From hopping vampires to rice ball blasters, Shirley Marr chats to Rebecca Higgie about her new adventure for middle readers

Protagonist Mei Ling Pang is kicking her bad luck to the curb and Little Jiang creator Shirley Marr is showing readers how they can do the same.

It took academic turned library officer turned writer Rebecca Higgie 12 years to write her award-winning young adult novel The History of Mischief: a book for book lovers of all ages that won the inaugural Fogarty Literary Award for Western Australian writers aged 18 to 35

In this interview Rebecca talks about the histories behind the history and how these might be used to stimulate classroom discussions, research and writing activities.

Fun and fabulous new freebies and downloadable classroom activities from Fremantle Press

Stock up your classroom with some free activity sheets, door hangers, teaching notes and bookmarks. We’ve rounded up a selection of the latest.

Catch your favourite Fremantle Press authors in a new exhibition featuring Western Australian children's books and YA novels at the City of Perth Library

Head down to the City of Perth Library from now until 18 October for an amazing exhibition by our children’s and YA authors. The exhibit will showcase the inspiration, draft notes and illustrations, artworks and more behind their books.

Brendan Ritchie, author of Carousel and Beyond Carousel, talks dystopian futures and Beyond the Dark, an upcoming collection for teachers and students

We were lucky to chat with dystopian aficionado Brendan Ritchie about his chapter in the newly released book Beyond the Dark: Dystopian Texts in the Secondary English Classroom (edited by Patricia Dowsett, Ellen Rees and Alex Wharton, and published by the Australian Association for the Teaching of English). Brendan is well positioned to discuss dystopian fiction, with his Gold Inky Award longlisted debut novel, Carousel, exploring a dystopian Perth. The sequel, Beyond Carousel, continues to explore a post-apocalyptic world while raising pertinent questions about our own reality.

Belle Alderman of the National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature (NCACL) introduces us to the new free database of children’s books by and about Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Peoples

When you want to find books by and about Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Peoples for your classroom or library, which resources do you turn to? The NCACL has just launched a new database, which they hope will be invaluable to teachers in their search for the most appropriate materials to share with their students.

Bring out your pens and sharpen your pencils: here's an awesome list of writing and illustrating competitions kids can enter for the rest of this year

Storyathon for Kids

Write a microstory that is exactly 100 words. This writing competition is open to children in years 3–8 during each school term. You can submit up to three stories for one competition, and you can enter all or just a few of the competitions run each year.

In the latest Fremantle Press Podcast, host Rebecca Higgie invites historical fiction aficionados Dianne Wolfer and Elaine Forrestal to talk about the effects of war on young people and the harsh realities of gold fever in the unforgiving climate of Coolgardie

Dianne Wolfer and Elaine Forrestal are both well-loved and well-established writers who have published a shelfload of historical children’s fiction between them. Settle in for a great podcast as the pair go in-depth on their writing process, and share tips on how to research and write historical fiction.

Fun new freebies and downloadable teaching activities

Would you like some free classroom activities, stickers or bookmarks? Here’s a selection of the latest.

Cartoons, life writing and science inspired fantasy: these videos and events will warm the cockles of your classes' creative hearts

Our authors are still out there running workshops and talking to classrooms online. Read on to find out what's available in the coming weeks.