{"id":4104,"date":"2020-11-25T14:39:24","date_gmt":"2020-11-25T04:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/?p=4104"},"modified":"2020-11-25T14:59:58","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T04:29:58","slug":"wakefield-acquires-ya-novel-allayne-webster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/2020\/11\/wakefield-acquires-ya-novel-allayne-webster\/","title":{"rendered":"Wakefield acquires YA novel from critically acclaimed Adelaide author Allayne Webster"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Wakefield<\/a><\/p>\n

We’re delighted to officially announce the acquisition of world rights to Allayne Webster’s young adult fiction novel, That Thing I Did<\/em>, which Wakefield Press will publish in March 2022.<\/h1>\n

That Thing I Did<\/em> is a rollicking road trip with a serious core, exploring issues like the dark side of social media use, teen sexuality and consent, superficiality and authenticity, mental health and friendship.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Told by 17-year-old Taylor Kennedy, it\u2019s the madcap tale of five misfits (and a handful of spooks) on an Adelaide-to-Mt Gambier road trip, in a repurposed hearse \u2026 with the mission to fulfil mouthy grandmother Daisy’s dying wish to see her long-lost husband, Errol.<\/p>\n

\n

\u2018I\u2019m thrilled that Allayne Webster is joining our YA list,\u2019 says YA publisher Jo Case. \u2018I\u2019ve long been an admirer of her work, and this hilarious, subversively smart story has been a hit in-house already, attracting a cohort of early fans. We\u2019re looking forward to sharing it with an audience.\u2019<\/h1>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u2018Set in Adelaide\u2019s northern suburbs, journeying along the coastline to Mount Gambier and back, this novel sings with the authentic, sardonic-edged outsider teen voice that Allayne employed so brilliantly in her critically acclaimed YA novel, The Centre of My Everything<\/em>, with an affecting blend of vulnerability and grit. You can taste the chips from the local corner shop, visualise the RSL fancy-dress party the gang stumbles into on the road, and feel the ache of the characters\u2019 underlying dilemmas, while enjoying their chemistry.\u2019<\/p>\n

Allayne is author of eight books, the recipient of three Arts grants, a twice CBCA Notable and AFAL shortlisted author, also listed in the Davitts, Inkys, and Speech Pathology Awards. Allayne is published in Sweden and Russia, and is a SA Premier’s Reading Challenge Ambassador.<\/p>\n

‘I’m absolutely thrilled to be working with Wakefield Press to bring readers a laugh-out-loud young adult comedy set in South Australia,\u2019 says Allayne. \u2018A quintessential Aussie tall story, this gloriously twisted yarn was so much fun to write and I hope readers will soon be snorting back tears of laughter. Maybe it should come with a warning: Don’t Consume in Public.’<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The novel was acquired at Wakefield Press by Jo Case, YA publisher, who read the manuscript after receiving it via agent Jane Novak.<\/strong><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’re delighted to officially announce the acquisition of world rights to Allayne Webster’s young adult fiction novel, That Thing I Did, which Wakefield Press will publish in March 2022. That Thing I Did is a rollicking road trip with a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[761,759],"tags":[780,922,903,905,906,923],"class_list":["post-4104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-releases","category-young-adult","tag-loveozya","tag-allayne-webster","tag-australian-ya","tag-new-title-acquisitions","tag-publishing","tag-that-thing-i-did"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4v1Of-14c","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4104"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4117,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4104\/revisions\/4117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}