Author Archives: Maddy Sexton

An interview with: Layla Moseby Read, work experience student

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Layla Moseby-Read, a year 10 student at Scotch, recently completed a week of work experience at Wakefield Press. Layla comes from a strong publishing background; her dad’s book, Dear Grandpa, Why?, was published by Wakefield Press earlier this year.

Layla Moseby Read, work experience student

What is the first book you ever read?

The first children’s book I ever read properly myself was called A Year on Our Farm by Penny Matthews. I had actually won the book at school and I think that I was about five or six years old when read it. The first sort of novel that I can remember reading was Geronimo Stilton Christmas Catastrophe by Elisabetta Dami.

What attracted you to doing work experience at Wakefield Press?

I wanted to do work experience at Wakefield Press because I have always had a keen interest in English, and for as long as I can remember I have loved to read. At the start of this year I had to complete a test called the Morrisby test that assesses all of your strengths and weaknesses through a variety of different investigations. It collaborates all of the results and gives you a few ideas around potential career options that you would suit. For me my number one suggestion was an editor so I wanted to get a bit                       more of an idea about this job and if I wanted to pursue it in the future, and that’s why I chose Wakefield Press.

At the end of your work experience, what are your thoughts about working in publishing?

I really enjoyed doing work experience here and I do think that it is one of my higher ideas for a career. I really liked the environment that is associated with editing and publishing and how relaxed yet productive Wakefield Press is. This sort of flexible and strong work ethic really suits me, and I like the idea of working in a job like one at Wakefield Press. If I did go into a career to do with publishing there are so many different jobs within publishing and I think that this would help me to get on the right track but not have to be locked down into a specific role just yet.

Do you think boys read differently from girls? If so, how? If not, why do you think so many people believe that?

I think that boys and girls don’t necessarily read differently but there are different expectations for books that they should read. There are definitely books that are specifically aimed at each gender and I think this impacts the way boys and girls read. In our society it is typically thought that girls read more romance or classics whereas boys are more into the action and adventure side, but this is not necessarily true. So, I don’t think that boys and girls read differently but just they read different types of books.

 

What’s the last book you read for fun? What was fun about it?

The last book I read for fun was Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and it was about a middle age lady suffering from a mental health issue. I believe that it was a ‘fun’ book for me to read because it was really intriguing and there was this big mystery throughout the entirety of the book. This drew me in and kept me hooked the whole time. It is also something a bit different to my typical reading style so I enjoyed the unpredictability and uniqueness about it.

What’s the last book you read and hated? What did you hate about it?

I can’t remember ever reading a book and hating it but I do remember starting the book Maze Runner and disliking it enough to not finish it. It’s not that it was written badly it’s just that it’s not really my preferred style and genre. It was also a bit unrealistic and incorporated too much science fiction to suit me. I prefer books that are true-to-life or that are partially based on past events.

How do you find out about books you want to read?

To find books that I want to read I either choose books that were suggested to me by friends or family members, or I take my time browsing the library or bookstore reading the blurbs of books to find one that I think sounds good. My mum is often the main way I find out about new books because she reads quite often and knows what sort of books I like and enjoy reading.

Name a book or books that changed the way you think- in any way at all, large or small.

When I was around 12 I read the Once series and this really opened my eyes to how horribly innocent people were treated in WWII. By reading about what Jewish people went through, it made me realise again how lucky I am to not be faced with that much hardship or distress in my life.

Based on what you see around you, do you think teenagers read more or less than they used to?

I think that there are quite a few teenagers that still do read a lot but because many different influences, like technology, it’s not as much as what it used to be. I believe that not everyone has to love reading or read every day just that they have to be able to read quite extensively and understand what they are reading. Reading is still in the school curriculum so I believe that most teenagers still read books even if it is the one that is assigned to them in class.

Who is your favourite author and why?

I don’t really specifically have a favourite author and it really changes the older I get. A few years ago I really enjoyed Robyn Bavati’s books and although I still, do my reading style has matured. If I had to pick an author now it would probably be Sunni Overend because her books are enjoyable to read and I think that they have a good plot line.

If you were banished to a desert island and could take three books with you, what would they be and why?

I would probably take Pirouette by Robyn Bavati, Animal Farm by George Orwell and The Dangers of Truffle Hunting by Sunni Overend. Pirouette has been one of my favourite books for a long time and it is a pretty easy book to read and that is what I like about it. Both Animal Farm and The Dangers of Truffle Hunting are books that haven’t read yet but have wanted to for a long time. I have read other books by Sunni Overend, so I think that I will enjoy this one, and Animal Farm is a classic, with an allegorical style that interests me.

Want to complete your work experience at Wakefield Press?

Email Maddy to get the ball rolling.

‘There is no finality in human progress’: On Mary Lee

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Wakefield Press intern Claire Morey recently graduated from the University of Adelaide with Honours in History. While she was here, she read and reviewed Denise George’s Mary Lee: The life and times of a ‘turbulent anarchist’ and her battle for women’s rights. Natasha Stott Despoja, who launched the book this month, said it should be in every classroom in every South Australian school. Read the review to see if Claire agrees!

Mary Lee: ‘There is no finality in human progress’

In this book, Denise George offers us the wonderful story of women’s suffrage campaigner Mary Lee. Enshrined in a bronze bust outside Government House in 1994, Lee has often been forgotten from Adelaide’s early history, which has long been dominated by the colonial men whose names adorn the city streets. One hundred years before the bust was constructed, Lee spearheaded the campaign for women’s suffrage and sought to improve the rights of all South Australian women, especially those who were considered destitute.

The book begins with a thorough background into Lee’s Protestant working-class upbringing in Northern Ireland where ‘famine, starvation, disease, poverty and death marked her formative years’. Due to the dire situation wrought by the Great Potato Famine, increasing revolutionary sentiment in 1840s Ireland, and Lee’s basic education (even that rare for a woman of her class), she set out to pursue a long life of social justice to improve the rights of the working class and women.

“famine, starvation, disease, poverty and death marked her formative years”

Before Lee arrived in Adelaide as a 59-year-old widow, she lived in Cambridge and later London with her husband George Lee and their children. Shocked by the lack of education for young women in London, she opened The Young Ladies Educational Institute in Hammersmith in 1860. Here, she taught girls literature, history, geography, natural science, language and religion in order for them to seek the same professions as young men. Despite the success of the school, tragedy struck when Lee’s son, Ben, who had recently moved to Adelaide, wrote home about his tuberculosis diagnosis in the late 1870s. So began Lee’s journey to South Australia with her daughter Eve in November 1879 aboard the Orient.

In South Australia, Lee not only advocated for female suffrage, but she also campaigned for the rights of all disenfranchised South Australians. She was shocked by the poverty and prostitution that ravaged the inner city, and as part of The Social Purity Society she helped to raise the age of consent for women. She travelled to countless country towns advocating the rights of both the impoverished rural working-class and women. Likewise, she despaired for the position of Indigenous people and the mentally ill in South Australia.

Her founding role in the Women’s Suffrage League and her controversial position as an outspoken foreign widow pushed her into a long and spiteful war with the press and much of Adelaide society. In part due to her strong Primitive Methodist faith, which was known for its forward-thinking social justice causes, Lee was a revolutionary who despised the conservative colonists in Adelaide. Reacting to British Prime Minister Gladstone’s opposition to female suffrage, Lee declared: ‘Dear old England swathed and mummified in centuries of tradition and prejudice … Will not, cannot, a young vigorous nation create its own precedent?’

‘Will not, cannot, a young vigorous nation create its own precedent?’

Despite the considerable opposition to women’s suffrage, Lee persisted in her constant campaigning efforts, all the while receiving no wage or benefits. In 1894 when South Australian women gained the right to vote and be elected to sit in parliament, the first place in the world to achieve both reforms, Lee found herself in dire circumstances with no money, deteriorating health, and few remaining children to come to her aid.

George begins the epilogue with a quote by Lee – ‘There is no finality in human progress’ – particularly significant, as the revised Commonwealth Franchise Act (1902) allowed women the right to vote, but prevented any Indigenous Australian, Asian, African or Islander the same freedom. George’s book is a fascinating, well-researched, and touching tribute to one of the most important women in our local and global history.

Perhaps most moving is the way George connects Lee’s remarkable life and achievements to the struggles of women in the contemporary Western world today. In the era of the #MeToo movement, when many women continue to be denied their basic rights to gender equality and Western governments are still largely dominated by men, Mary Lee’s remark is just as pertinent as it was in 1893: ‘What is democracy? A government of the people, for the people, by the people. How can a government of men, for men, by men, be a democracy?’

Mary Lee: The life and times of a ‘turbulent anarchist’ and her battle for women’s rights is available in all good bookshops – and at our bookshop at 16 Rose Street, Mile End (or online).