Elizabeth Jolley. Kim Scott. SallyMorgan. T.A.G. Hungerford.Gail Jones. John Kinsella. LizByrski. Craig Silvey. Randolph

Stow. Fremantle Press’s stable of writerspast and present reads like a who’s whoof WA literary royalty.

Which comes as no surprise, given theWest Australian not-for-profitpublisher’s commitment tobringing uniquely Australianstories to the world andidentifying talented newand emerging WesternAustralian writers andartists, and to publish

and distribute their work to the widestpossible audience, across fiction,non-fiction, poetry and children’sliterature.

“Think globally, act locally” couldwell apply here, with Fremantle Pressfirmly embedded in the WA communityyet committed to telling our stories to the

world. For Fremantle Press chiefexecutive Jane Fraser, it’s all

about place, connection.“Every one of our

books has that senseof place,” Jane says.“Every one of ourauthors connectswith the reader. So

as a West Australian,you can say ‘This is a

book about us’. “We get so much joy

knowing these stories are aboutour place and about who we are. Thatway every one of us owns a piece of thosestories.”

The fact the majority of FremantlePress authors live in the State meansreaders can have direct access to them.

“When I talk to book clubs I ask themif they’ve thought about doing aFremantle Press book,” Jane says.“Because our authors are here and youcan meet them. You can even ask them tocome to your book club. It adds a newdimension to the book club experience.”

For adult fiction publisher GeorgiaRichter, working with authors isimmensely rewarding.

“It’s all about the story, we share thisdesire to make it the best book it canpossibly be. And that’s a really nicefoundation for a relationship,” she says.

“That local element, that accessibility,is very important to our success as a smallindependent publisher. It’s about realrelationships with real people and theresult is that Fremantle Press authorshave been at the heart of the way WesternAustralia sees itself and the way otherssee us too.”

Telling our storiesSome of Australia’s best writers have come from the Fremantle

Press stable. William Yeoman looks back on 40 fabulous years.

Craig Silvey Kim Scott

ElizabethJolley

TIMELINE1970s• Fremantle Arts CentrePress established by City ofFremantle with a WA ArtsCouncil grant.• Early publications includeElizabeth Jolley’s Five AcreVirgin and Other Stories,Nicholas Hasluck’s Anchorand Other Poems, andSoundings, a selection ofWA poetry edited byVeronica Brady. • Fremantle Pressco-publishes, with CurrencyPress, Dorothy Hewett’s playThe Man from Mukinupin.

1980s• Western AustralianWildflowers in Watercolourby botanical artist PhilippaNikulinsky is published.• A Fortunate Life by A.B.Facey published. • Philip Salom’s The SilentPiano wins CommonwealthPoetry Prize.• Indigenous programlaunched with Gularabuluby Paddy Roe with StephenMuecke.• Jolley’s Milk and Honeywins NSW Premier’sLiterary Award.• Joan London’s Sister Ships wins the Age Book of the Year.• Distribution agreementwith Penguin Group.• Sally Morgan’s My Placewins the Human RightsAward for Literature andbecomes a global success.• John Kinsella’s firstcollection of poetry, NightParrots, is published.

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Liz Byrski

AlanCarterTop sellers

• My Place by Sally Morgan• Destroying Avalon by Kate McCaffrey• Stories from Suburban Roadby T.A.G. Hungerford• The Newspaper of Claremont Streetby Elizabeth Jolley• Prime Cut by Alan Carter• Benang by Kim Scott• The Last of the Nomads by W.J. Peasley• The Deep by Tim Winton and Karen Louise• The Last Anzacs by Steven Siewert andTony Stephens• In Flanders Fields by Norman Jorgensenand Brian Harrison-Lever• Lighthouse Girl by Dianne Wolfer and Brian Simmonds• A Sausage Went For a Walk by PeterKendall and Ellisha Majid• Sabrina’s Little ABC Book of Gardeningby Sabrina Hahn

CELEBRATE 40 YEARS OF Fremantle Press

Join us for our 40th anniversary and the announcement of the City of Fremantle T.A.G. Hungerford Award winner.With music by Dave Warner, and Anna Gare and the Jam Tarts, plus readings by Kim Scott, Dennis Haskell, Ambelin Kwaymullina, Craig Silvey, Stephen Kinnane, Sabrina Hahn, James Foley and Liz Byrski, this is your invitation to a special event marking four decades of great local stories.

When: 6.00 pm Wednesday 2 November, Fremantle Arts Centre TICKETS ARE FREE. Bookings: fremantlepress.com.au/book-clubs

Adults often overlook the depthand sophistication of picturebooks for younger readers.Which is a pity, as they have at

least as much to say about the world to theparents who read these books to theirchildren as they do to those same littlepeople.

One need look no further thanFremantle Press’s picture bookcatalogue, where titles such as AmbelinKwaymullina’s Crow and the Waterholeand Norman Jorgensen and BrianHarrison-Lever’s In Flanders Fieldsmanage to operate on many levels atonce, transcending their genre toembrace readers of all ages andbackgrounds.

Jorgensen, who has also worked withillustrator James Foley on theirViking series of picture books,says the quality and the agerange of such books haveincreased dramatically sincehe started working in thefield.

“Modern picture booksare now, more often thannot, beautiful works of art intheir own right,” he says. “Ilove wandering through thepicture books sections ofbookshops just looking inamazement at what hasbeen producedrecently. FremantlePress has produced

some of the cleverest yet subtle picturebooks and have, accordingly, won all sortsof well-deserved awards.

“The other change is that the agerange that they are produced for hasexpanded to include older children. Nolonger just on the shelves on thepre-school section, huge numbers ofpicture books can also be found inhigh school libraries. I thinkthat is wonderful.”

Children’s publisherCate Sutherland hasworked at FremantlePress since 1997 and hasbeen responsible for thechildren’s program formore than a decade. In thatrole she has nurtured thetalents of local creators andestablished strong partnerships betweenwriters and illustrators, many of whomare publishing their work for the firsttime.

“Working with new and emergingauthors and illustrators is incredibly

rewarding,” Cate says. “Forme, picture booksalways start with thestory — that magic

moment when Iread something in

the submission pilethat excites me.”

But her favouritepart of the process is

pairing an illustratorwith a writer. “I love

visualising what the story couldlook like depending on which

illustrator does the work.”As part of the AWESOME Festival, the

State Library of WA is curating andhosting the exhibition A Sausage WentFor a Walk One Day, celebrating 40 yearsof Fremantle Press.

Beginning with the much-loved ASausage Went For a Walk (1991) by EllishaMajid and Peter Kendall, the exhibitiontraces the art of picture books and picture

book making, inviting readers intothe world behind their creation

and shedding new light onthis art form.

“This wonderfulexhibition will form thejewel in the crown of the2016 AWESOME Festival,

showcasing the greatdepth of talent that exists

within the West Australianchildren’s literature sector as we

celebrate 40 years of magnificent work byFremantle Press,” AWESOME chiefexecutive Jenny Simpson says.

Artworks and development materialsfrom 36 original picture books will be ondisplay, giving readers rare insight intothe process — the hundreds of sketches,storyboards, text revisions, and style andcolour experiments that go into creatingthe book.

Author and illustrator Sally Morgan,whose work is featured throughout theexhibition, says picture books have thepower to inspire a lifelong love of reading.“Sharing our local stories helps WestAustralian kids to feel pride and joy intheir own stories. Their stories matter toall of us.”

The big picture

A Sausage Went for a Walk OneDay, State Library of WA untilDecember 31, seefremantlepress.com.au.

A new exhibitionexplores the storybehind WA’s picturebooks.

1990s• First T.A.G. HungerfordAward for an unpublishedfirst manuscript goes toBrenda Walker’s Crush.• Children’s list launchedwith A Sausage Went for aWalk by Ellisha Majid andPeter Kendall. • Gail Jones wins T.A.G.Hungerford Award for TheHouse of Breathing. • May O’Brien’s BawooStories, one of the first booksto feature an indigenouslanguage, is published.• Deborah Robertson’sProudflesh wins the SteeleRudd Award.• Down to Earth by RichardWoldendorp and TimWinton becomes bestseller.

2000s• Kim Scott becomes firstindigenous author to win theMiles Franklin for his secondnovel, Benang.• In Flanders Fields byNorman Jorgensen andBrian Harrison-Lever winsthe Children’s Book Councilof Australia picture book ofthe year.• Craig Silvey’s debutRhubarb published, Silveynamed Sydney MorningHerald best youngAustralian novelist.• Destroying Avalon by KateMcCaffrey, Australia’s firstnovel on cyberbullying,becomes bestseller.• T.A.G. Hungerford winnerAlice Nelson named SydneyMorning Herald best youngAustralian novelist for TheLast Sky.• K.A. Bedford wins anAurealis Award.

‘Theirstories

matter to all of us.’

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on of

Send your entries (max 50 words) to info@writingWA.org with Love to Read Local in the subject line. Competition closes midday 10 October and the winner will be announced on 14 October.

Terms and Conditions: Competition open to WA residents only. The decision of writingWA’s judges will be final. No further correspondence will be entered into.

the CelebrationJoin

Proudly investing in Western Australian writing and publishing

Selected responses may be posted on writingWA’s Facebook page and in the Love to Read

-news.

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Given the dynamism anddiversity of Fremantle Press’scrime fiction list, one couldbe forgiven for thinking Perth

must be the crime capital of Australia.Of course, nobody is brazen enough to

make such an assertion. But corruption isthe handmaiden of civilisation and, ifgenre fiction offers an alternative way of“doing history”, perhaps we can say withmore certainty that Perth is the crimefiction capital of Australia.

“What crime fiction does best is talkabout the things that often aren’t talkedabout, looking at personalities and eventsthat often aren’t represented in thehistory books, or anywhere else for thatmatter,” says Perth author DavidWhish-Wilson, whose latest crime novelOld Scores will be published byFremantle Press next month.

“I think crime fiction is a terrificvehicle to explore social themes and I’mparticularly interested in crimes that ariseat the intersection of politics and business— that is, crimes that are done for politicalor business reasons. Crime fiction

functions as entertainment but also has apolitical purpose, representing crime asnot just the work of an aberrant individualbut as something structural and integralto the way our society works.”

Fremantle Press publisher GeorgiaRichter agrees, while highlighting thecamaraderie that exists between crimeauthors, including Whish-Wilson, AlanCarter, Ron Elliott and Peter Docker.

“There is a sense that here is acommunity of writers who talk to eachother and whose crime books feed into abigger conversation,” she says. “These areWA stories, which are the stories we tell —they order and reflect on the society inwhich we live and they provide nuancesand sinister undertones to the placeswhere we spend our days.”

More than half of the Fremantle Presscrime novels were published from 2010onwards when Georgia published FelicityYoung’s Take Out as one of her first booksas the Fremantle Press adult fictionpublisher.

Over the past six years she hasdeveloped a critically acclaimed list ofcrime novels that have won a long listingfor the Miles Franklin Award and ashortlisting and two wins in the Ned Kelly

Awards, including this year’s winnerBefore It Breaks by Dave Warner.

Georgia cites Randolph Stow’sSuburbs of Hell, published in 1993, as thePress’s first crime novel — though BrendaWalker’s 1991 novel Crush did exhibitelements of crime. “But the first novelwhich really gave West Australianspermission to write fictionally aboutcrime in a way we’re familiar with todaywas Dave Warner’s City of Light (1995),”she says. “There’s that idea that you canturn lightness into darkness so effectivelyin Perth and its surrounds, and I thinkthat book is the foundation of our list.”

It’s a quality Young seizes on. “I thinkmore than anything else it was the WAsettings that influenced my crimewriting,” she says. “The pea-soup fogs ofVictorian London, the ‘mean streets’ ofChicago, the snowy wastelands ofScandinavia. Compare those to theunending white beaches and blue skies ofWA and the vibrant colour of the pindansand — what a contrast! The challenge tome was to impose the same kind ofmenace in our surroundings as that of ournorthern hemisphere colleagues. I thinkthe settings chosen by WA’s crime writerswork as a delicious form of irony.”

Criminal mindsWA has a winning line-up ofwriters exploring our dark side.

2010s• Prime Cut by Alan Carterwins Ned Kelly Award forbest debut crime fiction.• The Last Viking byNorman Jorgensen andJames Foley short-listed forfive awards.• Ambelin Kwaymullinalaunches Chinese editionsof her picture books Crowand the Waterhole, TheTwo-Hearted Numbat, HowFrogmouth Found HerHome and Caterpillar andButterfly. • Light Horse Boy by DianneWolfer and Brian Simmondsmade a Children’s BookCouncil of Australia honourbook and wins the WesternAustralian Premier’s BookAward.• In Love and War by LizByrski is sold to HBO for aUK/US mini-series.• French theatre companyRoyal de Luxe useLighthouse Girl by DianneWolfer and Brian Simmondsas inspiration for a characterin The Giants at the Perth International ArtsFestival.• Dave Warner’s Before ItBreaks wins Ned KellyAward for best crime fiction.• Sister Heart by SallyMorgan is made aChildren’s Book Council ofAustralia honour book.• Bronwyn Bancroft isnominated for the HansChristian Andersen Award,the highest internationalrecognition given to achildren’s book creator.

Sponsored content

on of

Send your entries (max 50 words) to info@writingWA.org with Love to Read Local in the subject line. Competition closes midday 10 October and the winner will be announced on 14 October.

Terms and Conditions: Competition open to WA residents only. The decision of writingWA’s judges will be final. No further correspondence will be entered into.

the CelebrationJoin

Proudly investing in Western Australian writing and publishing

Selected responses may be posted on writingWA’s Facebook page and in the Love to Read

-news.

Discover all the latest books by WA writers. Subscribe to the Love Read Local -newsletter @ www.writingwa.org > Subscribe

When Shaun Tan was creating his award-winning picture book The Arrival, oneof his many influences was seminal WAauthor T.A.G. Hungerford’s short story

Wong Chu and the Queen’s Letterbox. It’s almost 40 years since Hungerford’s collection

of the same name became one of Fremantle Press’ firstpublications but themes of migration and expatriationare common threads running through the 2016 City ofFremantle T.A.G. Hungerford short list. CatherineGillard, Jay Martin, Jodie Tesoriero, Tineke Van derEecken and David Thomas Henry Wright are in therunning for the award, which is givenbiennially to an unpublished fiction orcreative non-fiction manuscript by aWA author. The prize is $12,000 anda publishing contract withFremantle Press.

Fremantle Press fictionpublisher Georgia Richter says theshort-listed manuscripts grapplewith being a stranger in a strangeland — referencing other places anddefining themselves in relation to them.

“Two creative non-fiction pieces portraywomen following their husbands overseas and, ofthe three novels, two explore the experience ofimmigration, while a third includes a convincingrendering of life in China and North Korea,” she says.

Teacher, songwriter and musician Tesoriero saysthe setting for her migrant story Barcarola wasinspired by the birthplace of her paternalgrandparents, the island Panarea in southern Italy.“It’s hard to explain the spiritual connection I feel withthe island. It’s as though the history, the memory of it,is hardwired into my DNA.”

Van der Eecken, a visual artist working in socialand criminal justice, has lived in Africa and Europe.She wrote Traverse after travelling to northern

Madagascar to save her marriage. “Focused on therelationship, I underestimated the challenge of hikingfor 350km. Reflecting back on the trip, it was preciselythis journey that made me distinguish my ownpurpose … and traverse to a new future in Australia.”

Martin, too, has lived all over the world. “LearningPolish tells the story of my three years in Poland as adiplomatic wife — a story that starts with a suspicionthere ‘just might be more’ to life than my comfortableexistence in Canberra and ends three years later in aPolish forest with the realisation doing interestingthings not only doesn’t make you happy, it doesn’teven make you interesting.”

Many 2016 entries came from regional writers but ahigh proportion came from Fremantle and nearby.

Fremantle mayor Brad Pettitt is pleased tosee many local entries. “This

demonstrates what a strong creativeand literary culture (Fremantle) hasnurtured. The city is proud tosponsor this award which hasgrown in status year on year andprovided a springboard for somevery talented writers.”

Brenda Walker’s winning novelCrush kickstarted an impressive

career that has included a VictorianPremier’s Award for non-fiction. In 2006

Walker was short-listed for a Miles FranklinLiterary Award.

Fellow Hungerford winner Gail Jones has beenshort-listed for the Miles Franklin three times andrecognised in several international awards. WhileJones’ The House of Breathing won the Hungerford in1991, an entrant that year was Kim Scott, who went onto become the first indigenous writer to win the MilesFranklin and first indigenous writer to win it twice.

Locals think globalShortlist announced for 2016 City ofFremantle TAG Hungerford award.

The winner of the 2016 City of FremantleT.A.G. Hungerford Award will be announcedon Wednesday, November 2. Bookings:fremantlepress.com.au/bookclubs.

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