This week’s spotlight once again shines on Peter Bakowski and Ken Bolton’s tandem collection Nearly Lunch, this time highlighting the poem ‘Selling Yourself’.
‘A spectrum of individuals, from the naive to the kind, caustic to the stoic, to those who suggest other ways of being – either hopeful, philosophical, grateful or resigned – pleased, though, all of them, that it’s NEARLY LUNCH.’ – Cover blurb
We are thrilled to share this story, and even more thrilled to be publishing a collection of short stories by Stephen later this year. The titular story from the collection, ‘The Boy in Time’, shares its name with the recently announced winner of the 2021 Patricia Hackett Prize (Stephen loves to recycle!), awarded by Westerly magazine. Find that story here.
Stephen has also recently had another experimental short story published in the Saturday Paper. ‘A perfect day for bream’ is a mind-bending piece, blending together two very different stories. Find it here.
Read ‘The Land of the Giants’ below.
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The judges say that ‘this essay is an intriguing re-examination of well-known images that challenges our traditional understandings of them, and our State’s past’.
We are thrilled to be able to republish Stephen’s essay here on the Wakefield Press blog. This essay was originally published in the journal of the Historical Society of South Australia in 2021 (vol. 49).
Continue readingBanner image: S.T. Gill, Going To Work, undated, watercolour, 25 x 33 cm, Canberra, National Library of Australia
Working in the Wakefield bookstore, with hundreds of books laid out before me, I am often in the position to judge the books by their covers, searching for the most interesting looking ones to flick through and sometimes (often) buy. The cover image (shown above) was why I picked this particular book off the shelf, and I was surprised to find that Wakefield’s own Jonny Inverarity had designed it!
In this week’s poetry spotlight, I’ve chosen to feature ‘Farewell to a Colleague’ by Julian Zytnik.
Following this week’s announcement that Jelena Dinić has won the Mary Gilmore Award, it seems fitting we resume our Poetry Spotlight series by focusing on her startling debut collection.
In a special three-part guest series on the blog, John West-Sooby discusses how the book came to be, and the discoveries made along the way. In this third instalment, John examines the specimens collected on the Baudin expedtion.
Read on below.
Continue readingBanner image: Terre De Diemen: Ile Maria. Tombeaux des Naturels, (detail) by Charles-Alexandre Lesueur
We’re pleased to announce the winner of the May WWWC: Amanda Lee! Amanda’s response to the prompt ‘history repeats’ is a story of discovery, of sorts. In ‘Potch’, a woman travels from Canada to Coober Pedy, trying to make sense of her ageing father’s past. But answers, like the opals the miners search for, are harder to come across than it seems.
Read Amanda’s winning entry below.
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The novel centres on frustrated poet Veda Gray, who is offered a Faustian bargain when a wealthy, childless couple invite her to exchange her young son Owen for time to write. Veda struggles with her decision, and against the patriarchal society in which she lives, while also asking herself: what kind of mother would give up her child?
The launch of Bad Art Mother at Melbourne’s Readings Bookshop in Carlton was a resounding success last month. Read on for words from launcher Janine Burke and Literary Agent Jenny Darling.
Continue readingBanner image: Die Hämische (detail), Egon Schiele
In a special three-part guest series on the blog, John West-Sooby discusses how the book came to be, and the discoveries made along the way. In this second instalment, John examines the drawings produced on the Baudin expedtion.
Read on below.
Continue readingBanner image: Terre De Diemen: Ile Maria. Tombeaux des Naturels, (detail) by Charles-Alexandre Lesueur
Drawing on a range of archival sources, the essays presented here offer fresh perspectives on Baudin’s scientific voyagers, their work and its legacy. What emerges is a deeper appreciation of the Baudin expedition’s contribution to the pursuit of science, and of those who pursued it.
In a special three-part guest series on the blog, John West-Sooby discusses how the book came to be, and the discoveries made along the way. In this first instalment, we discover the important role that historical archives played in shedding light on the voyage.
Read on below.
Continue readingBanner image: Terre De Diemen: Ile Maria. Tombeaux des Naturels, (detail) by Charles-Alexandre Lesueur