Invisible Boys wins the 2019 Western Australian Premier’s Book Award for an Emerging Writer

Young adult novelist Holden Sheppard was one of four Fremantle Press authors to be acknowledged in the 2019 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards ceremony at the State Library of Western Australia on Friday 7 August 2020. Holden took home the The Premier's Prize for an Emerging Writer worth $15,000 for his debut novel, Invisible Boys.

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.

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.

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.

Former child soldier and author Yuot A Alaak says he hopes his book will teach kids to have the courage to overcome whatever adversity they are facing, knowing that other children around the world are facing much worse

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, Yuot and is joined by his father, Mecak A. Alaak, an inspirational teacher working in the most difficult circumstances imaginable.

Fremantle Press calls for submissions to a new anthology of First Nations and Black speculative, visionary fiction for young adults

Co-curated with Djed Press and edited by Rafeif Ismail and Ellen van Neerven, Unlimited Futures: Speculative, Visionary Blak+Black Fiction provides the chance for established and emerging First Nations writers and Black writers to share the stories they wish had existed when they were growing up. The project was announced on Saturday 20 June as part of the panel ‘Bla(c)k Speculative Fiction’ at the Emerging Writers’ Festival’s National Writers’ Conference.

In Love to Read Local Radio with Fremantle Press, award-winning authors Holden Sheppard and A.J. Betts talk about how to juggle actual writing time with the business of being a writer

A.J. Betts had the idea for Hive eight years before she commenced writing it and 13 years before it was released. In between, she published three books, won an Emmy Award and did a PhD in the topic of wonder. A.J. said the idea for Hive came to her while she was on the Graham Farmer Freeway in Perth: ‘The traffic was really slow and I noticed the drip in the tunnel and I thought, that’s weird … In what situation would a drip be a problem or a danger?’

Invisible Boys by Holden Sheppard in running for the Readings Young Adult Book Prize

Readings staff members have selected Holden Sheppard’s Invisible Boys for the shortlist of this year’s Readings Young Adult Book Prize. Established in 2016, the prize recognises exciting emerging voices in Australian young adult literature.