New YA: Introducing Sara Haghdoosti and Sunburnt Veils

Posted on 18 June 2020 by Jo Case

We’re delighted to officially announce the acquisition of ANZ and UK rights to Sara Haghdoosti‘s YA debut novel, Sunburnt Veils, a ‘love story with a hijabi twist’, which Wakefield Press will publish in March 2021.

Sunburnt Veils is a smart, funny, character-based exploration of Islamophobia through a heroine who’s the kind of girl who reads at parties, but pushes herself to take a visible stand after a fellow student calls in a bomb threat on her first day of university, after she leaves a bag in a lecture theatre to take a phone call.

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POETRY SPOTLIGHT: ‘The Calling’ by Geoff Goodfellow

Posted on 12 June 2020 by Maddy Sexton

This week, the poetry spotlight shines once again on award-winning poet Geoff Goodfellow. This week’s poem comes from Waltzing with Jack Dancer: A slow dance with cancer. The collection was written by Geoff in the aftermath of his diagnosis with throat cancer, and chronicles his experiences with treatment, hospitals, and the Big C.

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GUEST POST: Ed Pegge on star power

Posted on 10 June 2020 by Maddy Sexton

Hilarious, charming and self-effacing, meet Edmund Pegge, one of Australia’s most prolific supporting actors.

Travelling between England and Australia and working on stage, in film and on television for over fifty years, Ed Pegge knows all the tricks and all the trials of a working actor’s life.

In this guest post, Ed writes about the nuances of fame, and the benefits of taking a brief rest every now and again from being a star.

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POETRY SPOTLIGHT: ‘Sings Else’ by Jill Jones

Posted on 5 June 2020 by Poppy Nwosu

This week’s Poem of the Week comes from Jill Jones’ collection Dark Bright Doors, poetry that has been described as having ‘unsettling mystery and beauty’ by Barry Hill from the Australian. This book was shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor Prize in the 2011 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.

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GUEST POST: Stephen Orr on Auschwitz, guilt, and responsibility

Posted on 4 June 2020 by Maddy Sexton

What right do I have to talk about this place? What do I know about it? How much can I feel, can I see and smell and hear the suffering?

These are the questions author and teacher Stephen Orr asked himself after visiting the remains of the Auschwitz prison camp. In this guest post, Stephen writes of the importance of feeling pain that is not necessarily yours, and of remembering what has happened in the past as a way of improving the future.

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DEBUT AUTHOR JOURNAL: How I got a Literary Agent!

Posted on 3 June 2020 by Poppy Nwosu

As we launch this new blog series in 2020, Poppy Nwosu is the published author of two young adult contemporary novels, Making Friends with Alice Dyson and Taking Down Evelyn Tait. Yet back in 2018, she had just signed her first publication contract for her debut book, and she really had no idea what the future might bring.

This collection of blog posts (originally written by Poppy between March 2018 and March 2019) chronicles her experience during that strange year of limbo between signing a contract and seeing her first book released into the world by Wakefield Press.

For today’s post, Poppy speaks about how she found a literary agent.

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POETRY SPOTLIGHT: ‘Television Flickers’ by Bel Schenk

Posted on 29 May 2020 by Poppy Nwosu

Today we are focusing on a different form of poetry, with a verse novel written by poet Bel Schenk. Our Poem of the Week is ‘Television Flickers’ from her book Every Time You Close Your Eyes. This verse novel features a series of short poems that, when strung together, paint a vivid picture of the North American blackouts of 1977 and 2003.

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AUTHOR GUEST POST: Wendy Scarfe on revisiting the past

Posted on 27 May 2020 by Poppy Nwosu

In this special guest post, Wendy Scarfe talks about her experiences writing A Mouthful of Petals with her late husband, Allan Scarfe.

A Mouthful of Petals is a nonfiction account of three years working in an Indian village in the early 1960s. Previously published, it became a minor classic, and has since been re-released by Wakefield Press. This new edition includes an account of Wendy Scarfe’s return trip to Sokhodeora during a famine in the late 1960s, and how those who live in Bihar state fare in the early twenty-first century.

‘It describes with warmth, sympathy and occasional near-despair, the life of an Indian village from the inside’ – Nancy Cato

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POETRY SPOTLIGHT: ‘Reynard’s Raid’ by Jude Aquilina

Posted on 22 May 2020 by Poppy Nwosu

Poetry really is for every person and every age, as today’s Poem of the Week shows. Our weekly poetry spotlight is shining on children’s poetry book Tadpoles in the Torrens, a poetry anthology edited by Jude Aquilina.

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DEBUT AUTHOR JOURNAL: Receiving a publishing contract!

Posted on 20 May 2020 by Poppy Nwosu

As we launch this new blog series in 2020, Poppy Nwosu is the published author of two young adult contemporary novels, Making Friends with Alice Dyson and Taking Down Evelyn Tait. Yet back in 2018, she had just signed her first publication contract for her debut book, and she really had no idea what the future might bring.

For today’s post, Poppy speaks about how it feels to finally receive a publishing contract (and what you should do next).

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