Nedingar: Ancestors by Isobel Bevis and Leanne Zilm, I Am the Mau and other stories by Chemutai Glasheen and Timeless by Kelly Canby have been named Notable books by the Children’s Book Council of Australia. Fremantle Press children’s publisher Cate Sutherland said she was extremely proud of her list and excited to see diverse debut […]

Wayne Bergmann has spent decades fighting for the rights of Traditional Owners – a job that often puts him in the firing line. So what was it like to reflect back on the entirety of his life – from his childhood to today? To write his story, Wayne called on award-winning novelist and longtime colleague […]

Celebrate with us! To make your book-giving ceremony extra special we’ve prepared an online storytime session reading from my book Say Hooray. And it’s coming soon! In the meantime, there are also lots of fun and free activity sheets for you to download for the Bookaburras program!

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Karen Herbert’s latest crime novel Vertigo is part political thriller, part social commentary and wholly entertaining. In this interview she takes us into the themes of her work. The themes in this book are social and political ones. Why did you choose to focus on homelessness and disadvantage? Homelessness is one of the major factors […]

David Whish-Wilson’s I Am Already Dead is a gripping and high-paced noir novel, and book two in the Lee Southern crime series, that will keep fans of True West on the edge of their seat. In this interview he describes the inspiration behind his work. Where did the idea for this this novel come from?  […]

My most recent picture book, When I Can Fly, tells the story of a young boobook owl who yearns for the day when he can visit the city from his home in the bush. From afar, he can see the lights and movement and imagines it to be a magical place – much more interesting […]

Screen Australia and Stan have announced Invisible Boys is one of three new Stan Original series commissioned for production. Based on the book by multi-award-winning Fremantle Press author Holden Sheppard, Invisible Boys will be a ten-episode contemporary drama series set in the regional town of Geraldton, Western Australia. Spoiler alert!  ‘In a small town everyone […]

In When I Can Fly by Katie Stewart, Little Boobook is obsessed by the idea of moving to the city and sets off as soon as he can fly. The city, however, is not what he imagined at all. In this free and fun activity, children are asked to colour in Katie’s images and then […]

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'Colouring-in activity for When I Can Fly'

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From the bestselling Indigenous author and illustrator Helen Milroy comes Crow Baby, a new adventure about a girl with an incredible gift. Crow Baby was born with two spirits – one crow and one human – and in the story she has to use both spirits to save her community. If you had special bird […]

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'Which Bird Are You? Crow Baby Activity Sheet'

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Chemutai Glasheen is a teacher and a sessional academic at Curtin University. She writes fiction for young people and her work is influenced by her upbringing in Africa and the duality of growing up between two different cultures. In this piece Chemutai shares the behind-the-scenes of her first book I am the Mau and Other […]

In The Brothers Wolfe, Elliot is the ambitious brother living for the best deals. Athol is the younger brother looking for his independence. Both have a foot in the family menswear business and their eye on a sexy French woman. It’s the perfect formula for financial ruin and a great read. We asked Steve Hawke […]

Don’t Make a Fuss is in the running to win a Davitt Award for best non-fiction book by a female crime writer. Wendy Davis’s chilling account of how she survived a vicious attack by the soon-to-be Claremont Serial Killer is one of three titles shortlisted in her category with the winners to be announced on […]

Katherine Allum won the 2023 Fogarty Literary Award at the Edith Spiegeltent at ECU on Thursday 25 May. Allum receives a $20,000 cash prize from the Fogarty Foundation and a publishing contract with Fremantle Press for her winning manuscript The Skeleton House. American-born and Allum worked on her novel as part of an MA at […]

In this piece, she tells us more about The Archipelago of Us – her beautifully written and compelling memoir about living and working in Australia’s Indian Ocean Territories, the place where Australia’s identity is laid bare and where our self-image is challenged at every level.   What do you hope readers will get out of […]

Building on its remarkable success to date, Fremantle Press and the Fogarty Foundation are thrilled to announce the extension of their partnership for another six years, securing three additional chances for young WA writers to win the award. The Fogarty Literary Award is a biennial award for Western Australian writers aged 18 to 35. The […]

Colour Me is a children’s picture book that uses the rainbow as a metaphor for our diversity and uniqueness. Ezekiel Kwaymullina and Moira Court use screen prints and evocative prose to deliver a strong message of diversity and inclusion. The Colour Me colouring-in activity sheet encourages individuality, creativity and self-awareness. For more teaching activities, download […]

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'Colour Me Activity'

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This poem contains impressed fibres of typewriter ribbon faded grey ink and expressions of our time. This poem contains. Open me. I am only as fragile as you handle me. Open me out. You shall serve me – I shall serve you well. Open me. Open this poem. It is with sorrow that Fremantle Press […]

Emily Paull’s novel, The Good Daughter, was highly commended in the 2021 Fogarty Literary Award and now this year’s novel The Dreamers is on the shortlist. Emily Paull is a Western Australian librarian, author and book reviewer. In 2019, her debut collection of short fiction, Well-Behaved Women, was published by Margaret River Press. In this […]

Jasper Cliff, is a gothic Australian crime novel which takes us to somewhere near Marble Bar where an ancient storehouse of bad memories ambushes the unaware. Josh was longlisted for the Fogarty Literary Award back in 2019. His novel Banjawarn was co-winner of the 2021 Dorothy Hewett Award and won the 2022 Ned Kelly Award […]

Fogarty Literary Award shortlister Prema Arasu says Australia is on the cusp of developing its own speculative fiction tradition. In their absorbing fantasy novel, The Anatomy of Witchcraft, they take colonial history, gender politics and impressive world-building into the boarding school. Read more from Prema below or, to find out more about how they made […]

In Nock Loose by Patrick Marlborough, a retired Olympic archer and former stuntwoman inspired by Magda Szubanski loses her granddaughter in a fire. This is the beginning point of a wild and lively novel centred around the town’s violent medieval festival, Agincourt. Patrick has been published in many national and international publications, and their novel, […]

Karleah Olson is a PhD candidate at Edith Cowan University, where she is studying Australian coastal gothic literature. It’s clear that her studies have influenced the creativity behind her manuscript A Wreck of Seabirds. The Fogarty Literary Award judges said her tightly written, atmospheric gothic YA novel evocatively captured the natural environment and explored the […]

Katherine Allum describes herself as one of those ‘weird homeschool kids’ who, growing up, was rarely seen without pen, paper and a library book. American-born, she moved frequently during childhood and finished her hybrid education in a small town in the desert. She completed her MA at City, University of London, where she wrote the […]

In Peter Burke’s historical novel, The Silk Merchant’s Son, it’s 1845 and linguistics professor Fabrice Cleriquot is despatched from Lyon to the Swan River Colony in the company of twenty-eight mismatched and misguided Catholic missionaries. In this blog post Peter grapples with how to portray the real people who came before us. Good and bad. […]