/ Anne Deveson -- Starting with sludge / Clive James -- Beyond the comfort zone / Margaret Simons -- Kicking up their heels / Rowanne Couch -- Writing the past / Mark McKenna -- The tall man / Chloe Hooper -- Armed for success / Chris Sarra -- Time, gentlemen, please / George Seddon -- Tibet / Robyn Davidson -- Why Adam Smith was to markets what Jane Austen is to marriage / Nicholas Green -- Brazil 1960/2006: Beavoir, Sartre, and 'Christina T' / Hazel Rowley -- Making sense of Mahler / Andrew Ford -- Roads to translation / J.M. Coetzee -- The God of realism / Robert Hughes -- 'Author, author!' / David Malouf -- Information idol / Gideon Haigh -- White collar dreaming / Anna Krien -- Writing about us / Georgia Blain -- Walking: West MacDonnell Ranges 2002 / Saskia Beudel -- Soap opera international / Lyndel Rowe -- Departure and arrival / Joel S. Kahn -- Tanks! Tanks! (You're most welcome) / Linda Jaivin -- Things to look into: the cinema of Terrence Malick / Adrian Martin -- You're facing the unthinkable ... / Peter Conrad -- Little America / Robert Manne -- Outcast of Camp Echo / Alfred W. McCoy -- Justice and hope / Raimond Gaita.

This rich and diverse collection of essays is compiled by one of Australia's finest writers.