Molly Schmidt is a writer and journalist, currently undertaking the Four Centres Emerging Writers Program with Fremantle Press. By day, she works as a radio producer and reporter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, where her passion for storytelling is put to good use. While writing her first manuscript, Molly has been collaborating with Noongar Elders […]

Joy Kilian-Essert, Gerard McCann, Marie O’Rourke and Molly Schmidt are in the running for $15,000 in prize money from the City of Fremantle and a publishing contract with Fremantle Press. All four Western Australian writers were shortlisted for the 2022 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award, which is in its 32nd year. Fremantle Press Publisher Georgia […]

Eleven Western Australian writers are longlisted and in the running for the City of Fremantle Hungerford Award. Judged anonymously, the City of Fremantle Hungerford Award is a biennial prize awarded to an unpublished manuscript by a Western Australian author for a work of fiction, narrative non-fiction or young adult fiction. The winner receives a cash […]

Fremantle Press is delighted to announce that Alex Allan has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer. An experienced publishing professional and business leader, Alex will commence on Monday 17 October 2022, replacing outgoing CEO Jane Fraser. Prior to her current role in higher education, Alex was Group Publisher for Welbeck Children’s Books in the United […]

The Vexatious Haunting of Lily Griffin is the whopper doorstop of never-ending educational resources and inspiration for students ages 8–13. Here some activities for the classroom. Real-life issues/themes The Vexatious Haunting of Lily Griffin is a supernatural fantasy of epic proportions, but wrapped up in all the haunting, high jinks and history lies an earnest and […]

Fremantle Press commenced its reconciliation journey in August with a formal Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), endorsed by Reconciliation Australia. Over the last six months, I have been working with fellow RAP Working Group member Kirsty Horton and Reconciliation Australia to build the framework of our first action plan. Designed to enable our organisation to sustainably […]

Ninni Yabini is a dual language picture book – in Noongar and English – by Cheryl Kickett-Tucker and Tyrown Waigana. We asked Cheryl to tell us more about why she wrote the book and why wants you to read this story with the kids in your life. Why did you write the picture book? I […]

Jayden Boundry has been hard at work behind the scenes recording an online pronunciation guide to support readers of Noongar Boodja Waangkan: First Noongar Words. Launched to coincide with the United Nations International Year of Indigenous Languages, the book was co-created by Jayden, a Wadjak Ballardong Noongar and Badimaya Yamatji man, and Tyrown Waigana, a […]

If you’re like me when you enjoy a thing, you want others to share that joy. The drunk bellowing over your shoulder at the football game might be irksome, but doesn’t it beat being an audience of one? This is particularly so if you’re a writer. Sure, we should write for ourselves (goes the advice), […]

Stellarphant has won Picture Book of the Year in the inaugural Children’s Book Council of Australia Sun Project Shadowers’ Choice Awards. A week to the day from being named a CBCA Honour Book, the little elephant that could has rocketed into the top spot as voted by young readers. James Foley thanked the CBCA for […]

People ask me: Where do your ideas come from?  Each of my books has a different genesis, but often the starting point is me saying,`I want to write a story that does X’.  Sometimes the inspiration is no more than an image or scene that sparks in my brain. Or it might be a big […]

It is with much sadness that Fremantle Press acknowledges the passing of Binjarib Nyoongar woman Louise K. Hansen. Her memoir, Smashing Serendipity: The Story of One Mooorditj Yorga will be published with Fremantle Press in February 2023. In what turned out to be the final week of her life, Louise signed off on her book […]

It’s 17 years since Dianne Wolfer and Brian Harrison-Lever’s award-winning and acclaimed picture book for older readers was released. And it’s 80 years since the Kokoda Track battles it depicts took place. Published on 30 July 2005 and set in 1942, Photographs in the Mud is told from the point of view of two soldiers, […]

My omnibus (best word ever), The Vexatious Haunting of Lily Griffin grew out of my first middle reader novel Lily in the Mirror (CBCA Notable 2017 – just saying). Lily is a character that appeared one day and spoke to me, I felt like she was whispering in my ear. Don’t judge. Then she wrapped […]

Social media assets available to download here. A3 posters available to download here. A1 posters available to download here. For more resources, including the Noongar pronunciation guide, click here.

Patsy Millett, the author of Inseparable Elements: Dame Mary Durack was the guest speaker at the Perth/Crawley Rotary Club on the occasion of World Polio Day 2022. Her sister, Robin Miller, is celebrated as a pioneer of delivering Polio vaccine to remote communities, saving countless lives. This is Patsy’s speech:

Writer and two-time Miles Franklin Literary Award winner Professor Kim Scott from the Faculty of Humanities at Curtin University has been awarded the title John Curtin Distinguished Professor. Introduced in 2005, the title is for exceptional teaching and research skills, or scholarly, creative or artistic achievements. In a media release on the Curtin University website, […]

Jane Fraser has resigned as CEO of Fremantle Press after 15 years at the helm. Describing her time at the Press as the highlight of her 35+ years in publishing, Jane said, ‘If ever there was a right time to leave, this is it – I have every confidence that the Press is in the […]

nlimited Futures: Visionary, Speculative Blak and Black Fiction is now available and we’re over the moon for all the contributors, editors, designers and publishers involved. A week past the release, we asked editors Rafeif Ismail and Ellen van Neerven to reflect on the journey thus far.

David Allan-Petale is in the running to win a prestigious ALS Gold Medal for his debut novel Locust Summer. Awarded annually for an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year, the winner receives a gold medal from the Association for the Study of Australian Literature. David’s book, which was also shortlisted for the Australian/Vogel’s […]

Fremantle Library has stacked their shelves with an extensive new collection of books published by local Fremantle press writers. The library in the Walyalup Civic Centre has made more than 300 titles available for loan. The Fremantle Press collection includes both fiction and non-fiction, ranging from crime and historical novels to autobiographies, art and culture […]

Kyle Hughes-Odgers is the creator of a new board book Everything You Want to See. The artist and father takes us through how he gets his ideas and the collaborative process of translating them onto the page. Everything You Want to See started as an idea in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic. […]

The Perth Festival Writers Weekend provided West Australian readers and writers with the opportunity to hear from a diverse range of authors, creators and professionals in the industry. I attended the Fremantle Press event ‘The Business of Being a Writer’ on a lovely Friday afternoon at the Fremantle Arts Centre. With the ever-evolving nature of […]

The Sawdust House is my third historical novel, following on from The Coves in 2018. I’m normally a crime fiction novelist, but my crime novels have an historical element too, with most of them set in 1970s and 1980s Perth and Fremantle. All of the novels require a fair bit of research, but it’s research […]