The Fremantle Press Podcast

Hungerford shortlister, Greg Taylor says that he used his manuscript to share the ‘vulnerable voices that so often go unheard’. He and podcast host Holden Sheppard discuss biodiversity in Western Australia and Greg reads from his manuscript, telling the story of a trapdoor spider’s journey from birth and making the spider’s world feel ten-times its size. Tune in here or on your favourite podcast a...

In this episode, Michal Stone talks about how her experiences working in mental health helped her create a strong foundation from which she created her verse novel Torch. Her and podcast host Holden Sheppard also discuss how Michal spent over a decade creating this novel, and how this experience is helping her approach her next book.   Fremantle Press publisher Cate Sutherland said the verse novel...

In this podcast, David Harris discusses his shortlisted manuscript that follows two best friends who leave Kalgoorlie to head into the far north of Western Australia to work on a cattle station, and says, ‘What it’s about is toxic friendship, generational trauma, survivorship, and the reasons why young men struggle to become men in truth.’ Fremantle Press Publisher Cate Sutherland said the judges...

Hungerford shortlister Jessica Kennedy is one of four writers in the running to win a $15,000 cash prize, a publishing contract and a writing fellowship. In this podcast, Jessica tells host Holden Sheppard how a fascination with the thoughts and ideas of the formerly reviled archaeologist Marija Gimbutas led to writing her shortlisted manuscript. It’s a hopeful and fascinating story that tracks ho...

Fiona Wilkes’s debut novel I Remember Everything was shortlisted for the 2024 Hungerford Award. Beginning in Bristol and moving to 1980s London, the novel follows Billie, a young queer woman, as she navigates the highs and lows of life, coming out, and finding her chosen family, only to lose them again during the AIDS epidemic.  In the first episode of our author’s live series, publisher Georgia R...

What if we could approaching ageing not with dread, but with curiosity and humour? Brigid Lowry’s insights into ageing gracefully and gratefully are a warm embrace for the soul. From navigating the quirks of creaking joints to pondering life’s mysteries, A Time of Living Graciously reminds us to approach life with humour and kindness. Ageing is unavoidable, so what if we could make it wonderful an...

Nestled between Albany and Denmark, the Eungedup wetlands teem with life. It is also the setting of author Giles Watson’s latest novel, Eungedup: A wetland summer diary. Part memoir, part poetry, Eungedup explores Giles’ journey to understanding his chronic illness as Eungedup awaits the coming of rain. In this episode, Giles dives deeper into the writing process and the wildlife that drew him to...

Winner of the 2024 Hungerford Award, Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes, joins the Fremantle Press podcast to talk about his award-winning manuscript, Trials of Hope (የተስፋ ፈተና). A unique blend of memoir and poetry, written in both English and Amharic, Trials of Hope tells the story of how Yirga grew up in Ethiopia before moving to Western Australia. Yirga reads poems from the book in both Amharic and English, a...

Writer and academic Prema Arasu joins the podcast to talk about their debut poetry collection, Vampire Squid. The collection, written during Prema’s post-doc fellowship at the UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre, explores how we imagine the deep sea – a place we often perceive as eerie and unknowable. Prema explains why they were drawn to poetry, the ways in which they relate to the elusive vampire squid...

In Glimmers in the Sea Glass Chuckie Raven shares the stories of Sarah and Owen, two queer characters existing two decades apart. In this podcast the Fogarty Shortlister tells Katherine Allum how they wrote two novels then wove them into one – discovering some important lessons about their writing in the process. Tune in here or on your favourite podcast app to find out more. Show notes About Chuc...

When she heard she’d been shortlisted regional writer Serena Moss said she’d been inspired to enter after seeing another ‘Gero’ writer, Holden Sheppard (also from Geraldton), build a writing career. The comparison is apt because this Waggrakine resident gives an equally unapologetic take on small town Australia: from the burn-outs to the booze and from the massive highs of living fast to the irrep...

In Out There, In Here, Jessica Baker explores whether we can solve our internal problems by being ‘out there’. In this fascinating conversation she and Katherine Allum discuss the fantasy of escaping the day-to-day vs its reality, and bond over writing manuscripts in the in-between spaces of expat London. Tune in here or on your favourite podcast app to find out more. Show notes About Jessica Jess...

Fremantle Press publisher Georgia Richter describes Boy Friends as a fun, heartwarming read with just the right amount of young adult angst, new love and hot characters. Fogarty shortlister Seth Malacari is one of four writers in the running to win a $20,000 cash prize, a publishing contract and a writing fellowship. Seth told host Katherine Allum they want to use the prize to encourage the trans...

The life of beloved children’s author Julia Lawrinson is stranger than fiction – and she draws on all her power as a storyteller to turn a life of intense headlines into a wild, marvellous tale. Author Julia Lawrinson was always a creative kid with a knack for theatricality, and in this final episode of the […]

The life of beloved children’s author Julia Lawrinson is stranger than fiction – and she draws on all her power as a storyteller to turn a life of intense headlines into a wild, marvellous tale. In the penultimate episode, memoirist Julia Lawrinson discusses the notion of rootlessness by taking a look at her peripatetic childhood […]

In this fascinating podcast Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes talks about ‘Teret Teret’ – the ceremonial phrase for introducing stories in Ethiopian culture – and the importance of poetry to the act of storytelling itself. Yirga says, ‘I like to write about the sacred places, holy people and beautiful stories from my country. This for me is an expression of gratitude for my becoming, and guilt for failing to g...

In this podcast Fiona Wilkes, who, unusually, doesn’t have a writing mentor, isn’t doing a creative writing degree and isn’t a member of a writing group, talks about how she wanted to challenge depictions of queer stories. Fiona says, ‘Honestly, part of the drive to write this novel was a dissatisfaction at the way queer […]

Howard McKenzie-Murray says his main character was inspired by a road trip, Huckleberry Finn and his own sister. He says, ‘Far From Wonderful is somewhere between a coming-of-age and a journey-home story set in Perth and narrated by 21-year-old med student Maud Tarkington. Maud brings you with her through a 24-hour period spanning her 21st birthday and her […]

In this podcast you get to hear the voice of Screech, Jodie Tes’ titular character. What might surprise you is that Screech is a sulphur-crested cockatoo. Jodie says, ‘I was on a morning walk, listening to Radio National, when an interview with a hilarious and passionate wildlife ecologist sparked the idea for Screech. She was […]

About the episode The life of beloved children’s author Julia Lawrinson is stranger than fiction – and she draws on all her power as a storyteller to turn a life of intense headlines into a wild, marvellous tale. In the fourth episode of this six-part series, Julia returns to her hometown in the south-eastern suburbs […]

About the show The life of beloved children’s author Julia Lawrinson is stranger than fiction – and she draws on all her power as a storyteller to turn a life of intense headlines into a wild, marvellous tale. In the third episode of this six-part series, Julia delves into her family history to examine the generation gap between herself and her grandparents – and in particular how the role of dome...

About the show The life of beloved children’s author Julia Lawrinson is stranger than fiction – and she draws on all her power as a storyteller to turn a life of intense headlines into a wild, marvellous tale. In episode two of this series, Julia takes us back to her rowdy youth and the start […]

About the show The life of beloved children’s author Julia Lawrinson is stranger than fiction – and she draws on all her power as a storyteller to turn a life of intense headlines into a wild, marvellous tale.  In the first episode of this 6-episode series, Julia immerses herself in the history of her own […]

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 […]