What was happening behind the Tampa headlines? How do you force a big company to take responsibility for damaging the health of its workers? What do you do when you suspect a famous author is a fake? How does it feel to be on the receiving end of police crowd control? Or on a hillside, spellbound and fearful, watching the light being sucked from the sky during an eclipse? Top writers and journalists who have written about events and issues big and small talk frankly about how they approach the task in this highly readable new collection. The Writer's Reader combines selected non-fiction articles with interviews with authors reflecting on the process of writing. Academic writing can be dry and dull, but this refreshingly accessible anthology values straight talking about writing and makes the point that if you want to write, then you had better get reading.

Susie Eisenhuth is a lecturer in journalism at the University of Technology, Sydney Willa McDonald is a lecturer in media and writing at Macquarie University