Fremantle Press (formerly known as Fremantle Arts Centre Press) is an independent publisher in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. Fremantle Press was established by the Fremantle Arts Centre in 1976. It focuses on publishing

n writers and writing. It publishes works of fiction, literary prose and poetry,

social history Social history, often called history from below, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. Historians who write social history are called social historians. Social history came to prominence in the 1960s, spreading f ...

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

, biography, trade books in areas such as food and photography, children's

picture books A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...

and fiction for young readers.

History

The Fremantle Arts Centre Press was started in the mid 1970s when it published the first of its books which included a poetry anthology. The first author of a whole book was Elizabeth Jolley who wrote ''Five Acre Virgin and other Stories''Fremantle Press
, Lavanlegal.com, accessed August 2013 which was one her first published works in 1976. Known initially for fiction works the press had a substantial financial success with a non-fiction work about an Australian autobiography entitled '' A Fortunate Life'' written by an 85-year-old Albert Facey. This work was licensed to Penguin books and sold over 750,000 copies. The arrangement with Penguin grew to a permanent distribution deal with the publication of ''My Place'' by the Indigenous author Sally Morgan in 1987. This was a national success and in 2000 when they published '' Benang'' another award-winning novel by the indigenous author Kim Scott. The press celebrated its first ten years of publishing in 1986. In the 1990s the press was involved in publishing archival materials. The press changed its name to ''Fremantle Press'' in 2007. In the late 1970s and early 1980s the press had a dedicated series edited by William Grono called ''West Coast Writing''of books of short stories and poetry. It included works by Nicholas Hasluck, Tom Hungerford, Alan Alexander, Andrew Burke, Lee Knowles, Alec Choate, Justina Williams, Peter Cowan, Julie Lewis, and James Legasse. The press published a poetry anthology of Western Australian works by Ryan and Kinsella in 2017. Subsequent published authors include Albert Facey, Sally Morgan, Elizabeth Jolley,

Tim Winton Timothy John Winton (born 4 August 1960) is an Australian writer. He has written novels, children's books, non-fiction books, and short stories. In 1997, he was named a Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia, and has won the ...

, Liz Byrski, Julia Lawrinson, Kim Scott, John Kinsella, John A. Long, Tracy Ryan, Richard Woldendorp, Frances Andrijich, Carolyn Polizzotto, Wayne Ashton, Anna Haebich, Philip Salom, Eoin Cameron, Kate Lamont, Kate McCaffrey, Katherine Summers, Simon Haynes, Craig Silvey and Stephen Kinnane. Since 1988, Fremantle Press has sponsored the T.A.G. Hungerford Award, a biennial award given to an unpublished writer for a work of adult fiction, narrative non-fiction or young adult fiction. Fremantle Press established the

Fogarty Literary Award The Fogarty Literary Award is an Australian award that was established in December 2018 by Fremantle Press in association with the Fogarty Foundation. It is a biennial award for an unpublished manuscript by a Western Australian writer aged 18 to ...

in association with the Fogarty Foundation in December 2018. This biennial award is for an unpublished manuscript by a Western Australian writer aged 18 to 35 valued at , equivalent to in . In addition, the winning author receives a publishing contract for their manuscript.

References

External links

*{{official website Fremantle Publishing companies established in 1976 Book publishing companies of Australia Western Australian literature 1976 establishments in Australia