BEHIND THE BOOKS: Jesse Pollard on Typesetting
Reply
Author Archives: Maddy Sexton
SNEAK PEEK: ‘Red Sea’ by Emma Ashmere
Emma Ashmere’s recently released collection of short stories, Dreams They Forgot, is an exploration of illusion, deception, and quiet acts of rebellion.
Undercut with longing and unbelonging, absurdity and tragedy, thwarted plans and fortuitous serendipity, each story offers glimpses into the dreams, limitations, gains and losses of fragmented families, loners and lovers, survivors and misfits, as they piece together a place for themselves in the imperfect mosaic of the natural and unnatural world.
Read on for the short story ‘Red Sea’, an extract from Dreams They Forgot.
Continue reading
THE BOYS FROM ST FRANCIS: An interview with Harold Thomas
In 1945, Anglican priest Father Percy Smith brought six boys from their Northern Territory home to an Adelaide beach suburb. There, they became the first boys of St Francis, a place that would house 50 such boys over 11 years. Some were sent, with the blessing of their mothers, to gain an education. Others were members of the Stolen Generations.
In their interviews with Ashley Mallett, many of these men recall Father Smith’s kindness and care. His successors, however, were often brutal, and the boys faced prejudice in a wider world largely built to exclude Indigenous Australians. The Boys from St Francis is a multi-layered tale of triumph against the odds – using the early building blocks of education and sporting prowess. Many of them went on to become fiercely effective advocates for Aboriginal causes, achieving significant progress not just for themselves, but for Aboriginal people, changing their world for the better.
In this edited extract, Harold Thomas, designer of the iconic Aboriginal flag, speaks about his time as a boy of St Francis House, and his career as an artist.
POETRY SPOTLIGHT: ‘fiona & the snow queen’ by Ali Whitelock
Our spotlight shines once again on Ali Whitelock, this time featuring a poem from her first collection published by Wakefield Press, and my heart crumples like a coke can.
‘Ali Whitelock writes a poetry of excoriating tenderness. Whitelock is Bukowski with a Glaswegian accent and a nicer wardrobe.’
– Mark Tredinnick, poet and author of The Blue Plateau, The Little Red Writing Book, Blue Wren Cantos, The Lyre Bird & Other Poems
POETRY SPOTLIGHT: ‘Diagram & Leaf’ by Aidan Coleman
This week’s poetry spotlight shines on Aidan Coleman’s ‘Diagram & Leaf’, from his recently published collection Mount Sumptuous.
‘This is an outstanding volume of poetry. It is wonderfully original and deliciously complex. Its intellectual pirouettes and cutbacks are a pleasure to follow, always offering an incredibly agile and aesthetically stimulating journey.’ – Lachlan Brown
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.
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
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 as a journey book, historical fiction, a study of motherhood, a detective novel, and a romantic tale all rolled into one.
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.
