Wakefield Press

14/09/2024

Click the pic for the latest Wakefield Weekly!

A roundup of the past week at Wakefield Press, including events, blog updates, news and reviews.

12/09/2024

Join us for this in-conversation event as part of Nature Festival while arts and culture curator Amber Cronin quizzes photographer Alex Frayne on works featured in his latest Wakefield Press title Distance and Desire.

With an arsenal of cameras, his roving eye examines the exuberance, beauty and broken dreams of a place where both distance and desire conspire to offer the artist a daunting challenge - to visually describe this most paradoxical and baffling of states of South Australia. From the capital to far-flung coasts, from ghost towns to the Mallee, this book demonstrates Frayne at his most ambitious and photographically triumphant.

Head to the link in our bio to book tickets 🌊

11/09/2024

HOT OFF THE PRESS –

Cold War in a Hot Kitchen: A memoir of mid-century Melbourne

By Margaret Ann Spence

The 1950s. Boring? Hardly.
An influx of European refugees, stirrings of feminism, and the threat of a third world war were remaking Australia. As the Cold War chilled, inside a Melbourne house a young girl was caught in the crossfire of domestic conflict amid the clashing political and social values of her autocratic grandmother, her self-denying mother, and her glamorous aunt; three women who presented very different models of womanhood.

Available now 💃

05/09/2024

Lovely to see some of our books on this list, including Stephen Orr's Sincerely Ethel Malley and Margaret Merrilees‘ Big Rough Stones.

Also lovely to see the recommendations of some Wakefield workers, past and present! Thank you Jo Case 💛

Jo Case shares six of her favourite South Australian books of the 21st century, and asks other experts for their top Australian titles.

30/08/2024

HOT OFF THE PRESS —

Julie Blyfield: Chasing a Passion, by Caitlin Eyre and Bronwyn Watson.

Julie Blyfield: Chasing a Passion celebrates the lifework of renowned South Australian jeweller and metalsmith Julie Blyfield and her status as a JamFactory ICON. In 2007, Blyfield became the recipient of the South Australian Living Artist (SALA) Award, one outcome of which was the publication of a monograph on her work written by Stephanie Radok and Dick Richards.

This second volume detailing Blyfield’s prolific artistic career identifies the developments and salient influences in her practice in the 17 years since the publication of the SALA monograph. Although this book particularly focuses on the work made in her home studio following her departure from Gray Street Workshop at the end of 2009, an overview of her earlier practice is included, with the aim of both contextualising and providing insight into the work made by her in the last decade and a half.

Available now 🦋

29/08/2024

For those last minute gift ideas, or that hard-to-find title, we’ll be open 1 pm to 4 pm on Saturday 31 August -the day before Father’s Day!

Come on in and see us! 📚

16/08/2024

Entries to the Wakefield Weekly Writing Competition have been extended! We're looking for writing of any genre responding to the prompt 'plenty of books'.

Find all of the competition details here: bit.ly/3OlSspn

15/08/2024

HOT OFF THE PRESS: Noticing by Jan Andrews

Jan Andrews’ Noticing is a vibrant celebration of life: insights and sparkling moments of bright day - ‘the lapis carpet’ of fallen jacaranda flowers, ‘the evanescent colour’ of Chartres windows, a dancing child. There are also measured reflections on the many rooms of grief, the prospect of death, and the care of an ageing parent: ‘the door to my father is closing.’

Jan has a quick eye for the oddness and humour of animal and human behaviour, from office politics and Jasmine at Newspoll to a boobook owl, a burmese cat, and a squadron of squabbling finches.

Jan Andrews grew up in Melbourne and studied there and in Boston. Teaching was followed by a career in public policy and administration. A lifelong engagement with language and poetry accompanied these travels.

15/08/2024

Join us at the IAF’s August Literary Dinner next Tuesday night, featuring guest speaker Sally Heinrich, discussing her book Local Icons.

When she was young, all Sally Heinrich wanted to do was get away from South Australia and experience the action of far-off places. After years of travelling, Sally came to realise the importance of home, belonging
and cultivating connections to place. She began seeking out the stories of influential South Australians and creating hand-coloured lino prints celebrating their lives and achievements.

Local Icons is a joyful and idiosyncratic collection of some these artworks, along with Sally’s sometimes personal stories. From well-known legends like Anne Wills (‘Willsy’ to all) and a pink-shorted Don Dunstan, Local Icons is a celebration of South Australia and its people.

To book your ticket, click the link in our bio and head to ‘Events’.

14/08/2024

I'm not saying I could take on the Highland Stones, but given I just hauled the bags containing my entire load of Wakefield Press stock-up in one go, I could put in a fair try...

10/08/2024

What a cracking story this is! Barry Nicholls reviews 'Harry Hodgetts: The flawed broker behind Don Bradman’s move to Adelaide' by John Davis.
https://www.footyalmanac.com.au/almanac-book-reviews-harry-hodgetts-the-flawed-broker-behind-don-bradmans-move-to-adelaide-by-john-davisr/
The Footy Almanac Wakefield Press

09/08/2024

Three women. Debbie Johnson, Heather Taylor-Johnson and Matilda Taylor-Johnson at this evening’s launch of Heather’s magnificent new book, ‘Little Bit’.

08/08/2024

Hutt Street

02/08/2024

HOT OFF THE PRESS: Little Bit by Heather Taylor-Johnson

‘She was a good person when she wasn’t drunk.’ Debbie’s earliest memory of her mother is that her mother was not there, but any story of neglect always has two sides.

When Debbie’s daughter, Heather, says she wants to write a book about her upbringing, Debbie begins to string together jagged memories of growing up with Stella, and it’s proving more painful than she could’ve ever imagined.

Part memoir, part biography, part imagination, Little Bit is a story with a third side. Told in the alternating perspectives of Debbie and Stella, Heather writes the story of her mother’s and grandmother’s lives, where addiction is rife and regret is a constant, and where survival for a woman in a man’s world is anything but straightforward. Fiction or nonfiction, this is a book that cannot be categorised and will not be quiet.

$32.95, available in store and online now 📚

01/08/2024

Congratulations to Dominic Guerrera and Lulu Houdini, shortlisted for David Unaipon Award for an Emerging Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Writer. The award is named after David Unaipon, a Ngarrindjeri man who was the first Aboriginal person to be published.

Both Dominic and Lulu are contributors to THE ROCKS REMAIN: BLAK POETRY AND STORY, which Dominic co-edited with . Lulu is joint winner of this year’s Black&Write! Fellowship, also awarded by the State Library of Queensland. Congratulations and good luck to both Dominic and Lulu, two emerging writers to look out for!

31/07/2024

Congratulations to WP author on the shortlisting of Gus and the Missing Boy for the 2024 Ned Kelly Awards! 🎉

29/07/2024

29/07/2024

Author Roanna McClelland answers interesting and probing questions from work experience student Missy about her debut novel, THE COMFORTING WEIGHT OF WATER.

Click the pic to read their conversation in full!

Work experience student Missy interviews author Roanna McClelland about writing and her debut novel, The Comforting Weight of Water.

25/07/2024

BOOK LAUNCH: Join us at the Guildhouse Sturt Street office from 3.45 pm on Monday 29 July to celebrate Marijana Tadijc’s career and the significant contribution she has made to the South Australian urban landscape over the past three decades.

Marijana will offer us personal insights into her conceptual development, inspiration, artistic process and challenges in creating works that are in conversation with place and a public audience, followed by a Q+A with contributing author Marie Falcinella, facilitated by Sian Watson, Producer, Guildhouse Professional Services.

Book your place here: events.humanitix.com/book-launch-art-made-public-marijana-tadic

24/07/2024

ARTIST TALK | We are pleased to invite you to the launch of Art Made Public by longstanding Guildhouse member Mariana Tadić, published by Wakefield Press

⏰ Monday 29 July, 4 – 5pm
📍 Guildhouse, 178 Sturt Street
🥂 Light refreshments provided
🎟 Free, please RSVP: https://events.humanitix.com/book-launch-art-made-public-marijana-tadic

Join us at the Guildhouse Sturt Street office to celebrate Marijana's career and the significant contribution she has made to the South Australian urban landscape over the past three decades.

You will have the opportunity to hear Marijana offer us personal insights into her conceptual development, inspiration, artistic process and challenges in creating works that are in conversation with place and a public audience, followed by a Q+A with contributing author Marie Falcinella and facilitated by Sian Watson, Producer, Guildhouse Professional Services.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Image: Marijana Tadić, in collaboration with Alexis West, Together Woven, 2013, image supplied.

23/07/2024

Sally Heinrich's colourful and playful new book, LOCAL ICONS, is an artistic ode to famous South Australian faces. From legends like Anne 'Willsy' Wills to not-so-well-known faces like Mahomet Allum, LOCAL ICONS is a celebration of South Australia and its people.

Who inspires you? Who do you admire? On Sunday 4 August, from 1.30 pm to 3.30 pm, join Sally at the Woodcroft Library for a special workshop to create your own artwork celebrating your personal icon.

Tickets are $10 each, and can be purchased here: bit.ly/4bXkSQz

18/07/2024

Wendy Sharpe -Many Lives - Elizabeth Fortescues book on my work ..OUT NOW!
We are talking at a Private view of the Salon des Refusés -
"Wendy Sharpe in conversation with Elizabeth Fortescue talking about Many Lives, by Elizabeth Fortescue published by Wakefield Press will also be available for purchase and Wendy will be signing books on the evening."

COME AND JOIN US!

WEDNESDAY 24 JULY 5.30-5.30PM

Join us for an exclusive after-hours viewing of the Salon des Refusés with welcome drinks and canapes and then sit back and enjoy the exhibiting artist Wendy Sharpe in conversation with arts writer Elisabeth Fortescue for a discussion of her work and what inspires this fascinating artist.

COST: $45 (includes exhibition viewing, welcome drink and canapes)

I am delighted to have a work in the Salon des Refusés- Self-Portrait with Improbable Beings

HOPE TO SEE YOU!!

14/07/2024

Gillian Dooley, author of our book ‘Matthew Flinders: The man behind the map’, has been in the English village of Donington for the reburial (strange word) of Matthew Flinders. Gillian emails the 15 copies of the book she had ‘sold in a flash. Wish I’d had more!’.

As the British navigator is reburied with pomp and ceremony in his village church, Aboriginal Australians call for respect for the ‘incredibly brave’ man who made the voyage possible

13/07/2024

Wonderful review by Samela Harris

Alex Frayne’s Distance and Desire is a tome of visual poetry capturing the vastness and diversity of the South Australian landscape.

11/07/2024