Can words make Australia a better place? Can writing help to inform a collective national consciousness?

Over the past decade Australians have witnessed a significant shift to more insular and conservative economic, ethical and cultural norms. The problems of valuing and achieving justice seem more acute than ever, yet the solutions to those problems are not obvious nor are those in power taking the lead.

In this powerful collection, Australian writers including Gail Jones, Eva Sallis and Frank Brennan explore the relationship between writing and justice, a relationship utterly dependent on informed, ethical readers. These essays - from poets, essayists, academics, playwrights, critics and novelists - demonstrate how it is possible for writing to articulate concerns of justice, enlighten the broader community and move citizens to action.

These beautifully crafted essays unflinchingly provoke, upset, stimulate and propel us into action. The authors feel deeply about the big-picture questions that confront Australia as the traditional land of the 'fair go'. Their stories grow in 'lines on paper faded' for want of recent attention. Reading some of them causes goose bumps. Some, anger. Others, despair. Yet, so long as Australian writing can produce the ompressed intelligence found in these pages, we will still be a 'Lucky Country' ...lucky because we still have authors able to prick our conscience and to make us think about causes that really matter.

—The Hon. Michael Kirby, AC, CMG