Extract: The Australian War Memorial

In The Australian War Memorial: A century on from the vision, Steve Gower, the highly successful director of the Australian War Memorial from 1996 to 2012, gives a comprehensive account of the development of the Memorial from its inception just over a century ago. The book recounts the many challenges in establishing the Memorial and then in developing further its galleries and displays, the extensive collection, associated events and the overall supporting facilities. It also goes behind…

ANZAC Day titles for the historian in us all

ANZAC Day is a solemn reminder to generations young and old of the pain and loss of war. But with the number of surviving veterans declining, it's important for younger generations to keep their memory alive. With that in mind, here are five historical titles to read this ANZAC Day. Don Longo, Pens and Bayonets: Letters from the Front by soldiers of Yorke Peninsula during the Great War Pens and Bayonets gives voice to the young Australia…

Book Review: Making Friends with Alice Dyson

Our intern Jessica Hartman reviews debut author Poppy Nwosu's Making Friends With Alice Dyson, the first in Wakefield Press's dedicated Young Adult Fiction list led by Margot Lloyd. Whilst reading this text I have fallen in love with, become exasperated by, and completely related to Alice Dyson, the protagonist Poppy Nwosu has so artfully created. The text delves into issues of social anxiety, peer pressure and bullying, self-identity, the feeling of being trapped on a…

An Interview with: Claire Morey, Intern

Meet our wonderful intern, Claire, who recently completed her Honours degree in history (and then plunged right into a two-week stint at Wakefield Press!). Claire talks about the importance of self-aware history writers and the impact university has on reading habits. What is the first book you ever read? One of the first novel-sized books I can remember reading is probably Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. It seems to be the most…

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…

An interview with: Layla Moseby Read, work experience student

Layla Moseby-Read, a year 10 student at Scotch, recently completed a week of work experience at Wakefield Press. Layla comes from a strong publishing background; her dad's book, Dear Grandpa, Why?, was published by Wakefield Press earlier this year. What is the first book you ever read? The first children’s book I ever read properly myself was called A Year on Our Farm by Penny Matthews. I had actually won the book at school and…

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…

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…

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…

Behind the Books: Meet publicist Ayesha Aggarwal

In this 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 gung-ho publicist (with a side in sales!) Ayesha Aggarwal. What made you want to work in publishing – and how did you get your start? I've always been an avid reader with a love of stories. I was the kid that always had to be told to put my book down…