This week, guest reviewer Ben Sando gives his impressions on the combined works of Peter Bakowski and Ken Bolton, including their most recent poetry collections Waldo’s Game and On Luck Street.
Ben Sando is an exhibiting artist based in Adelaide – mostly painting, mostly abstract – but has also worked with manipulated photographic images and made performance and installation work. His critical writing has appeared in various magazines, most notably a review of the Adelaide Biennial in Art Monthly and a major article on the photography of Ian North.
Saturday is an exciting day for us at Wakefield, as it’s the first day of Adelaide Writers’ Week, every local bibliophile’s week of bliss.
It’s even more special because we have two authors in the tents this year, with Mike Ladd kicking off proceedings Saturday morning, and Ken Bolton joining in on the fun on Tuesday. Aside from those on the programs, we also have plenty of authors chairing events: Nicholas Jose, Peter Monteath, Cath Kenneally and Peter Burdon, with Louise Nicholas reading poetry, too. What a good Wakefield crew!
Writers’ Week has been around for a long time, and for many of us it’s hard now to remember our first sessions. From its beginnings as a festival specifically for writers in 1960, it gradually broadened to become a place for readers and writers alike.
A quick poke around the interwebs dredges up a few of the old programs, for anyone feeling nostalgic! —
Clockwise from top left: the programs from this year, 1962, 1996, 1970, 1976, 1980, 2015, 2016 and 2014.
And, look, this is completely off topic, but it feels like a Velvet Underground kind of day, so I’ma share. Maybe there’s a comparison with bibliophiles looking for a hit. Maybe that’s a complete stretch …
