Category Archives: For fun

Macquarie Dictionary – adjective /doʊp/ (say dohp) 9. (Colloquial) excellent: a dope book; so dope!

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Words are the tits, really. Australian English especially so, as the folks at Macquarie Dictionary will tell you. And now their editor Susan Butler’s got a blog, and it is awesome. Ever wanted to know the difference between a taboo and a derogatory word? Suze has you covered, with colourful examples. Wanna know the history of Aus usage of youse? Ms Butler has the answers.

Not only that, but you also get to vote for the Word of the Year 2013, which I am disproportionately excited about. The ‘Colloquial’ category is amazeballs (–adjective 2.  very astonishing: an amazeballs day out).

Doesn’t get better than that.

Tricks to survive a heatwave …

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The holidays are most definitely over. And we’re into Day Two of the great 2014 heatwave (fingers crossed this is the only one!). We all need a good book to get us through.

Thank goodness for Iola Mathews, then! Chequered Lives is the hottest off-est the press at the minute, and it’s already flying out the door. Telling the story of John Barton Hack and Stephen Hack, and the early days of South Australia, it’s fascinating, incredibly well researched and incredibly well written, too!

Or, if you need a book with a cool name, there’s always Sea Change, our incredibly popular (and beautiful) history of the City of Holdfast Bay. Recently reprinted to keep up with demand, this book is perfect for a slow read on a hot afternoon.

You can almost feel the sea breeze on your face …

And if that doesn’t appeal, we’ve only got one more suggestion.

Can’t go wrong!

Book Fair Success!

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What a weekend it was!

Don Pyatt Hall looked incredible, thanks to Liz, who spent hours sewing bunting (so cool, right?) and finding the perfect decorations.

Then, the books themselves, all marked down and arranged neatly due to the enormous efforts of Trevor, our sales rep extraordinaire, and Jonny, warehouse manager and backbone of all WP’s operations.

But the best part of the whole weekend was the authors! We kicked the weekend off with Rodney Fox’s launch, and that guy can tell a yarn. The hall was in stitches for his speech, then they queued up for ages to get their books signed by the man himself.

Other highlights included Lisa Fabry’s talk on the guilt-free benefits of vegan desserts, which had us all drooling, and Derek Pedley’s explanation of the process behind Dead by Friday — an amazing book and an amazing author. Valerie Volk’s fascinating writing processes were explained, and Jude Aquilina treated us to a couple of readings. Bruce Munday explained all things stone walls and Margaret Merrilees gave an excellent overview of her work, The First Week, while Sharon Kernot explained the processes behind the creation of the world in Underground Road.

And, of course, we left Don Pyatt Hall on Sunday night with a lot less books than we’d arrived with on Friday, already talking about how we’ll do it all next year.

Thanks all for coming, enjoying, giving talks or just sipping wine. It’s lovely to have such a great bunch of people reading and interested in Wakefield titles, and it warms the cockles of our Wakefieldian hearts to know that more than a few of you will be reading our books over the break!

New books, and three sleeps til the fair!

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Almost an IslandThings are ripping along over here at Wakefield Press HQ. We all know that the lead up to Christmas is the busiest time of the year, but this year we decided to challenge ourselves by bringing out a bunch of new books at the same time. Johnny in the warehouse is getting a workout!

First things first: you’ve all had a peek at Janis Sheldrick’s superb Nature’s Line: George Goyder, Surveyor, Environmentalist, Visionary by now, and bought a few copies for Christmas presents (not yet? Don’t worry, let us help you out with that). This one has been flying off the shelves since it arrived late last month.

Then, of course, you’ve all seen Rodney Fox’s joy at the final version of Sharks, the Sea and Me, an extraordinary autobiography about his extraordinary life. This one will be launched at our book fair extravaganza, which is only three sleeps from now.

In the last few days, we’ve also welcomed in stock of Liz Harfull’s Almost an Island: The Story of Robe, which details the history of the Limestone Coast town alongside beautiful images (see the gorgeous cover to the left). There have been a lot of people eagerly awaiting the arrival of this title, with Harfull’s Blue Ribbon Cookbook one of Wakefield’s most popular titles from the last few years, and Australian winner of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, in the Best Easy Recipes category.

Last but certainly not least, there’s also Don Loffler’s Holden Days, the hardback reprint of the latest Holden title from Loffler’s extremely popular series. Something to flick through and think about while the productivity commission rolls on.

Christmas Book Fair Preparations

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Decorations for the 2013 Christmas Book Fair are looking mighty fine, if we do say so ourselves.
We’ve got pretty pinwheels for the kids:

Pinwheels

Some amazing quote boards (wise words, JW Eagan, wise words indeed):

Block quotes

 And these bad boys have been working on their fierce faces:

Sharks

Aren’t they adorable?

All thanks to the creative genius of Liz Nicholson! Only two and half weeks to go!

Untranslatable Words

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In the Garden coverHere’s something fun for your Thursday reading pleasure:

The Huffington Post has put together a list of 11 untranslatable words from other cultures.

With such gems as culaccino (Italian), the mark left on a table by a cold glass, or komorebi (Japanese), the effect of sunlight filtering through trees, this list was made for poets!

May we suggest looking over the article, then settling in with a copy of Miriel Lenore’s In the Garden to capture that komorebi feeling?

In other news, it turns out that the Wakefield aim can be condensed into one word in the Urdu language: goya means ‘the transporting suspensions of disbelief that can occur in good storytelling’. Brilliant.

Divine Vegan De…frosting!

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The cold is well and truly here, so it’s time to shed your summer skin and step into your winter layers. I can think of no better way to weather the worst of it than with a good book (from Wakefield Press, naturally), your fuzziest socks, and an exaggerated portion of a hot dessert. Give your muffin top a proper welcome to winter with this (vegan!) bread and butter pudding, featured alongside heaps of other great recipes in Divine Vegan Desserts by Lisa Fabry, available here.

250-300g good white bread, sliced thinly (about 6-8 slices)
¼c (50g) dairy-free spread
¼c (50g) sugar
½c (80g) raisins or sultanas
¼c chickpea (besan) flour
2 tbsp cornflour
2c (500mL) oat, rice or soy milk

Oven 180˚C/350˚F/Gas 4

1. Grease a glass or ceramic baking dish, about 20cm x 20cm (8” x 8”)
2. Spread each slice of bread thickly with dairy-free spread, reserving a little spread for the top. Cut each slice into four triangles.
3. Place a layer of bread slices, spread side up, in the bottom of the dish, cutting pieces to fit in the gaps. Sprinkle with a tablespoon of sugar and about half the raisins or sultanas.
4. Cover with another layer of bread, another tablespoon of sugar and the rest of the dried fruit.
5. Finish with a layer of bread, overlapping the slices so that the points of the triangles stick up a little – these corners should turn brown and crispy.
6. Mix the chickpea flour and cornflour in a large jug or bowl. Gradually whisk in the milk. Pour the mixture evenly over the bread slices.
7. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour to allow the bread to soak up some of the liquid.
8. Sprinkle the rest of the sugar on top of the pudding and dot with the remaining dairy-free spread.
9. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until crisp and golden brown.

And that’s it! Wait for it to cool to a safe temperature so as to not burn your tongue (I learned that one the hard way), then grab a spoon and kick back. Or share it with friends and family. You know, whichever.