Category: Education

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 […]

Fiona Wilkes is one of four writers shortlisted for the 2024 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award and in the running to win a $15,000 cash prize from the City of Fremantle, a publishing contract with Fremantle Press and a writing fellowship at the Centre for Stories. Her desire to balance out the narrative around queer […]

Sienna Rose Scully is the youngest of four children. She is an Integrated Marketing Communications graduate who grew up in Noongar Whadjuk Boodja (Fremantle), Western Australia. Sienna has dealt with OCD since childhood and is passionate about bringing awareness to what this disorder entails and to help other OCD sufferers. She is a contributor to […]

A Leaf Called Greaf, illustrated and designed by Kelly Canby was named runner up in the Best Published Book Cover Design Award in the Whitsundays Literary Heart Awards this weekend. The Whitsundays Festival launched the Literary Heart Awards earlier this year, offering cash prizes to recognise and honour outstanding contributions to the literary and design landscape. In […]

BOOKS

Nedingar: Ancestors by Isobel Bevis and Leanne Zilm has been recognised for a third time in this year’s awards season. The dual language picture book has already been shortlisted for an Environment Award by the Wilderness Society and has been made a CBCA Notable Book. Now it is in the running for Speech Pathology Australia’s […]

Melville Storylines program this year contains a bevy of Fremantle Press authors including YA dystopia from Brendan Ritchie, a panel dedicated to the Fogarty Literary Award allumni, and a launch of the Spinning Around: The Kylie Playlist.

Nandi Chinna will appear at Rebeun’s Room in Fremantle on 2 October for a poetry reading accompanied by musical compositions. Nandi will be reading from her new poetry collaboration, Tossed Up by the Beak of a Cormorant.

Australia’s most coveted prize for children’s literature has gone to Fremantle Press author Kelly Canby for her 2023 picture book Timeless. The CBCA Picture Book of the Year rewards outstanding books of the genre in which the creators achieve both artistic and literary unity. Children’s publisher at Fremantle Press, Cate Sutherland, said every one of Kelly’s […]

Katie Stewart is heading to Northam Library for a magical storytime session to launch her gorgeous new picture book Quokka Finds a Friend.

Get the classroom thinking creatively, and help Quokka find a friend, with this free teaching activity. Working together or solo, kids can brainstorm the animals that a quokka would encounter on the beach and draw a friend for them.

Activity Sheet

'Draw a Friend for Quokka'

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Using the illustrations of bush animals, get the classroom colouring in and writing the Noongar word for each animal in the blank space. Each of the animals can be found in the dual-language Noongar and English picture book, Djinang Bonar: Seeing Seasons by Ebony Froome and Leanne Zilm.

Activity Sheet

'What animals can we see in the bush?'

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Say Hello to storytime, and teach the kids the fun of rhyme! This free video features Renae Hayward, author of Say Hello, who brings the joy of reading aloud to the screen. Say Hello can be read, sung or acted out and features simple, high-contrast illustrations with many recognisable words. Plus, there are lots of chances for babies to […]

Enjoy a read-a-long with author Helen Milroy as she shares her latest picture book Bush Bugs. Hairy bugs, scary bugs, big or small. Let’s see if you can name them all!

In activity one, ask your students to draw the elements of a stage. Working together or solo, have them plan a dance, making sure it has all the elements to wow an audience. Activity two teaches dance vocabulary using a crossword puzzle. Further discussion questions for Breaking Pointe include: You can download the activity sheets here and, for more […]

Activity Sheet

'Set The Stage/Dance Challenge'

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Mark Greenwood shares mysterious true Australian stories in his junior fiction series, beginning with The Dragon’s Treasure and The Vanishing. In the teaching activity for The Dragon’s Treasure, budding reporters share the story of discovering treasure on a remote West Australian beach, using the newspaper template for the Pirate Times. For The Vanishing, kids create their own comic strip: drawing the moment […]

Activity Sheet

'Create A Comic/Dig Up A Story'

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Mark Greenwood is a history hunter. He enjoys searching for lost explorers and glittering treasure, delving into baffling mysteries and investigating famous cold cases. In this piece, he shares his passion for the unexplained and how that resulted in a new series of books. Why these mysteries in particular? I’m hooked on mystery, history and […]

Get down to the Queenscliffe Literary Festival and visit Fremantle Press author and editor of Avast! Pirate Stories From Transgender Authors, Michael Earp.

Holding a published copy of One Wrong Turn in my hands was a dream come true. I never entertained the idea of there being a sequel and the fact that it now exists is largely thanks to the enthusiasm of Australia’s dance community and of course, the wonderful team at Fremantle Press! Dance has been […]

Say Hooray by Renae Hayward and Rebecca Mills has been identified as one of the best Australian books to help children get the most literate start in life. Judged by a panel of Certified Practising Speech Pathologists with specific knowledge and skill in children’s language and literature development, the Speech Pathology Book of the Year […]

Nedingar: Ancestors, a bilingual picture book by Isobel Bevis and Leanne Zilm, has been shortlisted for the Karajia Award by the Wilderness Society of Australia. Launched in 2022, the Karajia Award for Children’s Literature celebrates the First Nations authors illustrators who create children’s books that honour a connection to Country and tell stories exploring land, […]

In A Leaf Called Greaf, Greaf changes with the seasons, and so does Bear. As Greaf leaves him, Bear feels a lightness and warmth that he had almost forgotten. Greaf has gone, but Bear knows its memory will hold a special place in his heart forever. In this activity, we ask children to draw their […]

Activity Sheet

'What Does Your Emotion Look Like?'

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In 1989, Mecak Ajang Alaak led the Lost Boys on a four-year journey from Ethiopia to Kenya to protect them from becoming child soldiers. To understand these countries better, create a country profile for each of the following four countries: South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya. This activity gives kids the opportunity to learn practical […]

Activity Sheet

'Create A Profile For These African Countries'

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Tell us about Avast! What’s unique about it? Avast! is the first anthology of its kind to be traditionally published in this country! It’s fiction entirely written by transgender authors, each exploring the prompt of pirates. Why pirates? Why not?! When we were offered the chance to choose a theme ourselves, we wanted something playful but […]