'Richard Flanagan: New Critical Essays is the first collection of critical writing on Flanagan’s fiction, featuring 12 essays from leading Australian, European and North American scholars.

'From his early historical writing to his emergence as a global writer of literary fiction, Tasmania has always been at the centre of Flanagan’s work. Of his six novels, four are explicitly concerned with Tasmania and smaller surrounding islands.

'This collection examines the themes of ‘islandness’, the historical and geographical factors that have shaped Tasmanian identity, present in Flanagan’s work; the Tasmanian tradition of oral storytelling and the effect that it has had on Flanagan’s writing; and Flanagan’s treatment of the racial other. Together they offer new insights into a determinedly regional writer, and the impact that he has had on Tasmanian, Australian, and world literature.' (Publisher's abstract)