Category: Behind the book

Father of the Lost Boys author and former child soldier Yuot A. Alaak says lived experiences have a lot to teach us. He says giving students the opportunity to enter the lives of refugee children in a war, but from a safe distance, can help build empathy and understanding. In this very special blog post, […]

Goldfields Girl by Elaine Forrestal is a historical novel for middle readers featuring real-life nineteenth-century teenager Clara Saunders. In this blog post, Elaine takes us into the exciting, dusty, fly-ridden world of a gold rush.

In 2015, I was well and truly sick of my book. The History of Mischief had been lingering with me since 2006, and progress was slow. It was often left for months, only for me to return to it, tinker a bit, and then abandon it for another lengthy period of time. I needed something to […]

Fiction has always been a fluid concept: the wispy smoke of a doused campfire, the dangerous flaring of a forgotten ember, the promise of a speck of brightness in a gold pan. But these days, how the hell are you meant to imagine the unimaginable when it is surpassed most days in your news feed? […]

I’m Elaine Forrestal and Goldfields Girl is my latest historical fiction for students, teachers and history buffs of any age. My fiction, in various genres, has been published since 1983. This is my third historical fiction novel. In this blog post I will share my top tips for using your local, state or national library […]

Anzac Day marks the anniversary of Australia’s first major military action and is also a national day of remembrance that commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations. Though we may only be able to celebrate the Dawn Service with a candle in our front yards, […]

It’s Women’s History Month and we’re really excited to announce the publication of Goldfields Girl, a historical fiction novel about an extraordinary woman named Clara Saunders. Here, author Elaine Forrestal shares with us some of what she learned about this amazing pioneer of the Western Australian Goldfields.

A peripatetic childhood gave What Colour is the Sea? illustrator and author Katie Stewart the chance to see the world from many perspectives. Katie’s new book, her first with a traditional publisher, is about a koala who asks her Aussie animal mates what the true colour of the sea is. The answers vary, so when […]

What is Left Over, After was Natasha Lester’s Hungerford Award winning debut novel back in 2008. These days she’s topping the bestseller list of the New York Times, as well as offering advice to new and emerging authors.

Craig Silvey’s debut novel, Rhubarb, is a masterclass in writing from an author who was named in the Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelists list in 2005 and again in 2010 for his novel Jasper Jones.

Avan Judd Stallard’s novel Spinifex & Sunflowers goes behind the walls of an immigration detention centre in an honest, and at times harrowing, exploration of life as an asylum seeker in modern Australia.

From the rodeos and fishing holes of northern Australia to the dazzling streets of night-time Tokyo, Red Can Origami is a gripping tale of love, loss, land and identity.

Anne-Louise Willoughby’s biography Nora Heysen: A Portrait celebrates the life of a woman propelled by her drive to paint. Nora Heysen was in 1938 the first woman to win the Archibald, Australia’s national portrait prize, and continued to push boundaries to be appointed this country’s first female Official War Artist.

Caitlin Maling’s most recent poetry collection, Fish Song, is rich and diverse, exploring physical landscapes as well as historical and socio-cultural aspects of place. In these poems, she travels the coast of Western Australia, writing about what the ocean provides and questioning what poetry might offer by way of solace and reconnection in an age […]

Women of a Certain Age recounts the stories of 15 women who have struggled with identity and survival, all on their journey to becoming more certain of who they are and where they want to be. Below is an extract from ‘Everyday Sadness’ by international acclaimed author Liz Byrski, who knows exactly what it’s like […]

True West is a new crime novel by David Whish-Wilson set in late 1980s Perth against the backdrop of hate crimes associated with Jack van Tongeren’s Australian Nationalist Movement that included the firebombing of Asian businesses, as well as the dog-whistle comments made by then federal Liberal opposition leader John Howard associated with ‘slowing down’ […]

The Workers’ Art Guild was a radical cultural and political force in Perth in the 1930s and 1940s. The Guild’s innovative approaches to theatre and art were praised by critics, but its left-wing politics, were denounced by many. This extract is from a new book by Dylan Hyde called Art Was Their Weapon.

As it comes to the end of the school year, we know that teachers everywhere will be getting ready to enjoy the Christmas holidays after a busy year. To acknowledge you for all the hard work you do day in day out, we asked four Fremantle Press authors to share their stories of teachers who […]

In The Lost Stone of SkyCity, HM Waugh’s brave heroine Sunaya faces five Dragon Tests to prove she is a worthy guardian of the princess of the Ice-People. Here, Waugh explains how her own learning led her to create these tests from skills that all children need to succeed.

The poems of writer and environmental activist Nandi Chinna tease out and explore her own experiences of change, in her body and in the plants, animals and ecosystems around her. In The Future Keepers, Chinna invites us to consider our role as custodians of a precious planet – and how what we value, how we […]

Brush up on some incredible details about Perth’s most iconic buildings from the book Built Perth by Tom McKendrick and Elliot Langdon and you’ll be an architecture guru in no time.

Art Was Their Weapon: The History of the Perth Workers’ Art Guild is Dylan Hyde’s first book with Fremantle Press, and is a comprehensive look at this radical and creative organisation.

Fiona Burrows might have only recently released her debut picture book as both author and illustrator, Violet and Nothing, earlier this year, but she’s been writing and drawing since she was in school.

Julia Lawrinson’s new novel, Maddie in the Middle, is the story of schoolgirl friendships, peer pressure and the notion of right and wrong. When Maddie makes friends with new girl Samara, she finds herself stealing chocolate to raise money to help Samara’s family. But when they get caught, Maddie ends up taking the blame. Did […]