Felice Arena is an Australian children's author, actor and playwright. He is best known for the bestselling and award-winning football-themed ''

Specky Magee The ''Specky Magee'' series is a highly popular and best-selling children’s book series in Australia. The books, written by Felice Arena and renowned Aussie Rules player Garry Lyon, chronicle the life and times of teenager Simon Magee, an aspi ...

'' series; the action-packed bionic hero series ''Andy Roid''; the sports-themed ''Sporty Kids''; his acclaimed historical novels ''The Boy and the Spy'' and ''Fearless Frederic A Great Escape''; and most recently his beginner-reader series ''The Besties''.

Biography

Arena was born in

Kyabram, Victoria Kyabram is a town in north central Victoria, Australia. Kyabram is located in the centre of a rich irrigation district in the Goulburn River Valley, north of Melbourne. It is the second-largest town in the Shire of Campaspe, situated between t ...

, and attended

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 196 ...

, in

Bendigo, Victoria Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, mak ...

. He graduated as a primary (elementary) school teacher but decided to pursue writing. Arena is also an actor. He played the role of

Marco Alessi Marco Alessi is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours'', played by Felice Arena. He made his first screen appearance as Marco during the episode broadcast on 5 May 1992. Marco was the first character introduced from th ...

in the Australian

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

'' Neighbours'' for a year. He also starred in London West End musicals including '' Hair'' and ''

Godspell ''Godspell'' is a musical composed by Stephen Schwartz with book by John-Michael Tebelak. The show is structured as a series of parables, primarily based on the Gospel of Matthew, interspersed with music mostly set to lyrics from traditional hy ...

''.

Books

* ''Wish'' (2005) * ''Stick Dudes #1 Water Fight Frenzy'' (2009) * ''Stick Dudes #2 Champions of the World'' (July 2010) * ''Stick Dudes #3 The Secret Four-ce'' (July 2010) * ''Farticus Maximus #1 Other Stories that Stink!'' Australia (2008) UK (April 2010) Canada (Sept 2011) * ''Farticus Maximus # 2 Stink-Off Battle of the Century Australia'' (2009) UK (April 2011) Canada (January 2012) * ''Farticus Maximus # 3 Bottomus Burps of Britannia'' (Oct. 2010) * ''Whippersnapper'' (August 2011) * ''Andy Roid and the Superhuman Secret'' (April 2012) * ''Andy Roid and the Field Trip of Terror'' (April 2012) * ''Andy Roid and the Camp Howl Crusaders'' (July 2012) * ''Andy Roid and the Heroes of the Night'' (July 2012) * ''Andy Roid and the Turbine Runaways'' (Oct 2012) * ''Andy Roid and the Sinister Showdown'' (Oct 2012) * ''Andy Roid and the Unexpected Mission'' (Aug 2013) * ''Andy Roid and the Tracks of Death'' (Aug 2013) * ''Andy Roid and the Missing Agent'' (Sept 2013) * ''Andy Roid and the Avalanche of Evil'' (Sept 2013) * ''Sporty Kids – Footy!'' (May 2015) * ''Sporty Kids – Swimming!'' (May 2015) * ''Sporty Kids – Tennis!'' (August 2015) * ''Sporty Kids – Soccer!'' (August 2015) * ''Sporty Kids – Basketball!'' (April 2016) * ''Sporty Kids – Handball!'' (April 2016) * ''Sporty Kids – Cricket!'' (October 2016) * ''Sporty Kids – Netball!'' (October 2016) * ''Sporty Kids – Little Athletics!'' (February 2017) * ''The Boy and the Spy'' (April 2017) *''Fearless Frederic'' (April 2018) * ''A Great Escape'' (March 2019) * ''The Besties to the Rescue'' (January 2020) * ''The Besties Show and Smell'' (January 2020)

Picture Books

* ''Sally and Dave, A Slug Story'' Australia (2007) US (2008) * ''Hey, Cat!'' June 2008

Book Series

* The ''

'' series (co-written with

Garry Lyon Garry Peter Lyon (born 13 September 1967) is a former professional Australian rules football player and was captain of the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Since his retirement from football, he has been mai ...

): : ''Specky Magee'' (2002) : ''Specky Magee & the great footy contest!'' (2003) : ''Specky Magee and the Season of Champions'' (2004) : ''Specky Magee and the Boots of Glory'' (2005) : ''Specky Magee and a Legend in the Making'' (2006) : ''Specky Magee and the Spirit of the Game'' (2007) : ''Specky Magee and the Battle of the Young Gun'' (2009) : ''Specky Magee and the best of Oz'' (2011)

Specky Magee

The Specky Magee series, written by Arena and his former schoolmate and Melbourne Football Club star

, have also been shortlisted for numerous Australian Children Choice awards—including three-time winner of the Young Australian Best Book Award. There are eight books in the series.

As contributor

References

External links

* *
Specky Magee
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arena, Felice Male actors from Victoria (Australia) Australian children's writers Australian male musical theatre actors Living people Writers from Victoria (Australia) Year of birth missing (living people) Australian children's book illustrators