Category: Behind the book

When I finished my creative writing degree, I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to write again. I had half a collection of short stories that I couldn’t bring myself to finish. Obsessed with the idea of a ‘real’ job, but working a part-time/shitty retail gig, I looked back at university as a fun but largely […]

When I signed my publishing contract with Fremantle Press last year, my partner immediately started joking about resigning from work – to wave celebratory pompoms at my book events and writers’ fests, soothe my perpetually poetically-furrowed brow, and make sure my favourite brand of poetry-inspiring beverage is always close to hand. Show me the money […]

In One Wrong Turn Chenée Marrapodi has made all the right turns (of phrase that is). It’s a great book for middle readers and a wonderful retelling of the traditional ballet story. Told with subtlety and honesty, she replaces the ballet clichés with a realistic portrayal of the grit, determination and teamwork required by our […]

True stories in the real world As a publisher and editor, I am an active participant in the creation of books other people will read. The fiction I edit can connect readers to inner words, the non-fiction to the ‘real world’. And some of those stories can be a long time in the making. In […]

Author of The Last Whale, Chris Pash, shares messages of hope from two anti-whaling activists as he marks the return of the Rainbow Warrior to Albany, where she docked ahead of a campaign to sail up the coast of Western Australia to document the wildlife and environment threatened by Woodside Energy’s plans to drill for […]

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 […]

Michael Thomas celebrated the release of his first novel The Map of William this month – here’s more about it. The Map of William is a classic rite-of-passage novel that follows one young man on his journey of growth and self-discovery. We asked author Michael Thomas to take us behind the scenes of his writing […]

Introducing an exciting new voice in Australian fiction: Molly Schmidt, winner of the 2022 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award. Salt River Road is a compelling coming-of-age novel about grief and healing set in a small town in the 1970s. Watch this video to learn more about Molly’s story and the work she did with supervisors Dr Brett […]

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 […]

What does it take to command a submarine? That’s the subject of Running Deep: An Australian Submarine Life.  What’s one thing you’d like Australians to understand about the Submarine Arm of the Royal Australian Navy?  The tremendous value of our submarines as a deterrent, combatant or both, and the resultant positive impact they have on […]

During my thirty-five years as a published writer and thirty years as a teacher of creative writing at various universities, I’ve read several articles by creative writers, writing teachers or editors who say that starting to write a new story is the hardest part. But for me, beginning a story comes relatively easily. Almost always, […]

As mums ourselves, we wanted to create a book our babies would have loved – something fun that also fed their growing brains! Say Hooray engages babies on multiple levels by stimulating their senses and helping them build an understanding of language, the world around them and themselves. Say Hooray also has the potential to […]

One of my favourite features of novels – and one that makes the art form different to many others – is their ability to take on the perspectives, words and thoughts of a fictional character. As readers, we feel the intimacy of being told a story and enjoy the benign voyeurism of having a window […]

The Ghost of Gracie Flynn is part of a long tradition of novels with otherworldly narrators. I gave Gracie the reins because I felt that the various points of view I’d created in early drafts needed a compelling, omniscient perspective to pull them all together. And I’m glad I did that because it turned out […]

On leaving home When I left Melbourne at the age of twenty-one, I left behind the squelching autumn leaves that fell from the big European trees along the Yarra. I left behind bracing clifftop walks on Phillip Island with my two best partners-in-writing, and the salami we placed where the phone handset should be. I […]

Helen Milroy is a descendant of the Palyku people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. She has always had a passionate interest in health and wellbeing, especially for children, which is why she became a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist. In this Q&A the talented writer and illustrator tells us about her latest book. Tell […]

On the surface, it seems as though Chemutai Glasheen’s short story ‘The Debt’, in Unlimited Futures, and Maria Papas’ award-winning novel Skimming Stones, don’t have much in common. However, as the second panel at Fremantle Press’s Great Big Book Club got underway, it became clear that Chemutai’s and Maria’s stories and writing processes share quite […]

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 […]

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), […]