Strong Words #2 showcases the long-listed entries for the 2019 and 2020 Landfall essay competitions. The contents, often poetic and psychologically insightful, gave editor Emma Neale a ‘hell of an intriguingly hard time’ deciding which sparkling explorations would knock off the others for the top three places in each year. This anthology gives readers a chance to sample the high-quality work entered, without the agony of having to choose the winners. Including well-known names and promising newcomers, the contents roam far and wide over a number of subjects, such as Sarah Harpur’s irreverent, laugh-aloud essay about death; Siobhan Harvey’s potent essay about the memories of an abusive childhood stirred up by current house renovations; and Tan Tuck Ming’s essay about technology and how it mediates, enables and impacts intimate relationships. Strong Words #2 also includes the joint winners of the 2019 essay prize: Tobias Buck’s ‘Exit. Stage Left’, which explores issues of prejudice and bias through the experience of someone ‘the colour of cotton candy or pink marshmallows’, and Nina Mingya Powles’ work ‘Tender Gardens’, exploring Chinese cultural and poetic heritage and how to maintain a sense of home in a foreign land.