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’…
Continue readingIn 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 editor extraordinaire Margot Lloyd. What made you want to work in publishing – and how did you get your start? I actually used to work for a few hours a week at Wakefield when I was a teenager, helping with mailouts and databasing. At that point, I hadn't really considered a career in…
Continue readingWild 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…
Continue readingBig 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…
Continue readingA 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…
Continue readingValour 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…
Continue readingWendy Scarfe's second novel, The Day They Shot Edward, tells a tale of a family in turmoil, set against the political mess of the First World War. Told from the perspective of a nine-year-old Matthew, the narration has an air of innocence, making the horrors of what is to come all the more confronting. About the book: It is 1916. The Australian community is riven over a referendum to conscript more troops for the killing fields of Europe.…
Continue reading'What I say is, a town isn’t a town without a bookstore. It may call itself a town, but unless it’s got a bookstore, it knows it’s not foolin’ a soul.' ― Neil Gaiman In an age of Internet sales a humble bookshop could seem archaic. In a march to digitise and automate, something so small as a bookshop could be considered an afterthought. Yet, those of us who frequent shelves and bookstalls, who know…
Continue readingIt’s difficult to know how to begin talking about a book as beautiful as this. Tracing Australian Dance Theatre’s often tumultuous and always interesting fifty-year history, Fifty contains interviews, archival research, and stunning photography. Did you think I was exaggerating? Read an excerpt below, or find out more about the book here. The beginnings of Australian Dance Theatre were radical, daring and new. The company was created in Adelaide, South Australia in 1965 with a vision to…
Continue readingOne of the things that constantly surprises in this industry, is how little most people actually know about the publishing process. While we'd all like to pretend that the book is written, a wand is waved and then it's ready to hit the shops, the process is actually a little more laborious than that. So here, in the time-honoured tradition of digestible seven-point guides, is Wakefield Press's seven steps of publishing: 1. Write the book Step…
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