We are living in the moment of the essay. The past two decades have witnessed an explosion in essays that interrogate personal experience; contemporary Australian writers are using their lives to think through the ways we connect, remember, and live, whilst navigating the relationships we have with humans and nonhumans alike.

In The Moment of the Essay, Daniel Juckes considers the strategies the essay form offers for reflection and sense-making. He also takes on the moment of encounter between reader and text, and argues that this moment provides crucial opportunity, within the incessant demands of our culture, for meeting one another.

Daniel Juckes is a Lecturer in Creative Writing and the editor of Westerly Magazine at the University of Western Australia.