Book clubbers, this one’s for you! Join local crime authors Josh Kemp and Alexander Thorpe for an engaging and interactive evening as they explore the intriguing connections between their two unique new books Jasper Cliff and Death Holds the Key – both set in the dramatic outback of Western Australia.

When launching A Wreck of Seabirds by Karleah Olson and Jasper Cliff by Josh Kemp, Annie Fogarty AM took the opportunity to announce a substantial uplift in funding for the State’s premier young writer’s award. Inaugurated in 2019, the Fogarty Literary Award for young Western Australian writers quickly established itself as a major supporter of […]

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 […]

The Fogarty Literary Award

Writers in the Library – Brooke Dunnell

   October 12, 2024
   10.00am—12.00pm
   Mandurah Library

On Saturday 12 October author Brooke Dunnell will be at the Mandurah Library as part of the Mandurah Library Writers in the Library series that aims to bring together authors and readers to foster a love of reading and encourage creativity in the community.

As one of the Fogarty Literary Award judges, I am delighted to present to you our third Fogarty Literary Award winner’s book: The Skeleton House. This book caught my attention from the very first sentence. I rode the waves of foreboding and revelation with my heart in my mouth. It is one of those books […]

With her prize money, Fogarty Literary Award winner Brooke Dunnell travelled to Eastern Europe to research her second novel, Last Best Chance. Just as her debut, The Glass House, was a work of exquisite tension and ambiguity, Brooke says she wanted Last Best Chance to embrace uncertainty, with characters dealing with multiple moral complexities and who struggle […]

Katherine Allum won the 2023 Fogarty Literary Award at the Edith Spiegeltent at ECU on Thursday 25 May. Allum receives a $20,000 cash prize from the Fogarty Foundation and a publishing contract with Fremantle Press for her winning manuscript The Skeleton House. American-born and Allum worked on her novel as part of an MA at […]

Building on its remarkable success to date, Fremantle Press and the Fogarty Foundation are thrilled to announce the extension of their partnership for another six years, securing three additional chances for young WA writers to win the award. The Fogarty Literary Award is a biennial award for Western Australian writers aged 18 to 35. The […]

What happens when two writers of literary fiction get together for a chat? Find out in the latest Fremantle Press podcast as 2021 Fogarty Literary Award winner Brooke Dunnell interviews shortlisted writer Katherine Allum. Katherine has a one in six chance of winning $20,000 and a publishing contract with Fremantle Press and she’ll find out […]

Patrick Marlborough has been published in many national and international publications, and their novel, A Horse Held at Gunpoint, was shortlisted in the 2021 Fogarty Literary Award. Now they are in the running for the 2023 Fogarty Literary Award for Nock Loose. In their novel, a retired Olympic archer and former stuntwoman (whose character was […]

Prema Arasu has a one in six chance of winning $20,000 and a publishing contract with Fremantle Press. Their manuscript, The Anatomy of Witchcraft, is in the running for the prestigious 2023 Fogarty Literary Award for Western Australian writers aged 18 to 35. The Anatomy of Witchcraft is a captivating young adult novel blending themes […]

In this special podcast episode, Emily Paull tells Brooke Dunnell how perseverance and dedication to her craft secured her a place on the Fogarty Literary Award shortlist with a novel she’s been working on for 15 years. The Dreamers is a novel which, after many rewrites, may find itself on the way to publication. Georgia […]

Karleah Olson has a one in six chance of winning $20,000 and a publishing contract with Fremantle Press. Her manuscript, A Wreck of Seabirds, is in the running for the prestigious 2023 Fogarty Literary Award for Western Australian writers aged 18 to 35. It’s a gothic YA novel that Georgia Richter describes as a ‘beautiful […]

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 […]

Josh Kemp is no stranger to the Fogarty Literary Awards. He’s previously stood upon the stage at The Edith Spiegeltent to receive his longlisting for Banjawarn – his now award-winning debut novel – which, coincidentally, is in the running for a Western Australian Premier’s Award. This time Josh has a one in six chance of […]

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 […]

Fremantle Press and the Fogarty Foundation are delighted to announce the six outstanding authors whose manuscripts are in the running to receive a cash prize of $20,000 and a publishing contract with Fremantle Press. The Fogarty Literary Award is a biennial prize for an unpublished manuscript by a Western Australian author aged between 18 and […]

The Reading Pavilion ’Tis the judging season at Fremantle Press. It is also Djeran – the Noongar season when the long hot days give way to moody clouds and rain blowing in from the west. On Saturday and Sunday, as I enter the final stretch of the Fogarty Award judging campaign, I set up a […]

On a morning exploding with pigeons, I fall into a phone conversation with my old friend Kiera as I walk to work. ‘Can we talk about historical fiction?’ I ask. ‘I don’t write historical fiction,’ she says. ‘I write speculative biography.’ Isn’t that the way of writerly research, I think with a sigh: you push […]