‘I take the essay to be an artful recreation of thought and feeling. At its best, the essay explores the tension between the familiar and the unfamiliar, allowing the reader to experience the feeling of ideas in motion.’ – William Max Nelson

‘An essay is a short work of non-fiction prose that is far reaching, yet highly individual; discursive, yet lapidary; capacious, yet pithy. The best examples of the form come off like rodeo stunts, pulling seemingly random observations into a noose, lassoing insights that would otherwise have galloped away.’ – Laura Esther Wolfson

‘Just as the arsonist, the curiosity-seeker, and the firefighter can be present at the same fire, an essay can perform any or all of their functions in relation to its subject: igniting, bearing witness, struggling to solve. At its best, however, an essay is the householder’s escape route from his own burning house – or her perilous return for those valuables she cannot bear to leave behind.’ – Garret Keizer

‘To me, essay means being present in thought.’ – Dasha Shkurpela