The Fremantle Press Podcast

Josephine Taylor says ‘Now Eye of a Rook is in the world and my vulvodynia story is complete. My pain was not invited but it has brought me to this. How can I not be grateful?’ In this Love to Read Local Podcast Jo talks to City of Hungerford winner Maria Papas about her new novel. Vulvodynia, the condition at the heart of Eye of a Rook is one that affects over two million women in Australia. It i...

The Last Bookshop by Emma Young is a book about what happens when you’re faced with the decision to sink or swim, it’s about a shared love of reading, finding your community and caring for one another. In this first #LoveToReadLocal podcast Emma talks to City of Hungerford winner Maria Papas. We think it’s the perfect book to kick off Love to Read Local! Love to Read Local is a statewide, online c...

Brooke Dunnell, Patrick Marlborough and Georgia Tree each have a one-in-three chance of taking out Australia’s newest and richest literary award for young writers. In this special edition of the Fremantle Press Podcast, Marketing and Communications Manager Claire Miller chats to each of the 2021 Fogarty Literary Award shortlisted writers and invites Fremantle Press publisher, Georgia Richter, to d...

Georgia and Claire are joined by Rowena Morcom, Publisher and Editor of  Good Reading Magazine, SpineOut and PK Mag , for a chat about what makes a good author interview and how authors make their way under the covers of her well-thumbed glossy pages for book lovers. Rowena dishes up a hot and greasy story about the things writers shouldn't do, and Claire and Georgia discuss using books in self-de...

Are you in a writing group? Georgia and Claire are joined by Deborah Hunn co-author of How to Be an Author: The Business of Being a Writer in Australia for a chat about the ins and outs of workshopping manuscripts. Invisible Boys author Holden Sheppard shares his tips for finding your unique voice and the Comma Chameleon helps us ‘pick the dinkus’.   Topics include: Where to find a writing group a...

Welcome to the first How to Be an Author in Australia edition of the Fremantle Press podcast, co-hosted by marketing and communications manager Claire Miller and publisher Georgia Richter. In the first episode, Georgia and Claire share the details of Georgia’s new book she co-wrote with Deborah Hunn, How to Be an Author: The Business of Being a Writer in Australia , and share the details of the Ho...

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, Words and Nerds.   English teacher, lit lover and self-confessed nerd Dani Vee describes her podcast, Words and...

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 .   Join them as they travel from the 1920s and the Australian outback all the way to...

Maria Papas’s manuscript, I Belong to the Lake , is one of three unpublished manuscripts in the running to win the 2020 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award. If she wins, she’ll secure herself a publishing contract with Fremantle Press and a $15,000 cash prize from the City of Fremantle.   In this podcast, Maria chats to Marketing and Communications Manager Claire Miller about her frustration with h...

Joanna Morrison’s manuscript, Still Dark , is shortlisted for the 2020 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award. If she wins, she’ll secure herself a publishing contract with Fremantle Press and a $15,000 cash prize from the City of Fremantle.   In this podcast she talks to Claire Miller about the process of working on her manuscript – a complex novel told from multiple points of view that combines elem...

Sharron’s manuscript, The Silence of Water , is one of three unpublished manuscripts in the running to win the 2020 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award. If she wins, she’ll secure herself a publishing contract with Fremantle Press and a $15,000 cash prize from the City of Fremantle.   In this podcast she talks to Marketing and Communications Manager Claire Miller about Western Australia’s convict p...

rotagonist 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. Her fresh and funny take on an old Chinese legend has resulted in a fast-paced, page-turning adventure that will warm the cockles of even the coldest undead, unbeating heart. With children's writer and fellow chai latte lover Rebecca Higgie at the helm, to...

We’re celebrating 30 years of the City of Fremantle Hungerford Award this year by bringing together Jay Martin, author of Vodka and Apple Juice: Travels of an Undiplomatic Wife in Poland , and Julie Sprigg, author of Small Steps: A Physio in Ethiopia . Jay won the Award in 2016 and Julie was shortlisted for it in 2018.   Speaking about her debut book, out this month, Julie says she wasn’t prepared...

In this podcast, recorded at The Business of Being a Writer seminar, Fremantle Press publisher Cate Sutherland delves into the world of self-publishing with authors Wendy Binks and Annabel Smith , and IngramSpark senior manager Debbie Lee. They address the stigma attached to self-publishing, and give pointers on things to consider before undetaking the self-publishing journey – from creating to di...

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.   Dianne says that although there are many stories out there about Australia’s involvement wit...

Recorded at Perth Festival’s Literature and Ideas Weekend, this podcast is a live recording of the seminar ‘A Day in the Life of Bestselling Authors and Booksellers’, hosted by Holden Sheppard, with guests Natasha Lester, Michael Earp, Allyce Cameron and Aisling Lawless.   First, grunge meets high fashion as bestselling City of Fremantle Hungerford alumni Holden Sheppard and Natasha Lester share t...

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...

In this touching episode of Love to Read Local radio, debut author Yuot A. Alaak ( Father of the Lost Boys) talks about his refugee experience, and how his memoir tells the story of his family, especially of his inspiring father who led 20,000 lost boys towards a brighter future during the Second Sudanese Civil War. He also mentions the power of storytelling, and its importance in African society....

What happens when you conference call with four talented Western Australian writers who are equally committed to short fiction as to long? Loads! Hosted by Susan Midalia, this episode of Love to Read Local Radio will give you a wonderful insight into where the urge to write comes from – those turning points in life which compel writers to put words on the page.

It has been an amazing two months of Love to Read Local Radio, and today’s episode is no different. We’ve brought together Madelaine Dickie ( Red Can Origami) , Helen Milroy ( Backyard Birds ) and Brenton E. McKenna (Ubby’s Underdogs Series) to discuss why they love to tell stories.   Helen says she’s always loved storytelling and would write in transit during her day job as a children’s psychiatr...

What do you get when you put two criminal masterminds together? David Whish-Wilson and Pol Koutsakis talking books! In this fascinating episode, the pair discuss the hero – or antihero – in Pol’s two books, Athenian Blues and Baby Blue. Stratos Gazis, an ‘ethical hitman’, has a moral code that controls his choices and leads to intrigue. David’s PI Frank Swann is in a similar boat, falling into the...

In this fascinating podcast, poet and academic Bron Bateman interviews fellow poets Caitlin Maling and Reneé Pettitt-Schipp about the unexpected parallels between their recent collections, which are both tied to their fathers and to the ocean. Reneé’s debut collection, The Sky Runs Right Through Us , won the WA Premier's Book Award for an Emerging Writer, and recalls her turbulent time spent on th...

Sara Foster and Alexander Thorpe have never met, but this podcast feels like the meeting of kindred spirits. From the classic mysteries of Agatha Christie and Josephine Tey to the police procedurals of Val McDermid and the atmospheric psychological thrillers of Nicci French, their discussion of their favourite books is a masterclass in international crime reads.   The pair discuss how Sara’s work...

Lots of people want to write picture books. Fremantle Press receives almost 600 picture book submissions a year, and we only publish up to five. In this episode of the Fremantle Press Podcast, Rebecca Higgie takes you into the studios of creators Kelly Canby, Tracey Gibbs and Katie Stewart to talk about how picture books are made. From the first idea to the first illustration to the storyboard, de...

Just days before COVID-19 sent us all home, Josephine Taylor and Catherine Noske jumped into the studio with Fremantle Press for an episode of Love To Read Local Radio. The two friends are best known in Western Australia’s literary community as editors of the journal Westerly and as academics and mentors, but this episode provided an opportunity to celebrate the release of Catherine’s debut book T...