20 Great Essay Collections from 2018
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It will surprise no one to hear that there were a lot of great 2018 essay collections published on politics, race, and feminism. There are wonderful anthologies as well as single-author collections on those subjects below. Some of these books look at politics through a personal lens, while others focus more on the world outside. Some books on this list don’t look at politics specifically, which is good, because we need great writing on all subjects right now (and always). Sometimes we just want to laugh, think deeply about art, or contemplate our lives, and many of the books below allow us to do that.
That’s the wonderful thing about essays—they can be about anything, using any kind of style and tone, for any purpose! That’s one of the reasons essays are one of my favorite genres. So check out this list of 2018 essay collections and tell me if you think I missed anything.
The subtitle says it all! This is an essay collection on how to make contemporary feminism as diverse and inclusive as possible. The pieces—all of which are previously unpublished—explore why some people feel uncomfortable claiming the feminist label and how we can broaden feminism to include all.
In my opinion, Zadie Smith’s essays are as good as her fiction. Her last essay collection, Changing My Mind, was fabulous. Her new book is organized into five sections—In the World, In the Audience, In the Gallery, On the Bookshelf, and Feel Free—and includes previously-published pieces and new work. Smith is a beautiful writer and her essays always make excellent company.
Known as a novelist, Alexander Chee has now published his first collection of nonfiction, including essays on the intersection of identity, art, and politics. This collection was easily one of the most anticipated nonfiction books of the year. Pick it up for the beautiful writing, the personal stories, and the insights into the world around us.
Ten years ago, Sloane Crosley published her best-selling essay collection I Was Told There’d Be Cake, and here she is with a new collection, which has the same wit, charm, and enjoyable observations on personal experiences and American culture. These are essays to gobble up, and the only bad thing is that you won’t want the book to end.
Here you will find essays on a theme: Maggie O’Farrell’s close calls with death. She writes about muggings, near-drownings, a difficult childbirth, life-threatening illnesses, and more. It’s a book that will make you contemplate vulnerability and uncertainty and get you to think more deeply about the meaning of life. The closing essay is a heart-breaker.
Ashleigh Young is a poet from New Zealand, now out with her first collection of essays. These pieces range from examinations of family life to struggles with an eating disorder to portraits of distinctive and memorable people from the past. Her depiction of her childhood among artists is particularly memorable.
This is Wesley’s Yang’s debut essay collection, but it contains pieces published—many to great acclaim—over the past decade. He looks at the Virginia Tech shooting, “tiger mother” parenting, racism against Asian Americans, and more.
Here is a debut essay collection on the American obsession with dead girls. Alice Bolin looks at Joan Didion, Twin Peaks, Britney Spears, Serial, and much more to think about our ideas on death and the female body and how those ideas shapes our fiction and pop culture.
Coulter’s book is a memoir in essays about becoming sober. She writes about the topic with a wry humor that earns her comparisons to David Sedaris and Sloane Crosley. She writes about her struggles with alcohol with wit and honesty.
Brian Phillips is a journalist who is now publishing his debut essay collection, including both already published works and new material. The essays are researched pieces about fascinating places, people, and animals around the world. His subjects take him from India to Alaska, New Mexico, London, and elsewhere.
