time. At the moment, they are looking for fiction, literary non-fiction, children’s books, young adult literature, and commercial non-fiction. Interested authors can check out Manuscript Monday’s guidelines and submission instructions here . You can also contact Pan MacMillan for general questions and inquiries.

17. Grattan Street Press

Grattan Street Press is a small press located in Melbourne, Australia. An initiative of the University of Melbourne’s Publishing and Communications Program, Grattan Street Press publishes trade non-fiction, contemporary fiction, children’s books, and other culturally significant works. They are especially drawn to writing that is intelligent, engaging, and unique.

They are currently accepting fiction and non-fiction submissions through their Submittable page . Submissions must include your curriculum vitae, a brief summary of your work, and a short excerpt. You can check out their submission guidelines for more details. If you have any questions regarding their submission policies and screening process, you may get in touch with them via email .

Are there any other publishers of essay collection that you know of? Please tell us about them in them in the comments box below!

Hiten Vyas is the Founder and Managing Editor of Writing Tips Oasis .

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The Best Reviewed Essay Collections of 2020

Featuring zadie smith, helen macdonald, claudia rankine, samantha irby, and more.

Zadie Smith’s Intimations , Helen Macdonald’s Vesper Flights , Claudia Rankine’s Just Us , and Samantha Irby’s Wow, No Thank You all feature among the Best Reviewed Essay Collections of 2020.

Brought to you by Book Marks , Lit Hub’s “Rotten Tomatoes for books.”

1. Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald (Grove)

18 Rave • 3 Positive • 1 Mixed

Read Helen Macdonald on Sherlock Holmes, Ursula Le Guin, and hating On the Road  here

“A former historian of science, Macdonald is as captivated by the everyday (ants, bird’s nests) as she is by the extraordinary (glowworms, total solar eclipses), and her writing often closes the distance between the two … Always, the author pushes through the gloom to look beyond herself, beyond all people, to ‘rejoice in the complexity of things’ and to see what science has to show us: ‘that we are living in an exquisitely complicated world that is not all about us’ … The climate crisis shadows these essays. Macdonald is not, however, given to sounding dire, all-caps warnings … For all its elegiac sentences and gray moods, Vesper Flights  is a book of tremendous purpose. Throughout these essays, Macdonald revisits the idea that as a writer it is her responsibility to take stock of what’s happening to the natural world and to convey the value of the living things within it.”

–Jake Cline  ( The Washington Post )

2. Intimations by Zadie Smith (Penguin)

13 Rave • 7 Positive • 3 Mixed

Listen to Zadie Smith read from Intimations here

“Smith…is a spectacular essayist—even better, I’d say, than as a novelist … Smith…get[s] at something universal, the suspicion that has infiltrated our interactions even with those we want to think we know. This is the essential job of the essayist: to explore not our innocence but our complicity. I want to say this works because Smith doesn’t take herself too seriously, but that’s not accurate. More to the point, she is willing to expose the tangle of feelings the pandemic has provoked. And this may seem a small thing, but it’s essential: I never doubt her voice on the page … Her offhandedness, at first, feels out of step with a moment in which we are desperate to feel that whatever something we are trying to do matters. But it also describes that moment perfectly … Here we see the kind of devastating self-exposure that the essay, as a form, requires—the realization of how limited we are even in the best of times, and how bereft in the worst.”

–David L. Ulin  ( The Los Angeles Times )

3. Just Us: An American Conversation by Claudia Rankine (Graywolf)

11 Rave • 6 Positive • 5 Mixed

Read an excerpt from Just Us here

“ Just Us  is about intimacy. Rankine is making an appeal for real closeness. She’s advocating for candor as the pathway to achieving universal humanity and authentic love … Rankine is vulnerable, too. In ‘lemonade,’ an essay about how race and racism affect her interracial marriage, Rankine models the openness she hopes to inspire. ‘lemonade’ is hard to handle. It’s naked and confessional, deeply moving and, ultimately, inspirational … Just Us , as a book, is inventive … Claudia Rankine may be the most human human I’ve ever encountered. Her inner machinations and relentless questioning would exhaust most people. Her labor should be less necessary, of course.”

–Michael Kleber-Diggs  ( The Star Tribune )

4. Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong (One World)

7 Rave • 10 Positive • 2 Mixed

Listen to an interview with Cathy Park Hong here

“Hong’s metaphors are crafted with stinging care. To be Asian-American, she suggests, is to be tasked with making an injury inaccessible to the body that has been injured … I read Minor Feelings  in a fugue of enveloping recognition and distancing flinch … The question of lovability, and desirability, is freighted for Asian men and Asian women in very different ways—and Minor Feelings  serves as a case study in how a feminist point of view can both deepen an inquiry and widen its resonances to something like universality … Hong reframes the quandary of negotiating dominance and submission—of desiring dominance, of hating the terms of that dominance, of submitting in the hopes of achieving some facsimile of dominance anyway—as a capitalist dilemma … Hong is writing in agonized pursuit of a liberation that doesn’t look white—a new sound, a new affect, a new consciousness—and the result feels like what she was waiting for. Her book is a reminder that we can be, and maybe have to be, what others are waiting for, too.”

–Jia Tolentino  ( The New Yorker )

5. World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil (Milkweed Editions)

11 Rave • 3 Positive

Read an excerpt from World of Wonders here

“In beautifully illustrated essays, poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil writes of exotic flora and fauna and her family, and why they are all of one piece … In days of old, books about nature were often as treasured for their illustrations as they were for their words. World of Wonders,  American poet and teacher Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s prose ode to her muses in the natural world, is a throwback that way. Its words are beautiful, but its cover and interior illustrations by Fumi Mini Nakamura may well be what first moves you to pick it up in a bookstore or online … The book’s magic lies in Nezhukumatathil’s ability to blend personal and natural history, to compress into each brief essay the relationship between a biographical passage from her own family and the life trajectory of a particular plant or animal … Her kaleidoscopic observations pay off in these thoughtful, nuanced, surprise-filled essays.”

–Pamela Miller  ( The Star Tribune )

6. Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby (Vintage)

10 Rave • 3 Positive • 1 Mixed

Watch an interview with Samantha Irby here

“Haphazard and aimless as she claims to be, Samantha Irby’s Wow, No Thank You  is purposefully hilarious, real, and full of medicine for living with our culture’s contradictory messages. From relationship advice she wasn’t asked for to surrendering her cell phone as dinner etiquette, Irby is wholly unpretentious as she opines about the unspoken expectations of adulting. Her essays poke holes and luxuriate in the weirdness of modern society … If anyone whose life is being made into a television show could continue to keep it real for her blog reading fans, it’s Irby. She proves we can still trust her authenticity not just through her questionable taste in music and descriptions of incredibly bloody periods, but through her willingness to demystify what happens in any privileged room she finds herself in … Irby defines professional lingo and describes the mundane details of exclusive industries in anecdotes that are not only entertaining but powerfully demystifying. Irby’s closeness to financial and physical precariousness combined with her willingness to enter situations she feels unprepared for make us loyal to her—she again proves herself to be a trustworthy and admirable narrator who readers will hold fast to through anything at all.”

–Molly Thornton  ( Lambda Literary )

7. Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency by Olivia Laing (W. W. Norton & Company)

5 Rave • 10 Positive • 3 Mixed • 1 Pan

“Yes, you’re in for a treat … There are few voices that we can reliably read widely these days, but I would read Laing writing about proverbial paint drying (the collection is in fact quite paint-heavy), just as soon as I would read her write about the Grenfell Tower fire, The Fire This Time , or a refugee’s experience in England, The Abandoned Person’s Tale , all of which are included in Funny Weather … Laing’s knowledge of her subjects is encyclopaedic, her awe is infectious, and her critical eye is reminiscent of the critic and author James Wood … She is to the art world what David Attenborough is to nature: a worthy guide with both a macro and micro vision, fluent in her chosen tongue and always full of empathy and awe.”

–Mia Colleran  ( The Irish Times )

8. Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America by Laila Lalami (Pantheon)

6 Rave • 7 Positive • 1 Mixed • 2 Pan

“A] searing look at the struggle for all Americans to achieve liberty and equality. Lalami eloquently tacks between her experiences as an immigrant to this country and the history of U.S. attempts to exclude different categories of people from the full benefits of citizenship … Lalami offers a fresh perspective on the double consciousness of the immigrant … Conditional citizenship is still conferred on people of color, women, immigrants, religious minorities, even those living in poverty, and Lalami’s insight in showing the subtle and overt ways discrimination operates in so many facets of life is one of this book’s major strengths.”

–Rachel Newcomb  ( The Washington Post )

9. This is One Way to Dance by Sejal Shah (University of Georgia Press)

7 Rave • 2 Positive 

Watch an interview with Sejal Shah here

“Shah brings important, refreshing, and depressing observations about what it means to have dark skin and an ‘exotic’ name, when the only country you’ve ever lived in is America … The essays in this slim volume are engaging and thought-provoking … The essays are well-crafted with varying forms that should inspire and enlighten other essayists … A particularly delightful chapter is the last, called ‘Voice Texting with My Mother,’ which is, in fact, written in texts … Shah’s thoughts on heritage and belonging are important and interesting.”

–Martha Anne Toll  ( NPR )

10. Having and Being Had by Eula Biss (Riverhead)

5 Rave • 4 Positive • 4 Mixed

Read Eula Biss on the anticapitalist origins of Monopoly here

“… enthralling … Her allusive blend of autobiography and criticism may remind some of The Argonauts  by Maggie Nelson, a friend whose name pops up in the text alongside those of other artists and intellectuals who have influenced her work. And yet, line for line, her epigrammatic style perhaps most recalls that of Emily Dickinson in its radical compression of images and ideas into a few chiseled lines … Biss wears her erudition lightly … she’s really funny, with a barbed but understated wit … Keenly aware of her privilege as a white, well-educated woman who has benefited from a wide network of family and friends, Biss has written a book that is, in effect, the opposite of capitalism in its willingness to acknowledge that everything she’s accomplished rests on the labor of others.”

–Ann Levin  ( Associated Press )

The Book Marks System: RAVE = 5 points • POSITIVE = 3 points • MIXED = 1 point • PAN = -5 points

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20 Must-Read Best Essay Collections of 2019

Rebecca Hussey

Rebecca holds a PhD in English and is a professor at Norwalk Community College in Connecticut. She teaches courses in composition, literature, and the arts. When she’s not reading or grading papers, she’s hanging out with her husband and son and/or riding her bike and/or buying books. She can't get enough of reading and writing about books, so she writes the bookish newsletter "Reading Indie," focusing on small press books and translations. Newsletter: Reading Indie Twitter: @ofbooksandbikes

View All posts by Rebecca Hussey

Calling all essay fans! For your reading pleasure, I’ve rounded up the best essay collections of 2019. It was a fabulous year for essays (although I say that about most years, to be honest). We’ve had some stellar anthologies of writing about disability, feminism, and the immigrant experience. We’ve had important collections about race, mental health, the environment, and media. And we’ve had collections of personal essays to entertain us and make us feel less alone. There should be something in this list for just about any reading mood or interest.

These books span the entire year, and in cases where the book isn’t published yet, I’ve given you the publication date so you can preorder it or add it to your library list.

I hope this list of the best essay collections of 2019 helps you find new books you love!

About Us: Essays from the Disability Series of the New York Times , edited by Peter Catapano and Rosemarie Garland-Thomson

This book emerged from a  New York Times series of personal essays on living with a disability. Each piece was written by a person in the disabled community, and the volume contains an introduction by Andrew Solomon. The topics cover romance, shame, ambition, childbearing, parenting, aging, and much more. The authors offer a wide range of perspectives on living in a world not built for them.

Black is the Body: Stories from my Grandmother’s Time, My Mother’s Time, and Mine by Emily Bernard

Emily Bernard’s essays are about her experiences of race. She writes about life as a black woman in Vermont, her family’s history in Alabama and Nashville, her job as a professor who teaches African American literature, and her adoption of twin girls from Ethiopia. It begins with the story of a stabbing in New Haven and uses that as a springboard to write about what it means to live in a black body.

Burn It Down: Women Writing about Anger , edited by Lilly Dancyger (Seal Press, October 8)

Women’s anger has been the source of some important and powerful writing lately (see Rebecca Traister’s  Good and Mad and Soraya Chemaly’s  Rage Becomes Her ). This collection brings together a diverse group of writers to further explore the subject. The book’s 22 writers include Leslie Jamison, Melissa Febos, Evette Dionne, and more.

The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang

The Collected Schizophrenias is a collection of essays on mental and chronic illness. Wang combines research with her personal knowledge of illness to explore misconceptions about schizophrenia and disagreements in the medical community about definitions and treatments. She tells moving, honest personal stories about living with mental illness.

The Collector of Leftover Souls: Field Notes on Brazil’s Everyday Insurrections by Eliane Brum, Translated by Diane Grosklaus Whitty (Graywolf, October 15)

This volume collects work from two of Brum’s books, and includes investigative pieces and profiles about Brazil and its people. She focuses on underrepresented communities such as indigenous midwives from the Amazon and people in the favelas of São Paulo. Her book captures the lives and voices of people not often written about.

Erosion: Essays of Undoing by Terry Tempest Williams (Sarah Crichton Books, October 8)

This volume collects essays written between 2016 and 2018 covering the topic she has always written so beautifully about: the natural world. The essays focus on the concept of erosion, including the erosion of land and of the self. They are her response to the often-overwhelming challenges we face in the political and the natural world.

The Good Immigrant: 26 Writers Reflect on America ,  edited by Nikesh Shukla and Chimene Suleyman

This volume brings together an amazing group of writers including Chigozie Obioma, Jenny Zhang, Fatimah Asghar, Alexander Chee, and many more. The essayists are first and second generation immigrants who describe their personal experiences and struggles with finding their place in the U.S. The pieces connect first-person stories with broader cultural and political issues to paint an important picture of the U.S. today.

Good Things Happen to People You Hate: Essays by Rebecca Fishbein (William Morrow, October 15)

In the tradition of Samantha Irby and Sloane Crosley, this collection is a humorous look at life’s unfairness. Fishbein writes about trouble with jobs, bedbugs, fires, and cyber bullying. She covers struggles with alcohol, depression, anxiety, and failed relationships. She is honest and hilarious both, wittily capturing experiences shared by many.

I Like to Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution by Emily Nussbaum

This book contains new and previously published essays by  New Yorker  critic Emily Nussbaum. The pieces include reviews and profiles. They also argue for a new type of criticism that can accommodate the ambition and complexity of contemporary television. She makes a case for opening art criticism up to new forms and voices.

I’m Telling the Truth, But I’m Lying by Bassey Ikpi

Bassey Ikpi’s essay collection is about her personal experiences dealing with Bipolar II and anxiety. She writes about struggling with mental health even while her career as a spoken word artist was flourishing. She looks at the ways our mental health is intertwined with every aspect of our lives. It’s an honest look at identity, health, and illness.

Little Weirds by Jenny Slate (Little, Brown and Company, November 5)

These pieces are humorous, whimsical essays about things that are on Jenny Slate’s mind. As she—an actress and stand-up comedian as well as writer—describes it, “I looked into my brain and found a book. Here it is.” With a light touch, she tells us honestly what it’s like to be her and how she sees the world, one little, weird piece of it at a time.

Make It Scream, Make It Burn: Essays   by Leslie Jamison

Here is Jamison’s follow-up essay collection to the bestselling   Empathy Exams . This one is divided into three sections, “Longing,” “Looking,” and “Dwelling,” each with pieces that combine memoir and journalism. Her subjects include the Sri Lankan civil war, the online world Second Life, the whale 52 Blue, eloping in Las Vegas, giving birth, and many more.

My Time Among the Whites: Notes from an Unfinished Education   by Jennine Capó Crucet

Crucet grew up in Miami, the daughter of Cuban refugees. Here she explores her family’s attempts to fit into American culture and her feeling of being a stranger in her own country. She considers her relationship to the so-called “American Dream” and what it means to live in a place that doesn’t always recognize your right to be there.

Notes to Self: Essays by Emilie Pine

Emilie Pine is an Irish writer, and this book is a bestseller in Ireland. These six personal essays touch on addiction, sexual assault, infertility, and more. She captures women’s experiences that often remain hidden. She writes about bodies and emotions from rage to grief to joy with honesty, clarity, and nuance.

Our Women on the Ground: Essays by Arab Women Reporting from the Arab World by Zahra Hankir (Editor) and Christiane Amanpour (Foreword)

This collection gathers together 19 writers discussing their experiences as journalists working in their home countries. These women risk their lives reporting on war and face sexual harassment and difficulties traveling alone, but they also are able to talk to women and get stories their male counterpoints can’t. Their first person accounts offer new perspectives on women’s lives and current events in the Middle East.

The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations by Toni Morrison

Picking this up is a fitting way to pay tribute to the great Toni Morrison, who just passed away last summer. This book is a collection of essays, speeches, and meditations from the past four decades. Topics include the role of the artist, African Americans in American literature, the power of language, and discussions of her own work and that of other writers and artists.

Surfacing by Kathleen Jamie

Kathleen Jamie is a poet and nature writer. These essays combine travel, memoir, and history to look at a world rapidly changing because of our warming climate. She ranges from thawing tundra in Alaska to the preserved homes of neolithic farmers in Scotland and also examines her own experiences with change as her children grow and her father dies.

Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom

As of this writing,  Thick  was just longlisted for a National Book Award in nonfiction. McMillan Cottom’s essays look at culture and personal experience from a sociological perspective. It’s an indispensable collection for those who want to think about race and society, who like a mix of personal and academic writing, and who want some complex, challenging ideas to chew on.

White Flights: Race, Fiction, and the American Imagination   by Jess Row

White Flights is an examination of how race gets written about in American fiction, particularly by white writers creating mostly white spaces in their books. Row looks at writers such as Don DeLillo, Annie Dillard, David Foster Wallace, Jonathan Franzen, and more to consider the role that whiteness has played in the American literary imagination.

The Witches Are Coming   by Lindy West (Hachette Books, November 5)

The Witches Are Coming  is Lindy West’s follow-up to her wonderful, best-selling book  Shrill .  She’s back with more of her incisive cultural critiques, writing essays on feminism and the misogyny that is (still) embedded in every part of our culture. She brings humor, wit, and much-needed clarity to the gender dynamics at play in media and culture.

There you have it—the best collections of 2019! This was a great year for essays, but so were the two years before. Check out my round-ups of the best essay collections from 2018 and 2017 .

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Need help submitting your writing to literary journals or book publishers/literary agents?  Click here! →

How To Publish A Collection Of Essays

by Writer's Relief Staff | Craft: Short Story Writing , Submit A Book For Publication , Submit A Short Story Or Essay , Submit Your Writing | 7 comments

Review Board is now open! Submit your Short Prose, Poetry, and Book today!

Deadline: thursday, april 18th.

At Writer’s Relief we are often asked how writers can get their collection of essays published, and we recommend the following tips to help essay writers approach editors and literary agents with greater confidence and success.

How can I generate an editor or agent’s interest in my book of essays?

Publication credits . If you’ve previously published essays in reputable literary journals, make sure to include these credits in your query letter . We highly recommend that you build your publication credits before approaching an editor or agent with a collection of unpublished essays. The market for an essay collection is limited unless you have significantly newsworthy experiences or have a background that proves your writing has mass appeal. Wide publication credits will help indicate readers’ interest in your work.

If you are still in the process of building credits, investigate local venues for your essays—newspapers, newsletters, etc. There are also free specialty publications covering every imaginable topic (check out coffee shops and bookstores) that may be receptive to personal essays). Start locally but aim for national exposure for the best results. If you’ve published a personal essay in a reputable national literary magazine, you’ve increased your odds of selling a collection by quite a bit.

Theme . Collections do well when they include essays with a common theme. For example, David Sedaris is best known for his humorous essays, and C.S. Lewis once published a collection of religious essays. Other themes may include women’s studies, travel, sports, or city life. Unique themes get attention—people love to read about real-life experiences that are highly unusual—but even the most outrageous stories must be backed by good writing.

How can I find editors or literary agents who work with essay collections?

Research, research, research . Study the essay collections at local bookstores and libraries—and don’t forget to investigate the nonfiction areas such as travel, cooking, or parenting. Note who publishes these collections and what kind of essays are selling. Check the books’ acknowledgment pages for possible references to literary agents or editors.

Study book reviews and buy compilations of essays (for example, The Best American Essays ) to learn where each was published. And don’t forget about networking. Writers’ groups, college English departments, conferences—get to know fellow writers and ask questions.

Search for literary agents who welcome essay collections. You can find thousands and thousands of resources online and in bookstores. You’ll need to examine literary agency listings carefully in order to determine which are best for you. And, if you’re short on time, Writer’s Relief can help you. We maintain a database of information—current and constantly updated—to help you target your submissions more successfully. We’ve been helping writers get their work published since 1994.

Interesting, always go the independent route. Learn to believe in your own merit. Take your time when writing. Don’t get into this industry with the mindset that you are going to make copious amount of money. Frankly, the writung industry has been depreciated by too many 2nd-rate writers.

My essay project is “Integral Perspective Of The Human Factor In A Mechanical, Digital World Environment”. It is 14 double-spaced pages, consisting of 7 parts, an introduction, a brief conclusion, and my background. It is a positive response for thought and action in the dehumanizing trend we are living in technology, climate change, education, culture,economy, and interpersonal relations. I want to publish the essay if I can. Whether I receive any compensation is immaterial.

Hi, I am working on editing 20 essays from different writers,they share a main event in their journey which is the theme of the collection. Do you have any advise on how to find a publisher for such a collection¿ Thank you

There are a few options you have. You may find this article about querying for short story collections useful: https://writersrelief.com/2018/05/03/query-letter-genre-essentials-pitching-a-collection-of-short-stories-writers-relief/

Also, we’ve found that submitting your essays individually and having them published in different literary journals increases your chances of getting a collection of them picked up for publication.

My essays have been published individually, but now I want them in one publication without the editor’s having edited out some of my breezy writing style!!! I write on art/artists/events such as the Medici’s at the Met Museum and just about anything I feel like writing. I am published in two online magazines and have been published in print magazines.

I’ve only written one essay so far, but I’m confident that I can develop it into a “series,” so to speak. The essay was my response to a school assignment requesting a story about a tragedy or significant adversity I’d experienced and how I overcame it. I chose to write about my four-month-recent suicide attempt. The detail I went into is truly gut-wrenching, but it is my truth, and I need to live it and speak it unapologetically. I shared my essay with a few other staff members at my school, most of whom have provided me with encouraging feedback. If I were to continue the essay into a series, I would most likely focus on my mental health journey and the incredible ways in which it has impacted me. It’s always been my dream (a rather stubborn one, might I add) to write and publish a book, but I never knew I could publish a collection of essays. Truth be told, I wasn’t aware they were a possibility until very recently; a memoir and a poetry book were really the only ideas I had. But a series of essays compiled under a single main theme seems much more achievable and tolerable, especially at my age (I’m a minor). I haven’t the slightest clue how to go about making this dream into a reality, but I know for certain that I’m willing to try. As ambitious as I am, however, I can’t do it alone; I would greatly appreciate a bit of guidance from anyone willing (and qualified) to give it. I understand that I have a lot to learn – I’ve barely even grazed the surface thus far – but I believe I am fully capable. I’m young, yes; one would assume I have ample time. The hard truth? Life is short. That’s something I’ve already learned time and time again even prior to The Incident. I’ve fought this war my entire life up to this point, and I will never stop fighting it. That’s not okay, not by any means – but most things aren’t, right? As world-shattering as the truths that hide in the dark crawlspaces of Life are, they’re still the truth. They’re still my truths, still my stories. Stories I need to share with the world. There are people out there like me – more than we want to admit – and they need to hear my story. They need to see my strength to find within themselves their own. I am determined to fight as long as I must to give them that, and that fight starts with finding my own Village to help me. So to whoever may read this: if you are willing, capable, and qualified to provide advice or guidance, I ask that you please take a little time to do so, and I in turn will give you my time. Thank you to all who read this, and thank you to Writer’s Relief for giving me the space and opportunity to share.

Hi Isabella,

Thank you for reaching out to us, and for sharing your journey with us.

We recommend taking a look at our free publishing toolkit. There are numerous articles about writing, publishing, finding an agent, etc. https://writersrelief.com/free-publishing-resources-toolkit-for-writers/

We also think the following articles might be helpful: https://writersrelief.com/how-to-write-about-trauma-in-your-memoir-writers-relief/ and https://writersrelief.com/how-to-write-a-personal-essay-worth-publishing-writers-relief/

We hope these resources will help you with your writing journey.

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Organizing Academic Research Papers: Reviewing Collected Essays

• Purpose of Guide
• Design Flaws to Avoid
• Glossary of Research Terms
• Narrowing a Topic Idea
• Broadening a Topic Idea
• Extending the Timeliness of a Topic Idea
• Academic Writing Style
• Choosing a Title
• Making an Outline
• Paragraph Development
• Executive Summary
• Background Information
• The Research Problem/Question
• Theoretical Framework
• Citation Tracking
• Content Alert Services
• Evaluating Sources
• Primary Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Tertiary Sources
• What Is Scholarly vs. Popular?
• Qualitative Methods
• Quantitative Methods
• Using Non-Textual Elements
• Limitations of the Study
• Common Grammar Mistakes
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Footnotes or Endnotes?
• Further Readings
• Annotated Bibliography
• Dealing with Nervousness
• Using Visual Aids
• Grading Someone Else's Paper
• How to Manage Group Projects
• Multiple Book Review Essay
• Reviewing Collected Essays
• About Informed Consent
• Writing Field Notes
• Writing a Policy Memo
• Writing a Research Proposal
• Acknowledgements

Collected essays vary in form and content [see below] but generally refers to a single book that contains essays [chapters] written by a variety of contributing authors. The overall work may cover a broad subject area, such as health care reform, or examine a narrow research problem, such as antitrust regulation in the clothing industry. Each chapter in a scholarly collected essay book is written by an expert in the field examining a particular aspect of that topic. Most collected essay works include a foreword or introductory chapter that summarizes current research in the field, placing the studies discussed by each author in the book within the larger scholarly context.

How to Approach Writing Your Review

Types of Collected Works

• Conference Proceedings --a collection of papers published as part of an academic conference or other gathering of professionals. The purpose is to inform a wider audience of the material presented at the conference as well as to document the work of scholars who have participated in that conference. Many conferences are held annually and, thus, the proceedings are published annually and may focus on a particular theme representing a cutting edge issue in the field [e.g., Proceedings of the 10th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research--Social Networks: Making Connections between Citizens, Data, and Government ].
• Collection of an Author's Research --a collection of works by a distinguished scholar. The contents of collected works by a particular researcher can take the form of reprints of prior research or of selected reprints with a new introductory chapter by the author or an expert in the field that synthesizes and updates the overall status of research [e.g., The Nature of Politics: Selected Essays of Bertrand de Jouvenel . Edited and with an introduction by Dennis Hale and Marc Landy; Foreword by Wilson Carey McWilliams. New York: Schocken Books, 1987. xxxv, 254 pp.]
• Festschrift --a volume of articles or essays by colleagues and admirers that serve as a tribute or memorial to a preeminent scholar or public figure. The essays usually relate to, or reflect upon, an honoree's contributions to their scholarly field, but may include original research by the authors that build upon the research of the honoree [e.g., Social Cognition, Social Identity, and Intergroup Relations: A Festschrift in Honor of Marilynn B. Brewer . Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, editors. New York: Psychology Press, 2011. xi, 423 pp.].
• Reader --a collection of scholarly papers, most often reprinted from journals, representing a cross-section of research about a particular topic. Most readers are intended to be used in the classroom. Readers serve to document the breadth and range of the most important research that has developed in a particular area of study and, often, as specified over a period of time [e.g., Companion Reader on Violence Against Women . Claire M. Renzetti, Jeffrey L. Edleson, Raquel Kennedy Bergen, editors. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2012. x, 411 pp.].
• Reprints --sometimes in the form of a multi-volume set, this is a selective collection of previously published materials. Most frequently, reprints contain scholarly journal articles gathered together to form a comprehensive overview of prior research in a particular area of study.
• Thematic Articles --the most common form of collected works in the social sciences, this is a collection of new scholarly essays from multiple authors examining a particular research problem or topic.

Developing an Assessment Strategy for Each

The challenge with reviewing a book of collected essays is that you must begin by thinking critically about the research problem that underpins each of the individual essays, synthesizing the multiple arguments of multiple authors, and then clearly organizing those arguments into conceptual categories [themes] as you write your draft.

Here are some questions to ask yourself depending on the type of collected work you're reviewing . Note that all types require you to first identify the overarching subject of the book of collected essays.

• Conference Proceedings --what organization is sponsoring the conference? Is there a specific theme to the conference? Was the collection of papers selectively chosen or do the proceedings represent all papers presented at the conference? If not, how were the papers selected? Are the papers reprinted as they were presented or have they been updated or significantly edited prior to publication [this is often noted in the introduction]? Are the proceedings online and, if so, how might this facilitate access to additional materials? Is there foreword or an introductory chapter that effectively synthesizes the collection? Is it logically organized and include important front and back matter such as a table of contents and an index?
• Collection of an Author's Research --who is the author and why do you believe his or her work is important enough to be gathered together for publication? Is there an underlying theme or does the collection represent a "best of" collection? What may have been ommitted? Are any original works included or are the contents only reprints? Is there a bibliography of the all of the author's writings? Is there a foreword or an introductory chapter written by the author or a guest contributor that effectively synthesizes the collection? Is the book logically organized and include important front and back matter such as a table of contents and an index?
• Festschrift --who is being honored and why? Do the contributions represent essays of general tribute or do the contributions represent original research that builds upon the honoree's prior work? Is there a list of contributors and does it include biographical profiles of each that helps determine their relationship to the honoree? Is there a foreword or an introductory chapter that effectively synthesizes the collection? Is it logically organized and include important front and back matter such as a table of contents and an index?
• Reader --does the collection represent a broad spectrum of publications about a research topic or only a few? Are there underrepresented areas of research in the collection? Is there a list of editors/compilers and does it include biographical profiles of each? Are the contents reprinted in their entirity or is the text only excerpted? Are the reprints readily available through other means or do they represent a compilation of hard-to-find publications? Is there a foreword or an introductory chapter that effectively synthesizes the collection? Is it logically organized and include important front and back matter such as a table of contents and an index?
• Reprints --does the collection represent reprints from a variety of publications or only a few? Are there underrepresented areas of research in the collection? Are the reprints readily available through other means or do they represent a compilation of hard-to-find publications? Are the reprints from relatively current or older publications? Is there a foreword or an introductory chapter that effectively synthesizes the collection? Is it logically organized and include important front and back matter such as a table of contents and an index?
• Thematic Articles --how are the contents arranged? Do the contributions survey a broad area of research or do they examine multiple issues associated with a particular research problem? Is there a list of contributors and does it include biographical profiles of each? Do you the contributors come from one or a variety of institutions? Do the contributors all come from the United States or are there any international contributors? Is there foreword or an introductory chapter that effectively synthesizes the collection? Does the work include important front and back matter such as a table of contents and an index?

Structure and Writing Style

I. Bibliographic Information

Provide the essential information about the book using the writing style that your professor has asked to use for the course [e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.]. Depending on how your professor wants you to organize your review, the bibliograophic information represents the heading of your review. In general, it would look like this:

El Ghonemy, Mohamad Riad. Anti-Poverty Land Reform Issues Never Die: Collected Essays on Development Economics in Practice . (New York: Routledge, 2010. xx, 223 pp.)

Reviewed by [your name].

II. Scope/Purpose/Content

The first challenge in reviewing any type of collected essay work is to identify and summarize its overarching scope and purpose, with additional focus on describing how the book is organized and whether or not the arrangement of its individual parts facilitates and contributes to an understanding of the subject area. Most collected works include a general statement of purpose in the foreword or an introductory chapter. In some cases, the editor will discuss the scope and purpose at the beginning of each essay.

To help develop your own introductory thesis statement that covers all of the material, start by reviewing and taking notes about the aim and intent of each essay. Once completed, identify key issues and themes. For example, in a compilation of essays on environmental law, you may find the papers examine various legal approaches to environmental protection, describe alternatives to the law, and compare domestic and international issues. By identifying the overall themes, you create a framework from which you can cogently evaluate the contents.

As with any review, your introductory statement must be succinct, accurate, unbiased, and clear. However, given that you are reviewing a number of parts within a much larger work, you may need several paragraphs to provide a comprehensive overview of the book's overall scope, purpose, and content.

If you find it difficult to discern the overall aims and objectives of the collected essay work [and, be sure to point this out in your review if you believe it to be a deficiency], you may arrive at an understanding of the purpose by asking yourself a the following questions:

• Why did the contributing authors write on this subject rather than on some other subject? Why is it important?
• From what point of view is the work written? Do some essays take one stance while others investigate another or are they just a mish-mash of viewpoints?
• Were the authors trying to give information, to explain something technical, or to convince the reader of a belief’s validity by dramatizing it in action?
• What is the general field or genre, and how does the book fit into it? Review related literature from other books and journal articles to familiarize yourself with the field, if necessary.
• Who is the intended audience?
• What are each author's style? Do they clash or do they flow together? Is it formal or informal? You can evaluate the quality of the writing style by noting some of the following standards: coherence, clarity, originality, forcefulness, correct use of technical words, conciseness, fullness of development, and fluidity.
• Scan the Table of Contents because it can help you understand how the book is organized and will aid in determining the main ideas covered and how they are developed [e.g., chronologically, topically, thematically, etc.]
• How did the book affect you? Were any prior assumptions you had on the subject changed, abandoned, or reinforced due to this book? Did some essays stand out more than others? In what ways?
• How is the book related to your own course or personal agenda? What personal experiences have you had that relate to the subject?
• How well has the book achieved its goal(s)?
• Would you recommend the book to others? Why or why not?

III.  Critically Evaluate the Contents

Critical comments should form the b ulk of your book review . A good method for reviewing a collected work is to follow the arrangement of contents, particularly if the essays are grouped in a particular way, and to frame the analysis in the context of the key issues and themes you identified in the introduction. State whether or not you feel the overall treatment of the subject matter is appropriate for the intended audience. Ask yourself:

• Has the purpose of the book been achieved?
• Have all of the essays contributed something important to the overall purpose? If not, how have some author's failed to add something meaningful?
• What contribution does the book make to the field?
• Is the treatment of the subject matter unbiased?
• Are there facts and evidence that have been omitted?
• What kinds of data, if any, are used to support the author's thesis statement?
• Can the same data be interpreted to alternate ends?
• Is the writing style clear and effective?
• Does the book raise important or provocative issues or topics for discussion and further research?

Support your evaluation with evidence from the text and, when possible, in relation to other sources.Do not evaluate each essay one at a time but group the analysis around  the key issues and themes you first identified. If relevant, make note of the book's format, such as, layout, binding, typography, etc. Do some or all of the essays include tables, charts, maps, illustrations, or other non-textual elements? Do they aid in understanding the research problem?

IV.  Examine the Front Matter and Back Matter

Back matter refers to any information included after the final chapter of the book. Front matter refers to anything before the first chapter. Front matter is most often numbered separately from the rest of the text in lower case Roman numerals [i.e. i-xi ]. Critical commentary about front or back matter is generally only necessary if you believe there is something that diminishes the overall quality of the work or there is something that is particularly helpful in understanding the book's contents.

The following back matter may be included in a book and should be considered for evaluation when reviewing the overall quality of the book:

• Table of contents --is it clear? Does it reflect the true contents of the book?
• Author biography --also found as back matter, the biography of author(s) can be useful in determining the authority of the writer and whether the book builds on prior research or represents new research. In scholarly reviews, noting the author's affiliation can be a factor in helping the reader determine the overall validity of work [i.e., are they associated with a research center devoted to studying the research problem under investigation].
• Foreword --in a scholarly books, a foreword may be written by the author or an expert on the subject of the book. The purpose of a foreword is to introduce the reader to the author as well as the book itself, and attempt to establish credibility for both. A foreword does not contribute any additional information about the book's subject matter, but it serves as a means of validating the book's existence. Later editions of a book sometimes have a new foreword prepended [appearing before an older foreword if there was one], which might explain in what respects that edition differs from previous ones.
• Preface --generally describes the genesis, purpose, limitations, and scope of the book and may include acknowledgments of indebtedness to people who have helped the author complete the study. Is the preface helpful in understanding the study? Does it effectively provide a framework for what's to follow? A Preface is often very important to understanding the overall purpose oft he collected work.
• Chronology --also found as back matter, a chronology is generally included to highlight key events related to the subject of the book. Does it contribute to the overall work? Is it detailed or very general?
• List of non-textual elements --if a book contains a lot of charts, photographs, maps, etc., they will often be listed in the front.
• Afterword --this is a short, reflective piece written by the author that takes the form of a concluding section, final commentary, or closing statement. It is worth mentioning in a review if it contributes information about the purpose of the book, gives a call to action, or asks the reader to consider key points made in the book.
• Appendix/appendices --is the supplementary material in the appendix or appendices well organized? Do they relate to the contents or appear superfluous? Does it contain any essential information that would have been more appropriately integrated into the text?
• Index --is the index thorough and accurate? Are there elements such as bold text, to help identify specific parts of the book?
• Glossary --are the definitions clearly written? Is the glossary comprehensive or are key terms missing?
• Endotes/Footnotes --check any end notes or footnotes as you read from essay to essay. Do they provide important additional information? Do they clarify or extend points made in the body of the text?
• Bibliography/Further Readings --review any bibliography or further readings the author may have included. What kinds of sources [e.g., primary or secondary, recent or old, scholarly or popular, etc.] appear in the bibliography? How does the author make use of them? Make note of important omissions.

V.  Summarize and Comment

State your general conclusions succinctly. Pay particular attention to any capstone chapter that summarizes the work. Collected works often have one. List the principal topics, and briefly summarize the key themes and issues, main points, and conclusions. If appropriate and to help clarify your overall evaluation, use specific references and quotations to support your statements. If your thesis has been well argued, the conclusion should follow naturally. It can include a final assessment or simply restate your thesis. Do not introduce new information or ideas in the conclusion.

Bazerman, Charles. Comparing and Synthesizing Sources . The Informed Writer: Using Sources in the Disciplines. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Book Reviews . Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Book Reviews . The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Writing a Book Review . The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Rhetorical Strategies: Comparison and Contrast . The Reading/Writing Center. Hunter College; Visvis, Vikki and Jerry Plotnick. The Comparative Essay . The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Writing Book Reviews. Writing Tutorial Services, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. Indiana University.

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