Essays, Anthologies, Letters & Prose

Award-winning environmentalist, author, and journalist Bill McKibben selects twenty science and nature essays that represent the best examples of the form published in the previous year. "This was the most...

PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY BESTSELLER What does it take to grow up cool and popular, master adulthood, fast track your success, and always be your best? Laura Belgray wouldn't know. Her wildly...

Rebel Musix, Scribe on a Vibe collects the extraordinary output of Vivien Goldman from 1975 onwards; spanning a time when punk burnt its scalding flame to scorch our musical earth...

This is the first self-contained edition of Books VI-VIII of the Odyssey--the account of Odysseus' time among the Phaeacians, and a popular introduction to Homer. While not neglecting matters of...

"Excellent....Taken as a whole, the volume moves beyond food's sensory pleasures to investigate it as a cultural vessel, a symbol of inequality, and more. It's a standout addition to the...

" "Wide-ranging yet consistently affecting, these pieces offer a crucial and inspired survey of the immigrant experience in America." " - Publishers Weekly "[These contributions] touch on so many different...

'This book is a glowing achievement by one of the best essayists of her generation' Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff 'Witty, fresh and full of life' Liv Little 'I can't recommend more highly......

'I laughed, I cried and then I laughed again' LENA DUNHAM 'Smart and funny ... reminds me of the best of Nora Ephron' GUARDIAN Writer, actor, and director Desiree Akhavan...

The woman warrior who is armed with wit and courage will be among the first to celebrate victory' says Maya Angelou, bestselling author of I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD...

The latest no-f**ks-given guide from New York Times bestselling author of the international sensation The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k , Get Your Sh*t Together , and You...

Capturing an ever-changing San Francisco, 25 prolific writers tell their stories of living in one the most mesmerising cities in the world. The End of the Golden Gate is a...

It's time to diversify your reading list. This richly illustrated and vastly inclusive collection uplifts the works of authors who are often underrepresented in the literary world. Using their keen...

A witty introduction to the mind of Goethe, a classic in a new translation for the first time in 150 years Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was the world's most celebrated...

A brilliantly wide-ranging essay collection from the author of My Struggle, spanning literature, philosophy, art and how our daily and creative lives intertwine. A brilliantly wide-ranging essay collection from the...

NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER 'A beautiful book of great tenderness, love of life, and wisdom' JOSEPH O'CONNOR For almost fifty years, Michael Harding has been crafting words in a bid to...

This work is a collection of non-fiction essays and short fiction, many in print for the first time ever. Subjects range from an ode to redheads, kissing, Diane Keaton, Leonard...

Since the 1980s Judith Brett has been helping to shape Australians' conversations about politics, bringing a historian's eye to contemporary issues and probing the psychology of our prime ministers. Her...

Maggie Nelson is one of the most electrifying writers at work in America today, among the sharpest and most supple thinkers of her generation - Olivia Laing A Guardian Book...

Packed with wit, wisdom and comfort, this is a whopping celebration of the late, great Nora Ephron, the iconic writer whose work continues to entertain and inspire millions. A revised...

A bold and expansive history that traces the changing and contested project of Australia's national story. You will think about this country differently after reading this book. 'Clark brings a...

Thoughts and advice on the creative writing process from an international master of literature. Words have power. Yet that power must be rooted in truth and justice. Words must never...

Describing the surreal hallucinations, insomnia and nightmarish visions he experienced while consuming daily large amounts of laudanum, Thomas De Quincey's legendary account of the pleasures and pains of opium forged...

One of the masterpieces of classical literature, the Histories describes how a small and quarrelsome band of Greek city states united to repel the might of the Persian empire. But...

A revised edition of a classic translation, with completely new editorial material Taking the form of a dialogue between Socrates, Gorgias, Polus and Callicles, GORGIAS debates perennial questions about the...

A completely revised edition of a respected & much-loved translation by Betty Radice The story of Abelard and Heloise remains one of the world's most celebrated and tragic love affairs....

New edition of one of the most powerful of the Icelandic prose sagas Written in the thirteenth century, Njal's Saga is a story that explores perennial human problems-from failed marriages...

Unique to this edition is a translation of Tocqueville's other American writings-Two Weeks in the Wilderness and The Excursion to Lake Oneida. In 1831 Tocqueville set out from post-revolutionary France...

A tale of princely jealousy and vengeance, the Saga has been an inspiration for Wagner and J.R.R. Tolkien Based on Viking Age poems, The Saga of the Volsungs combines mythology,...

Cicero's reflections upon the way to a live a good life For the great Roman orator and statesman Cicero, 'the good life' was at once a life of contentment and...

The range of topics and the careful consideration given to them by Montaigne is unsurpassed; he studies humanity through poetry, love and ectasy - but also through cannibalism and war-horses...

Stories, essays and speeches from one of Australia's foremost writers and thinkers David Marr is the rarest of breeds- one of Australia's most unflinching, forensic reporters of political controversy, and...

Drawn from more than two decades of pathbreaking writing, the iconic and bestselling David Graeber's most important essays and interviews. \"The ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it...

Though best known in the English speaking world for his short fictions and poems, Borges is revered in Latin America equally as an immensely prolific and beguiling writer of non-fiction...

One of the most inspiring thinkers of our age transforms the way we think about the world with his reflections on science, history and humanity One of our most beloved...

In these groundbreaking studies, Sontag strips away the myths that surround the two most stigmatized diseases of our time Sontag wrote Illness as Metaphor in 1978, while suffering from breast...

A curated collection of essays that shaped Australia's culture and society Since the 1940s, Meanjin essays have set the national cultural agenda. Arthur Phillips' idea of 'cultural cringe' has become...

Susan Sontag's second collection of groundbreaking essays, new to Penguin Modern Classics This collection of essays contains some of the most important pieces of criticism of the twentieth century, including...

Truman Capote began writing when he was eight and became one of America's most versatile and gifted authors.A Capote Readercontains much of his published work- his dazzling fiction, includingBreakfast at...

These essays, reviews and articles illuminate the life and work of one of the most individual writers of this century - a man who created a unique literary manner from...

One of the greatest theological works, and is one of the most influential Christian documents. St Augustine, bishop of Hippo, was one of the central figures in the history of...

Still used as a guide to classical Greece even today this remains one of the most influential travel books ever written. Written in the second century AD by a Greek...

Reissue First and foremost an outcry against injustice and inhumanity, Unto this Last is also a closely argued assault on the science of political economy, which dominated the Victorian period....

A collection of the finest essays by the 'Best of the Booker' winner, following on from his much-acclaimed STEP ACROSS THIS LINE From 'Best of the Booker' winner Salman Rushdie,...

New to Penguin Modern Classics for Sontag's exploration of the most important artists of our time Susan Sontag's third essay collection brings together her most important critical writing from 1972...

An insight into the splendour, squalor and energy of everday Roman life Perhaps more than any other writer, Juvenal (c. AD 55-138) captures the splendour, the squalor and the sheer...

A fascinating view of how the world was perceived in the first century Pliny's Natural History is an astonishingly ambitious work that ranges from astronomy to art and from geography...

Goethe's famous account of his time and travels in Italy In 1786, when he was already the acknowledged leader of the Sturm und Drang literary movement, Goethe set out on...