Category: Book clubs

Dave Warner is best known for hard-edged crime fiction, but his latest novel, Sound Mind Dead Body, tips its hat to the Golden Age of mystery. In this interview, he talks Agatha Christie, Art Deco atmosphere, red herrings, and the race between reader and detective to solve the puzzle first. You mostly write police procedurals, […]

Welcome to the Great Big Book Club, Fremantle Press’ regular cosy nights out for people who love stories. Join us in bookshops and libraries across Perth for bookish conversations with emerging and established authors. Browse the program below. The Names of a Hare by Bernice Barry 17th-century Cornwall is a place of peril for a […]

Winner of the 2024 Hungerford Award, Trials of Hope (የተስፋ ፈተና)is a groundbreaking bilingual memoir that challenges how we think about belonging and language. Author Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes weaves together poetry and prose, Amharic and English, to create a deeply moving account of Ethiopian heritage and displacement. In this interview, Yirga discusses the craft behind […]

Edited by Casey Mulder and curated by Kim Scott, Rivers Flow: A Reflection on the Songs of Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter brings 23 First Nations writers together to honour the musical and cultural legacy of Archie Roach – a Gunditjmara, Kirrae Whurrong/Djab Wurrung and Bundjalung man – and Ruby Hunter – a Ngarrindjeri, Kokatha […]

We’re thrilled to announce that Strange Editions Book Club is back for another two sessions this month and next – and they’re bringing some of Western Australia’s finest literary talent to Strange Company in Fremantle for a pair of intimate and bookish evenings. Get down to Strange Company on Tuesday 30 September, where things kick […]

On Sunday 27 July, Stories from the West will celebrate the authors shortlisted for the 2025 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards, and it’s a perfect way to get familiar the shortlisted books. There will be three panels taking place at the State Library of WA: Bringing Your Book to the World with Khin Myint, Emily […]

Love exists in many forms, and in her new collection of poetry, Love Like This Isn’t Harmless, Bron Bateman writes about the wide variety of love she’s experienced, from self-love to erotic to familial, and even harmful. In this article, publisher Georgia Richter asks Bron about her writing process and what goes into creating poetry […]

Shortlisted for the 2023 Fogarty Literary Award, Nock Loose is Patrick Marlborough’s screwball comedy revenge thriller, centred on a small Australian town that takes its annual medieval festival very seriously. In this interview, Patrick tells us how their novel – and chaotic characters – became into existence. Where did the idea of Agincourt come from? […]

Jay Martin, the 2018 Hungerford Award winner, introduces her new novel, Boom Town Snap. Set among the Canadian oilfields and Australian mining towns, the story follows Georgie as she navigates tricky relationships and environments. In this interview, Jay tells us about some of the very real elements behind the fiction. Did the Me Too movement […]

Andrew HC McDonald tells stories in many forms – through photos, comedy, visual arts, and now novel writing. In this interview, Andrew tells us how his debut fiction book, The Montegiallo School of Swearing, came to be, and how swearing in a foreign language may actually help you learn. Where did this idea come from, […]

After seventeen years of writing, Emily Paull’s The Distance Between Dreams was shortlisted in the 2023 Fogarty Literary Award. Emily is a Western Australian librarian, author and book reviewer. In this interview, Emily shares her behind-the-scenes process. Where did the idea for this novel and its structure come from? What were the most challenging aspects […]

Come along to the launch of the hilarious and heart-warming The Montegiallo School of Swearing by Andrew HC McDonald. Held at the State Library of Western Australia on Thursday 24 April, Andrew will be in-conversation with Australian-Italian writer and journalist Chenée Marrapodi. Go behind the scenes into the book’s creation and be transported to the […]

Celebrate the launch of Geraldine by Andrea Thompson in a very special event will take place at AH Bracks Library and Creative Space on Thursday 27 March. Geraldine is an uplifting read that resonates with the music and culture of the 60s, 70s, and the Australian music scene of the 80s and beyond. Andrea’s passion for […]

Celebrate the launch of The Distance Between Dreams, the new historical fiction novel by Emily Paull, shortlisted for the 2023 Fogarty Literary Award. This special event will take place at AH Bracks Library and Creative Space on Thursday 3 April, where Emily will be in conversation with fellow historical fiction writer, Michael Burrows. Together, they will […]

When author Andrea Thompson accidentally discovered that every other gender-diverse person on the planet was also writing a memoir, she switched her focus. She began writing for a central character who taught her the value and peace of the ordinary, and to never give up the fight. In this interview, Andrea introduces us to that […]

Poet Bron Bateman is the editor of Women of a Certain Courage, a new collection of inspiring stories by Australian women. In this interview, Bron gives us insight into her experience connecting with courageous women writers. How did you go about creating the list of women you wanted to contribute to this collection? Were there […]

Alan Carter‘s latest novel, Prize Catch, draws inspiration from his proximity to Tasmania’s controversial salmon farms. In this edition of the Libby Book Club, taking place on Wednesday 19 February at 7.30 pm AWST, Alan takes a deep dive into the gritty underbelly of the salmon fishing industry. Known for capturing the pulse of current […]

Join David Whish-Wilson and his gripping new thriller, Cutler, at one of these special evening of conversation with Australian crime writer Michael Trant. Get a sneak peek into the world of two fantastic Australian crime writers.

Kathryn Lefroy might be a fantasy writer for children, but there’s nothing fantastical about her connection to Jane Austen’s Mr Darcy. Her great-great-great-great-great uncle was Jane Austen’s inspiration for Mr Darcy, one of world’s most lusted after characters – both on the page and on screen.  Given the iconic literary connection, teamed with the fact that she […]

Crime writer Alan Carter‘s latest release, Prize Catch, was inspired by living in close proximity to Tasmania’s controversial salmon farms. In this article, Alan dives deeper into how the landscape around him inspires his best-selling crime novels. How much does the place where you live inspire you when coming up with crime ideas? From the […]

Dave Warner‘s Broome detective Dan Clement is back in When It Rains, investigating crime as plentiful as wet season rain. In this article, Dave takes us behind the scenes of his award-winning crime writing procedure. What is it like to work with a protagonist over a number of books? Do you think about Clement between […]

Launched this month, Karleah Olson’s A Wreck of Seabirds was shortlisted for the Fogarty Literary Award. It was described by the judges as a tightly written, atmospheric novel that captured the depths of human emotion. In this interview she tells us more about her journey to publication. Why did you choose a coastal setting for […]

Josh Kemp’s debut novel Banjawarn won the 2021 Dorothy Hewett Award and the 2022 Ned Kelly Award for Best Debut Crime Fiction. In his new thriller, Jasper Cliff, which was shortlisted for the Fogarty Literary Award, he deliberately leaned in to the spookier side of Australian gothic, imbuing his narrative with disturbing insights into the […]

When Robert Edeson needs facts, he often makes them up. Edeson says, ‘In my view, that’s the sublime (and subversive) prerogative of a fiction writer. It is also strangely liberating after an obediently truthful life in science.’