Author Profiles - Jude Aquilina

Jude Aquilina's poetry and short stories have been published in newspapers, anthologies and literary journals in Australia and abroad. Jude has been a guest speaker at numerous writers' festivals, including Adelaide Writers' Week, Canberra Spring Poetry Festival and Penola Arts Festival. She has published two collections of her own poetry: Knifing the Ice (Friendly Street Poets/Wakefield Press 2000) and On a Moon Spiced Night (Wakefield Press 2004). She has also published one coauthored collection, WomanSpeak (Wakefield Press, 2009), co-written with Louise Nicholas,…

Author Profiles - Sharon Kernot

Sharon Kernot worked as a community support worker in a child protection agency in the northern suburbs of Adelaide for eleven years. She has a masters in Creative Writing from the University of Adelaide and a PhD from Flinders University. Underground Road is Sharon Kernot’s first novel. It was shortlisted in the Unpublished Manuscript category of the Adelaide Festival Awards in 2010. Sharon is also the author of a collection of short stories, In the Shadows of the Garden, and one of poetry, Washday Pockets.…

Author Profiles - Rodney Fox

In the summer of 1963, Rodney Fox became famous when he survived a brutal shark attack off a suburban beach. Gathering his courage he returned to the sea, determined to make his living there. He fished for abalone and built the first shark cage. Hollywood came calling. Over five decades Rodney Fox has led hundreds of expeditions to introduce filmmakers, scientists, shark researchers and tourists to one of the world’s great adventures — each endeavour adding grand stories to an exciting life. We asked…

Author Profiles - Derek Pedley

Derek Pedley is a journalist with more than 25 years’ experience at Australian newspapers. He is now engaged in the dark art of daily news production at the Advertiser and adelaidenow.com.au. His work has been shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Award for Best True Crime twice, with Australian Outlaw – The True Story of Postcard Bandit Brenden Abbott shortlisted in 2007, and Dead by Friday shortlisted in 2013. Pedley lives in Adelaide’s far northern suburbs, on the wrong side of the Mullet-Proof Fence.…

Author Profiles - Mag Merrilees

Margaret Merrilees was born and bred in Western Australia but now lives in Adelaide. Her idiosyncratic essays, which combine fiction, history and social commentary, have appeared in Meanjin, Island, Wet Ink and Griffith Review. Margaret is also author of the online serial ‘Adelaide Days’. The First Week won the SA Festival Award for an Unpublished Manuscript at Adelaide Writers’ Week in 2012. Her website is at www.margaretmerrilees.com. We asked Mag a few questions about her new book, The First Week. What’s been the best reaction…

Author Profiles - Janis Sheldrick

Janis Sheldrick is a lifelong resident of Melbourne who has always been strongly attracted to the landscapes of South Australia. She studied philosophy at the University of Melbourne, has a Graduate Diploma in Librarianship, and was awarded a PhD by Deakin University in 2000 for work on George Goyder and Goyder’s Line. Working as an independent scholar, she completed the rest of Goyder's biography in the years that followed. Nature's Line: George Goyder, surveyor, environmentalist, visionary is due…

Divine Vegan De...frosting!

The cold is well and truly here, so it’s time to shed your summer skin and step into your winter layers. I can think of no better way to weather the worst of it than with a good book (from Wakefield Press, naturally), your fuzziest socks, and an exaggerated portion of a hot dessert. Give your muffin top a proper welcome to winter with this (vegan!) bread and butter pudding, featured alongside heaps of other…

The Heaven I Swallowed launches

I know, I know, we've been bad and have neglected this little blog for some time. But we have a good excuse, promise! Recently we launched our new title, The Heaven I Swallowed by Rachel Hennessy. Read all about the launch below, then head over here to purchase a copy yourself!

Behind the Veil – the Deutsch version!

A mysterious box arrived in our office this morning, post-stamped Leverkusen, Deutschland. We soon discovered its contents were none other than five beautifully wrapped books – German editions of the best-seller Behind the Veil by Lydia Laube, published as Hinter Dem Schleier by Drachemond Verlag. The Germans have certainly out-done themselves with their version (left) – a stark contrast to ours (right). Let us know which you like best! Not only do our German counterparts make lovely…

So, you want to build a dry-stone wall?

Beautiful stone was nature's gift to South Australia, and an irresistible building material for early settlers. Many stone walls, without mortar or with no more than mud as glue, have defied gravity and the elements all these years. Or did gravity combine with deft balance to sustain them? In Those Dry-stone Walls: Stories from South Australia's stone age, author Bruce Munday takes us on a journey across the state, exploring the history of SA's dry-stone…