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POETRY SPOTLIGHT: 'The Jetty' by Kate Llewellyn

This week's poetry spotlight shines once again on Kate Llewellyn's beautiful collection, Harbour. Earlier in the series, Poppy featured Kate's poem 'Frost' from the same collection. It's a calming and quiet celebration of the ordinary beauty of nature (read Poppy's thoughtful post about it here). In a similar vein, this week's feature poem is an intimate and gentle study of creativity and friendship.

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POETRY SPOTLIGHT: 'Two Carolines' by Miriel Lenore

This week's poem comes from Miriel Lenore's collection a wild kind of tune, the third book in her 'pioneer grandmother' series. 'In a wild tale arcing from 1845 to the present, in poetry underpinned by meticulous research, we inhabit settler society with all its attendant joys, hardship and grief as we careen with Caroline through her journey of love, loss and horror into madness.' – Biff Ward, author of In My Mother's Hands

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BEHIND THE BOOK: Valerie Volk and her search for Anna

In a new series on the Wakefield Press blog, we’ve asked authors to write about the background, inspiration, research and work that goes into writing a book. This week, Valerie Volk writes about her search for her distant relative Anna Werner, who in 1889 left the German town of Lewin to search for her son in the distant colonies of Australia. This search culminated in Valerie's novel, In Search of Anna, a story that Valerie describes…

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POETRY SPOTLIGHT: 'Sclerophyll' by Mike Ladd

This week's Poem of the week comes from Mike Ladd's collection Invisible Mending, which features photographs by Cathy Brooks. Invisible Mending ranges across genres including essay, memoir, short story and poetry. Based loosely on the ideas of scarring and healing, Invisible Mending extends from family intimacies to connection and disconnection in the Australian community, environmental damage and repair.

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BEHIND THE BOOK: Anne Black on George Isaacs

In a new series on the Wakefield Press blog, we've asked authors to write about the background, inspiration, research and work that goes into writing a book. This week features Anne Black, author of Pendragon: The life of George Isaacs, Colonial wordsmith. Anne writes about her first encounter with little-known literary icon George Isaacs, and the death certificate that sparked an obsession and a biography.

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POETRY SPOTLIGHT: 'Maslins Beach at Midnight' by Jeri Kroll

Our poetry spotlight shines on Jeri Kroll today, and her lovely collection Workshopping the Heart. This witty, moving and accessible collection gathers poems from six previous books, beginning with Death as Mr Right, which won second prize in the 1982 Anne Elder Award for best first poetry book in Australia. With irony and frankness, Jeri Kroll workshops the complex relationships that individuals establish over the course of a lifetime with friends and family, as well as…

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