Wakefield Press is delighted to announce the acquisition of Australian and New Zealand rights to Jake Dean’s debut collection, Flat Spell, via Martin Shaw of Shaw Literary. Publication of Flat Spell is expected in July 2027.

Find out more about this exciting debut below.

Jake Dean’s stories have been published in Griffith Review, Going Down Swinging, the Guardian, the Saturday Paper, Overland, Kill Your Darlings, Crikey, Surfing World and elsewhere.

In this multifaceted collection, he brings together a selection of previously published and unpublished works that, although different in form and voice, contain a shared sense of haplessness among the characters. The people in these stories are often teetering on the edge, at risk of becoming lost, hoping to find meaning instead.

Jake says, ‘The characters in Flat Spell are all searching for something – a surfable wave, proof they’ve been published in the New Yorker, a father who doesn’t suck – but each knows they’re also missing something crucial.’

Editor Polly Grant Butler was particularly drawn to the dialogue, which feels both true to life and revealing of character. She says, ‘Jake’s protagonists are evocative of a generation out of kilter with the world they were promised, full of relatable figures in less relatable situations. There is weirdness too; some of the stories experiment with surrealism and absurdity, bringing an exciting originality to the collection. Jake is a keen observer of detail, and I can’t wait to work with him to get these stories out into the world.’

On his writing journey, Jake says, ‘I started writing these stories during my lunch breaks in 2020 when COVID was kicking off and our second kid was born (we’ve had a third since), so the path to publication has been completely smooth sailing (lol).

This book contains lots of mostly well-meaning losers who are trying their best but looking for solutions in all the wrong places, and I’m excited to share their exploits – both the weird and the Very Serious – with the world.

I’m inspired by the ocean and the natural world, making art, family, and the ways we simply try to keep our heads above water, so these concerns flow naturally through many of Flat Spell’s stories.

I’m incredibly stoked Polly, Maddy and the award-winning Wakefield Press team share a vision for the collection, and I can’t wait to get cracking on the edits to bring it to life.’

Flat Spell would appeal to readers of Chloe Wilson, Elizabeth Tan and Paul Dalla Rosa or, further afield, to readers of Kevin Wilson and Etgar Keret.