News

Kyle Hughes-Odgers captures children’s attention and gets their imagination racing in his new board book, Everything You Want to See. Spark kids creativity by asking them what they imagine an alien or monster looking like and getting them to create their own in these fun activity sheets.

Activity Sheet

'Create your own alien'

Download activity sheet

Twelve Fremantle Press writers have been shortlisted in the 2021 WA Premier’s Book Awards across four categories. In the emerging writers category, the novels Eye of a Rook by Josephine Taylor and Locust Summer by David Allan-Petale, and the poetry collection Vociferate by Emily Sun, made the shortlist. In The Premier’s Prize for Writing for […]

Michael Burrows joins fellow debut writers Diana Reid and Ella Baxter as this year’s Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelists. As reported in SMH’s Spectrum, the judges felt the three novelists stood out from the many other entrants for their ‘strong narrative voices, memorable characters and sharp writing – they’ll make you laugh, cry […]

The amazing Helen Milroy returns to the podcast chair for her first interview of 2022. Helen chats to the co-creator of Stars in Their Eyes, Aśka. You’ll love hearing about Aśka’s journey from high flying physicist to high flying visual storyteller – what a leap of faith! She chats about her unique collaboration with Jessica […]

Sharron Booth had been working on her novel The Silence of Water years before it was shortlisted for the City of Fremantle Hungerford Award in 2020. In this post she shares a deep dive into the research techniques she learned along the way.

Katie Stewart, author of three books for younger readers, knows that goal-setting isn’t an innate ability, but a skill to be learned. In this blog post, she shares how and why teaching kids to set goals at a young age is an important step towards building confidence and resilience.   

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 […]

Surrounded by books and authors at the gorgeous Fremantle Arts Centre, the Perth Festival’s Writers Weekend kicked off with the much anticipated ‘The Business of Being a Writer’ event. Emerging authors spent several hours hearing from industry professionals on topics from marketing tips to building your profile to business advice for those just starting out. […]

The Light series by Dianne Wolfer and illustrated by Brian Simmonds includes The Last Light Horse, In the Lamplight, Light Horse Boy and Lighthouse Girl. These four books each look at some of the historical figures who played a part in World War I and are suitable for children to read as they learn about […]

Activity Sheet

'The Light series activity sheets'

Download activity sheet

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 […]

‘The Business of Being a Writer’ added another topic to its list of panel discussions this year: ‘In the Writers’ Room’. Moderated by Holden Sheppard, whose 2018 YA novel, Invisible Boys, is currently being adapted for television, the panel featured documentary filmmaker Victoria Midwinter-Pitt, director and screenwriter Ben Young and writer-director Maziar Lahooti. Victoria started […]

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. […]

To celebrate the release of our new crime titles – Blood & Ink by Brett Adams, The Cast Aways of Harewood Hall by Karen Herbert, The Gallerist by Michael Levitt, The Ghost of Gracie Flynn by Joanna Morrison, The Ballroom Murder by Leigh Straw and After the Flood by Dave Warner – we’ve got a […]

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 […]

Speaking to Brooke Dunnell on the Fremantle Press podcast, novelist Maria Papas said when she was younger some people told her ‘Writing’s not really a career for a girl from Bunbury … you have to pick something safer’. But, as she points out, her enjoyment of writing has held her in good stead so far. […]

Fans of art heists, fakes and the hunt for long-lost art treasures are going to love The Gallerist, a new mystery story by Michael Levitt. In it, Mark Lewis is running a small art gallery when a local woman brings him a painting for valuing that looks uncannily like the work of the renowned but […]

Lion, is that you? by Moira Court is a gorgeous multi-layered new picture book that plays on myths about big cats stalking through the Australian bush. We asked Moira to share with us five books featuring big cats that she loved reading to her daughter. We think you’ll agree her choices, would make wonderful, purring […]

In Lion Is That You? author and illustrator Moira Court takes us on a journey through the Australian bush, searching for lions. This wildflower poster is designed to help children complete the activity sheet identifying the wildflowers in the Australian bush before they let their creativity go wild and colouring them in. For more teaching […]

Activity Sheet

'Native Wildflowers Poster'

Download activity sheet

Olivia Lanchester, CEO and company secretary of The Australian Society of Authors, joins Claire Miller and Georgia Richter for a chat about the ASA and what writers can gain from being members. Olivia discloses the advocacy work of the ASA being a national body that speaks for authors and talks about the importance of writing […]

In Only Birds Above Arthur Watkins, is a blacksmith serving with the 10th Light Horse Regiment in the Middle East during World War I.  When he returns home without his horse – the companion he’s worked alongside for four years – he is a man forever changed by what he has seen and suffered. In […]

Emerging arts professional and Minderoo editor, Kirsty Horton was awarded an Honourable Mention in the 2022 IPEd Student Prize for her work; ‘BookTube and the Publishing Industry: A Study of the Commercial Relationship between YouTube Content Creators and Publicists’. Kirsty, who recently completed an MA in Professional Writing and Publishing at Curtin University, said, ‘It […]

After opening their newly-refurbished doors earlier this year, Fremantle Library at the new Wayalup Koort played host to Fremantle Press’ annual event programmers’ breakfast where Press authors pitched their latest literary works to other industry professionals. Joined by members of the Emerging Writers Program, everyone was keen to hear what Fremantle Press has in store for […]

In this article, Fremantle Press publisher Georgia Richter interviews a Mills & Boon author. When my friend was fourteen, he used to go to a mate’s place to read his friend’s mother’s Mills & Boons. Thosebooks with the purple spines taught my friend a lot. When he tells me this, it occurs to me that […]