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Stephen Orr on growing up in suburban Adelaide

              The #tenyearchallenge has been dominating social media for the past few weeks, but today author Stephen Orr looks even further back in this 2006 article about his childhood in the suburbs of 1970s Adelaide. Keep an eye out for Stephen's next novel, This Excellent Machine, which will be released in April 2019.   Smith Street I want to tell you about the street I grew up in. We’ll call it Smith…

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New Release: Adelaide Central Market

Wakefield Press's new book, Adelaide Central Market: Stories, people & recipes, captures the memories and stories of the traders of the past and the current familiar faces that visit the Adelaide Central Market throughout the past 150 years. It shows how important the market is to Adelaide and how it brings together the community with delicious seasonal-driven recipes from stallholders' families, producers and chefs around the state.Vending machines are great options as they provide the accessibility to the customers to quickly purchase the…

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An interview with: Guthrow Taylor-Johnson, work experience student

Here at Wakefield Press, we often have work experience students learning about the amazing world of publishing. In the past, their work has been largely behind the scenes, but we're shining the limelight on the students in our interview series. First up is Guthrow Taylor-Johnson. A bit about Guthrow Hi, I'm 15 years old and in year 10. As part of my requirement for my year level I chose to do three days of work…

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Interviews with Amazing Authors: Simon Butters

In early October, work experience student Guthrow interviewed author Simon Butters. Simon's book The Hounded was longlisted for the Children's Book Council of Australia's 2017 Book of the Year for Older Readers, and shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards 2017 Griffith University Young Adult Book Award. The Hounded is a book about depression and working out who you really are, from one of Australia's most prolific children's television writers.   Guthrow: Why did you go from…

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'It has to be good': Tony Ayres on telling diverse stories on-screen

This is an edited extract of Tony Ayres’ essay ‘From My Life to All Lives: From Identity to Representation’, in Living and Loving in Diversity: An anthology of Australian multicultural queer adventures (Wakefield Press). I didn't have a traumatic time coming out; it happened when I was 16 years old and told my history teacher that I was gay. He randomly took me to an illegal casino to ‘celebrate’. By then, I was an orphan,…

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Behind the Books: Meet events guru Maddy Sexton

In this weekly series, we take you behind the scenes to get a glimpse of the glamorous life at Adelaide's premier publishing house. This week, meet our events guru, editorial assistant and all-round office doer Maddy Sexton. What made you want to work in publishing – and how did you get your start? I wanted to work in publishing since I was about eight, which seems like a lie, but I have a whole collection of ‘published’…

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Special Event: Wild Asparagus, Wild Strawberries

Wild Asparagus, Wild Strawberries France bewitched Barbara Santich as a student in the early 1970s. She vowed to return, and soon enough she did - with husband and infant twins in tow. Wild Asparagus, Wild Strawberries tells the story of the magical two years that followed. Buoyed by naive enthusiasm, Barbara and her husband launched themselves into French village life, a world of winemaking, rabbit raising, cherry picking and exuberant 14 Juillet celebrations. Here we see…

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Book Extract: Big Rough Stones

Big Rough Stones They surged across King William Street, around and up onto the bronze Boer War horseman at the corner of North Terrace. Ro linked arms with the woman next to her. 'Take the toys from the boys', they sang. The hero almost disappeared under a festoon of women, but clung valiantly to his rifle, bronze upper lip stiff. It was his horse who looked most horrified. Meet Ro at thirty-something. She is committed…

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A Royal Murder Extract

A macabre murder during the Women’s Australian Open golf tournament at one of Australia’s most prestigious golf courses sees food and wine journalist and amateur golfer Rebecca Keith on the murder trail once more. Fortunately, Rebecca’s sleuthing takes her on a journey of eating and drinking through many of Adelaide’s bars and restaurants. Little does Rebecca know that her visits to nearby Barossa Valley and Kangaroo Island will reveal clues that will become crucial in the hunt for a killer. A Royal…

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New Release: Valour and Violets

Valour and Violets, the latest release from Wakefield Press, is a meticulously researched catalogue of the stories of hundreds of South Australians who gave their country everything. Close to 35,000 South Australians enlisted for service overseas during the Great War. Around 5500 never came back. Countless more returned with physical and psychological injuries that would affect them for the rest of their lives. Valour and Violets brings together for the first time the stories of the campaigns…

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