It takes a village to raise a book (an ode to the Perth writing community) by novelist Mel Hall

Described as ‘thoughtful’, ‘delightfully subversive’ and ‘tenderly insightful’, The Little Boat on Trusting Lane by Mel Hall is a novel about how human connection, community and friendship have the potential to heal. In this piece, she describes how the Perth writing community helped her bring her debut novel into being.

Katie Stewart on why she populates her picture books with animal characters

One of the questions I get asked about my picture books is ‘Why are they about animals?’ The automatic response for me would be ‘Because I love animals’, but the truth is a little more complex.

From waitressing at the Golden Dragon to writing teen romances, Brigid Lowry's road to loving kindness wasn't always straight

A Year of Loving Kindness and Other Essays by Brigid Lowry is a beautifully presented and uplifting book of contemplative, wry, sometimes funny essays about living thoughtfully and with care amid life’s challenges. In this article, Brigid shares her winding path to becoming the warm, wise and witty writer she is today.

Fremantle Press author Josephine Taylor shares how she made the leap from life to fiction when writing about vulvodynia

A few short weeks after the release of her first novel, Eye of a Rook, Josephine Taylor paused to reflect on her path to publication.

From disastrous drafts to finished book: Fremantle Press novelist Susan Midalia on the pleasures and challenges of writing fiction

Susan Midalia is an author, freelance editor, mentor and workshop facilitator with a new novel, Everyday Madness, out this month. In this article she shares what she’s learned from her publication experiences. If you’re a writer yourself, make sure you read her tips at the end of the article.

Full-time journalist turned novelist Emma Young shares her top five productivity tips on how to write a manuscript in your spare time

Hi, I’m Emma Young. My debut novel, The Last Bookshop, is about Cait Copper, owner of the last bookshop in the city centre and the last independent store remaining on the city’s most exclusive strip. Cait thought she’d reached happily ever after when she opened Book Fiend, but the city’s changing. Costs are rising, profits are dropping and global brands are circling her prime location. After one final disaster, Cait’s got to make a tough call: go down – or stand up and fight?

Helen Milroy's latest picture book encourages us to see our backyards as habitats for the buzzing, scooting, zooming splendour of insects

Last year was a great year for Helen Milroy. Her work was shortlisted for the WA Premier’s Book Awards, the Readings Children’s Book Prize and the Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards, while reviewers called her picture book Backyard Birds vibrant, bright, beautiful, wonderful, colourful and bold. In 2021 the First Nations author and illustrator returns to the backyard with her new picture book, Backyard Bugs. She shared some more details with us in the interview below.

Fremantle Press publisher Georgia Richter shares her 3 am brain explosions and wrestles with the question: how do etymologists sleep at night?

The roar on the other side of silence

‘If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life,’ George Eliot wrote in Middlemarch, ‘it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence.’

Dani Vee of the Words and Nerds podcast joins Rebecca Higgie for the final Fremantle Press Podcast of 2020

What happens when you put two podcasters into one studio? You get podcast mashup audio magic! In this episode host Rebecca Higgie celebrates the release of her debut novel, The History of Mischief, while Dani Vee celebrates the three-year anniversary of her tiny podcast with big ideas.

CEO Jane Fraser on Kim Scott's literary contribution to Western Australia, which saw him being inducted into the Western Australian Writers Hall of Fame last Friday evening

Hello and welcome to August.

What a month it’s been! Congratulations to our Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards winners and shortlisted authors: Fiona Burrows, Amanda Curtin, Rafeif Ismail, Kathryn Lefroy, Caitlin Maling, Meg McKinlay, Helen Milroy, Holden Sheppard and Ellen van Neerven. We are so proud of you all.