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.
For the second time, the Fogarty Foundation will partner with Fremantle Press to provide one of Australia’s most significant literary prizes for young writers. The Fogarty Literary Award is a biennial prize awarded to an unpublished manuscript by a Western Australian author aged between 18 and 35 for a work of fiction, narrative non-fiction or young adult fiction. The winner receives a cash prize of $20,000 and a publishing contract with Fremantle Press.
In Rebecca Higgie’s penultimate episode as host of the Fremantle Press Podcast, we’re talking crime. Veteran crime writer Dave Warner joins the podcast to talk about his fifth book, Over My Dead Body, while new kid on the block Alexander Thorpe discusses his historical cosy crime debut, Death Leaves the Station.
Rebecca Higgie won the inaugural Fogarty Literary Award for her manuscript The History of Mischief back in 2019 at a special ceremony at the ECU Spiegeltent. Chosen from a field of 64 manuscripts by Western Australian writers aged 18 to 35, Higgie won a $20,000 cash prize from the Fogarty Foundation and secured a publishing contract with Fremantle Press. Now her amazing book is available for you to buy.
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.
In 2015, I was well and truly sick of my book. The History of Mischief had been lingering with me since 2006, and progress was slow. It was often left for months, only for me to return to it, tinker a bit, and then abandon it for another lengthy period of time. I needed something to keep me on track. I needed to be accountable to someone other than myself.
For Yuot A. Alaak, stories were a way of distracting himself from the fear of enemy attack, starvation and hardship, and to keep hope alive. In this episode, Yuot discusses his City of Fremantle Hungerford Award shortlisted memoir, Father of the Lost Boys, which tells the story of his family, especially his father, Mecak Ajang Alaak who, on a four-year journey, led 20,000 lost boys to safety during the Second Sudanese Civil War.
For anyone who thinks writing a picture book is easier than writing a novel, picture book creator Kelly Canby suggests you first write that novel, then condense it into 500 words without undermining its meaning or leaving out key plot points. Then get your pen and ink out and draw the illustrations as well!
Jon Doust's debut book for adults, Boy on a Wire, was Publisher Georgia Richter's first editorial job for Fremantle Press. In this episode, Georgia and Jon talk to host Rebecca Higgie about the crucial elements of the editor–author relationship, the foremost being trust, another being laughter.
When Rebecca Higgie won the inaugural Fogarty Literary award, she received $20,000 and a publishing contract with Fremantle Press, which she says, after working on her book for 12 years, was a dream come true. What she didn’t realise was that the work had only just begun.