Author Archives: Maddy Sexton

BEHIND THE BOOKS: The Missing Dream Tetra

Posted on by
Reply

‘I was spellbound by this hallucinatory excursion through the uncharted, elusive terrain between unconscious states and wide-awake reality.’ – Robyn Ravlich

Dream Tetras, a collaboration between writer Mike Ladd and artist Cathy Brooks, combines experimental essays by Mike with extraordinary images by Cathy. The essays, which are inspired by snippets of dreams Mike has remembered, embrace randomness and coincidences with waking life. Cathy’s artwork responses are extrapolations of the essays, drawing on her extensive photographic archives and combining drawing, collage, painting and photoshop.

We are pleased now to be sharing a bonus dream tetra, written after the book was published.

Read this bonus content below.

Continue reading →

NEW RELEASE: The Adelaide Art Scene

Posted on by
Reply

The Adelaide Art Scene: Becoming contemporary 1939–2000 is a landmark anthology of new and archival writing on the Adelaide art scene across six decades. Margot Osborne, primary author, commissioning editor and fearless project leader speaks with Wakefield Press’s fearless leader Michael Bollen about Adelaide’s art scene – its past, present, and future.

Weighing in at 740 pages, and 2.88 kg, this landmark tome ‘could be considered Adelaide contemporary art’s Rosetta Stone’, says John Neylon of InReview.

Read Michael and Margot’s discussion below.

Continue reading →

GUEST POST: Robbie Brechin on Philip White

Posted on by
Reply

Blood on the Typewriter, Robbie Brechin’s ‘spiky, gossipy, loving and richly insightful’ biography of iconic wine writer and eccentric Philip ‘Whitey’ White, laid bare a life lived large.

Son of an Old Testament manic street preacher, Philip left home and dove headlong into bohemia when he was 17, and was in Paul Kelly’s first band, The Debutantes, among other adventures.

In this guest post, Robbie and Philip reignite their partnership, reminiscing on Philip’s life and health, and closing old wounds.

Continue reading →

ANNOUNCEMENT: Nunga Anthology, A new opportunity for First Nations creatives

Posted on by
2
(Alt image ID: white text on an abstract background of swirling colour. Text reads: Announcing a new opportunity for First Nations creatives. Nunga Anthology: Poetry, short stories, graphic stories. Edited by Karen Wyld and Dominic Guerrera. Submissions close Monday 18 September 2023. For more information, visit www.wakefieldpress.com.au/blog)

(Alt image ID: white text on an abstract background of swirling colour. Text reads: Announcing a new opportunity for First Nations creatives. Nunga Anthology: Poetry, short stories, graphic stories. Edited by Karen Wyld and Dominic Guerrera. Submissions close Monday 18 September 2023. For more information, visit www.wakefieldpress.com.au/blog)

Editors Dominic Guerrera and Karen Wyld invite Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander storytellers to submit poetry, fiction and graphic stories for an upcoming Wakefield Press anthology (currently untitled). This anthology is supported by a grant from the Australian Council for the Arts.

Dominic and Karen envision that this collection will be a boundless chorus of profundity, intuity, and sovereignty, with works writing back to the archives, staunchly calling for justice, listening to ancestors or speaking to future kin.

Through this anthology, Wakefield Press’ vision is to nurture Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander writers, supporting them to grow careers with longevity.

Continue reading below for submission details and key information.

Continue reading →

GUEST POST: Susan Arthure, Rage and Resistance

Posted on by
Reply

The History Council of South Australia Wakefield Press Essay Prize is awarded to the author of an essay that deals substantially with some aspect of South Australian history. This year’s prize was awarded to Susan Arthure, for her essay ‘Rage and Resistance: Remembering the Women of Baker’s Flat’.

The judges of the prize note that the essay is a ‘powerful and thoroughly researched revelation of the Irish women who fiercely defended their homes at Baker’s Flat in the late 1800s. This original research provides a refreshing new insight into the names, lives and circumstances of these often anonymous women, as they successfully contested the power of the dominant male establishment figures. An important new perspective on property rights, gender and the Irish diaspora in South Australian history.’

Susan Arthure is no stranger to the winner’s podium: she won the History Council of South Australia’s Wakefield Press Essay Prize in 2020, for her essay titled ‘Kapunda’s Irish Connections’. This essay was an excerpt from Irish South Australia: New histories and insights, a collection which Susan also edited, along with Fidelma Breen, Stephanie James, and Dymphna Lonergan.

This new essay will be published in an upcoming title from Wakefield Press – Irish Women in the Antipodes: Foregrounded. It is one of 16 essays focusing on the lives, adventures and achievements of Irish women across Australasia, also edited by Susan, Fidelma, Stephanie and Dymphna.

Read Susan’s winning essay below.

Continue reading →