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

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Fremantle Press was established by the

Fremantle Arts Centre The Fremantle Arts Centre is a multi-arts organisation based in a historic building complex on Ord Street in Fremantle, Western Australia. The heritage-listed building complex was built using convict labour between 1861 and 1868 and was used ...

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 the new social history, is a field of history that looks at the lived experience of the past. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in his ...

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

, 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 images ...

and fiction for young readers.

History

The Fremantle Arts Centre Press was started in the mid 70s when it published the first of its books which included a poetry anthology. The first author of a whole book was

Elizabeth Jolley Monica Elizabeth Jolley AO (4 June 1923 – 13 February 2007) was an English-born Australian writer who settled in Western Australia in the late 1950s and forged an illustrious literary career there. She was 53 when her first book was publishe ...

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 they 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 Albert Barnett Facey (31 August 1894 – 11 February 1982), publishing as A.B. Facey was an Australian writer and World War I veteran, whose main work was his autobiography, ''A Fortunate Life'', now considered a classic of Australian literat ...

. 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 Kim Scott (born 18 February 1957) is an Australian novelist of Aboriginal Australian ancestry. He is a descendant of the Noongar people of Western Australia. Biography Scott was born in Perth in 1957 and is the eldest of four siblings with a ...

. The press changed its name to the 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 Nicholas Paul Hasluck Order of Australia, AM (born 17 October 1942) is an Australian novelist, poet, short story writer, and former judge. Early life Nicholas Hasluck was born in Canberra. His father, Sir Paul Hasluck was a minister in the F ...

Tom Hungerford Thomas Arthur Guy Hungerford, AM (5 May 191519 June 2011) was an Australian writer, noted for his World War II novel '' The Ridge and the River'', and his short stories that chronicle growing up in South Perth, Western Australia during the Gr ...

, Alan Alexander, Andrew Burke, Lee Knowles, Alec Choate, Justina Williams, Peter Cowan, Julie Lewis, and James Legasse. Subsequent published authors include Albert Facey, Sally Morgan,

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 Miles Fr ...

Liz Byrski Elizabeth Ann Byrski (born 1944 in London) is an Australian writer and journalist. Biography After graduating from Notre Dame Convent in Lingfield, Surrey, in 1960, Byrski furthered her education at the Crawley College of Further Education ( ...

, Julia Lawrinson,

, John Kinsella, John A. Long, Tracy Ryan,

Richard Woldendorp Richard Leo Woldendorp AM (1 January 1927 – April 2023) was a Dutch-Australian photographer known for his aerial photography of Australian geography. Early life Born in Utrecht in The Netherlands and brought up by his mother, a sole parent, ...

, Frances Andrijich, Carolyn Polizzotto, Wayne Ashton, Anna Haebich,

Philip Salom Philip Salom (born 8 August 1950) is an Australian poet and novelist, whose poetry books have drawn widespread acclaim. His 14 collections of poetry and four novels are noted for their originality and expansiveness and surprising differences fro ...

Eoin Cameron Eoin Harrap Cameron (4 January 1951 – 23 June 2016) was an Australian radio personality in Perth, Western Australia and member of the Australian House of Representatives. Until August 2015 he presented the ABC's Perth local station 720 ABC P ...

Kate Lamont Kate Lamont (born 13 October 1962) is an Australian cook, political aspirant and author. Career Lamont has hospitality interest in the Swan Valley, Margaret River and a bottle shop and bar in Cottesloe, Western Australia. as well as Lamont's ...

, Kate McCaffrey,

Simon Haynes Simon Haynes is an Australian writer of speculative fiction novels and short stories, particularly the Hal Spacejock series. Haynes also uses his experience with computers to write software which he designs for himself and then shares for free ...

, Craig Silvey and Stephen Kinnane. Fremantle Press established the

Fogarty Literary Award The Fogarty Literary Award is an Australian award that was established in December 2018 by Fremantle Press Fremantle Press (formerly known as Fremantle Arts Centre Press) is an independent publisher in Western Australia. Fremantle Press was es ...

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 AU$20,000. 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