Wakefield Press is an independent publishing company based in the

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

suburb of

Mile End, South Australia Mile End is an inner western List of Adelaide suburbs, suburb of Adelaide, located in the City of West Torrens, around 2 kilometres from the Adelaide city centre. It has a census area population of 4,413 people (2011). Much of the suburb is resid ...

. They publish around 40 titles a year in many genres and on many topics, with a special focus on

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

n stories. Originally founded in 1942, the publisher celebrated its 30th

anniversary An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded. Most countries celebrate national anniversaries, typically called national days. These could be the List of national independence days, date of independen ...

under its current management and name in 2019.

History

A publishing company under the name The Wakefield Press was founded in 1942 by Adelaide bookseller Harry Muir (1909–1991), owner of Beck Book Company Limited in

Pulteney Street Pulteney Street is a main road which runs north-south through the middle of the eastern half of the Adelaide city centre, in Adelaide, South Australia. It runs north-south from North Terrace, through Hindmarsh and Hurtle Squares, to South ...

. Beck Book Company, in Ruthven Mansions, was a well-known bookshop, described as "once the city's outstanding second-hand bookstore", and also known as Beck's Bookshop, Beck's Bookstore, Beck's Book Shop, or simply Beck's.PDF
/ref> Muir's intention was to publish small, historical

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

s which he believed would otherwise go unread. The company's first publication was ''A Checklist of Ex-Libris Literature Published in Australia'', owing to Muir's interest in

bookplate An , also known as a bookplate (or book-plate, as it was commonly styled until the early 20th century), is a printed or decorative label pasted into a book, often on the front endpaper, to indicate ownership. Simple typographical bookplates are ...

s. The press operated out of the bookshop from the 1940s to 1960s. In the 1980s, the

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

re-established the name as Wakefield Press, as part of the state's

sesquicentenary An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded. Most countries celebrate national anniversaries, typically called national days. These could be the date of independence of the nation or the adoption o ...

(150-year anniversary) celebrations, and a series of histories was published. As proprietor of the monthly cultural magazine the ''

Adelaide Review ''The Adelaide Review'' (AR) was a monthly print arts magazine and dynamic website in Adelaide, South Australia. It was first published in 1984, but gained standing after one of its writers, Christopher Pearson, took it over in 1985. In March ...

'',

Christopher Pearson Chris or Christopher Pearson may refer to: * Chris Pearson (boxer) (born 1990), American boxer * Chris Pearson (politician) (1931–2014), first premier of the Yukon * Christopher Pearson (Vermont politician) (born 1973), Vermont state legislator * ...

bought the name of the Wakefield Press from the South Australian government and operated the company from 1986 to 1988. Michael Bollen, who had worked with Pearson, took over the company in 1989, with Stephanie Johnston buying in a year or so later. They moved to premises in The Parade West,

Kent Town Kent Town is an inner suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. It is located in the City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters local government area. History Kent Town was named for Benjamin Archer Kent (1808 – 25 November 1864), a medical practition ...

, where they stayed until relocation to Mile End in August–September 2014.

Current management

, Wakefield publishes approximately 40 titles each year on a diverse range of topics, including literary and popular fiction, young adult fiction and a range of non-fiction topics. They retain their focus on Australian authors and topics, particularly South Australian. They have a focus on young adult fiction, with editor Margot Lloyd as publisher of the Young Adult list. They successfully launched ''Making Friends with Alice Dyson'' by Adelaide first-time author Poppy Nwosu in 2019. The management team believe that they can take risks that larger companies, being controlled by their marketing departments, cannot take.

Notable publications

*''Ochre and Rust: Artefacts and Encounters on Australian Frontiers'', by Philip Jones, Senior Curator at the

South Australian Museum The South Australian Museum is a natural history museum and research institution in Adelaide, South Australia, founded in 1856 and owned by the Government of South Australia. It occupies a complex of buildings on North Terrace in the cultur ...

, won the non-fiction prize in the inaugural

Prime Minister's Literary Awards The Australian Prime Minister's Literary Awards (PMLA) were announced at the end of 2007 by the incoming First Rudd ministry following the 2007 election. They are administered by the Minister for the Arts.Children's Book Council of Australia A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...

Awards. *''Red Professor: The Cold War Life of Fred Rose'', by Peter Monteath and Valerie Munt, was shortlisted for the

Prime Minister's Literary Awards The Australian Prime Minister's Literary Awards (PMLA) were announced at the end of 2007 by the incoming First Rudd ministry following the 2007 election. They are administered by the Minister for the Arts.Stephen Orr Stephen Orr (born 10 June 1967) is an Australian writer of novels, short stories and non-fiction. His works are set in uniquely Australian settings, including coastal towns, outback regions and the Australian suburbs. His fiction explores the dynam ...

, who has been longlisted and shortlisted for several literary awards over his long career with Wakefield, was longlisted for the

Miles Franklin Literary Award The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–195 ...

for the second time in 2016, for ''The Hands''. Many of Wakefield's books have achieved Australian bestseller status, including ''The Vanished Land'', by Richard Zachariah, ''The Home of the Blizzard'', by Sir

Douglas Mawson Sir Douglas Mawson (5 May 1882 – 14 October 1958) was a British-born Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer, and academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Sir Ernest Shackleton, he was a key expedition leader during ...

, ''One Magic Square'', by Lolo Houbein, ''Behind the Veil'', by Lydia Laube, and ''Your Brick Oven'', by Russell Jeavons. Book series published have included the AATE Interface Series,se:AATE Interface Series
worldcat.org. Retrieved 23 December 2024. the Friendly Street Poets, the Pentageli Papers, South Australian Living Artists (SALA) series and the Wakefield Crime Series.

Partnerships

Wakefield Press have partnerships with a number of cultural and educational institutions in South Australia, and relationships with overseas publishers which market their titles.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Publishing companies established in 1942 Book publishing companies of Australia Culture of South Australia Companies based in Adelaide 1942 establishments in Australia Publishing companies established in 1989 Small press publishing companies