Kalamunda is a beautiful town in the Perth hills, which in 2026 is holding its inaugural Readers’ Festival! I’ve got a bunch of events over the weekend – see below for details.
Continue reading “Kalamunda Readers’ Festival, March 2026”
Are you a young reader? Do you enjoy a day out? Well funnily enough there’s this event coming up that’s perfect for young readers who enjoy a day out, and you wouldn’t believe what it’s called …
Join me as well as Andy J Alexander, Maria Blackman, Cristy Burne, Joanne Colely, Steve Heron, Suzanne Ingelbrecht, Julia Lawrinson, Frané Lessac, Susan Lu, Kristy Nita Brown, Sandi Parsons, Alexander Thorpe and Renée Treml. We’ll be reading a bit of our books, and signing copies, and there’ll be goodie bags and book discounts and general bookish awesomeness!
DATE: Sunday 23rd November
TIME: 10:30am-12:30pm
WHERE: State Library of WA
TICKETS: $20 + booking fee (includes entry for up to 6 people, $20 voucher at Boffins pop-up bookshop, and gift bags)
BOOKINGS: essential via trybooking.
I’m running an online session for Victorian schools through YABBA!
All Victorian Government primary & secondary schools are YABBA members in 2025; you can register for the session through the members area of the YABBA website.
Other schools can also access the session, as long as they have a YABBA membership.
DATE: Tuesday 25th November
TIME: 9:30am (AEDT)
WHERE: online
COST: included with YABBA membership
REGISTER: via the YABBA website.
Who’s up for another Spontaneous Storytime?
This one comes from a session at the State Library of NSW last weekend. I was joined by my author-illustrator bud Sean E Avery (creator of Frank’s Red Hat and Friendly Bee) who provided the live illustrations!
We had some fantastic ideas from the kids in the audience; check out the story below.
Sunday October 26, 10:30am-11:30am
In which a half-pig, half-penguin called Meg Wynne – who spends most of her time diving underwater to catch cabbage fish – decides to chase her long-held dream of flying through the sky.
I ran some improv storytelling sessions at the Awesome Arts Festival this week – where the kids came up with the ideas, and I illustrated them live! Huge thanks to all the amazing young storytellers who came along and offered up madcap characters, preposterous plot points and epic endings.
Wednesday October 1, 11:15am-12:15pm
In which Rosita, the sea star-girlfriend of Luca the Toaster is kidnapped by the evil Captain Bob, the intergalactic Butter Pirate. Captain Bob is called a Butter Pirate not because he steals butter, but because his body is a chunk of butter. Captain Bob flies off into space in his ship, the Blendar 1, with Rosita in a cage beside him.
I’ll be in Sydney at the end of October with my author-illustrator bud Sean Avery, and we’re taking over the State Library of NSW!
Join James and Sean for a laugh-out-loud session where the kids are in charge. Bring your weirdest and wackiest ideas for stories, because they’ll be mashing them up into the funniest Franken-tale you’ve ever heard — which James and Sean will illustrate, live!
Suitable for ages six and up, but all welcome.
DATE: Sun 26 October
TIME: 10:30-11:30am
WHERE: JB Fairfax Learning Centre, State Library of New South Wales
AGES: 6yo+ (for families)
TICKETS: $10/child (adults free)
BOOKINGS: essential via eventbrite
Are you ready to learn secrets of character design from two of Australia’s best children’s illustrators? Join James and Sean for a fun workshop where you get to design your own book character, then build them in 3D using colourful clay.
Suitable for ages 8–12.
DATE: Sun 26 October
TIME: 12noon-1pm
WHERE: JB Fairfax Learning Centre, State Library of New South Wales
AGES: 8-12yo
TICKETS: $10/child (adults free)
BOOKINGS: essential via eventbrite
Join me for a laugh-out-loud session where the kids are in charge. Bring your weirdest and wackiest ideas for stories, because we’ll be mashing them up into the funniest Franken-tale you’ve ever heard – which I will illustrate, live.
DATE: Wednesday 1 and Friday 3 October
TIME: 11:15am each day
WHERE: Education Room, State Library of WA, Francis St, Perth
AGES: 6-12yo
BOOKINGS: essential via trybooking
Join this workshop where I’ll show you how to create characters, use speech bubbles, sound effects, panels and backgrounds to create your own comic stories.
DATE: Saturday 4 October
TIME: 1-3pm
WHERE: Conference Room, Wanneroo Library and Cultural Centre, 3 Rocca Way, Wanneroo
AGES: 7-14yo
BOOKINGS: essential via eventbrite – **sold out, but there is a waitlist**
Want to learn how to illustrate picture books? Join me in this session to find out how. Suitable for ages 16+.
Topics include:
DATE: Saturday 11 October
TIME: 12:30-4:30
WHERE: Conference Room, Wanneroo Library and Cultural Centre, 3 Rocca Way, Wanneroo
AGES: 16yo+
BOOKINGS: essential via eventbrite
I’m presenting at this year’s Mantle Conference in Newcastle, along with superstars Deborah Abela, Sean E Avery, Charlotte Barkla, Megan Daley, Kate Foster, Lara Cain Gray and Kirli Saunders. What a line up!
For more details, check out the Mantle conference website.
Continue reading “Events for October”My new book Bigfoot vs Yeti: A Love Story has released to rave reviews … and the brand-new colour edition of Dungzilla will be out in April!
If you’re in Sydney or Melbourne, please come along to a book launch and help me celebrate these two new releases.
I’ll be in Sydney at the end of March to celebrate the release of Bigfoot vs Yeti and the new colour edition of Dungzilla! Join me at Gleebooks in Glebe for a ridiculously fun double book launch.
DATE: Saturday March 29
TIME: 10:30am
WHERE: Gleebooks, 49 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe, NSW
REGISTRATION: rachel@gleebooks.com.au
Melbourne friends, please come along to help me launch my new picture book Bigfoot vs Yeti, plus the colour edition of Dungzilla!
DATE: Friday April 4th
TIME: 6-7pm AEDT
WHERE: Readings Kids, 315 Lygon St, Carlton VIC
RSVP: essential, via trybooking
Thanks to everyone who came out on Saturday to celebrate the launch of my new picture book!
Bigfoot Vs Yeti: A Love Story had a fun-filled send-off featuring a cryptid Olympics, craft activities, Karen Irwin and a real life Bigfoot! Several snowballs were slung and many morsels were munched.
Huge thanks to everyone who helped out: Fremantle Press for organising, The Literature Centre for hosting, New Edition for book sales, Karen Blair for ably launching, Deb Fitzpatrick and Sam Hughes refereeing, and Renae Hayward for the hardest job of all: kid (+ James) wrangling 😘
Best on ground goes to Dave Foley for donning a gorilla suit on a very humid day 👏👏👏
Check out some video from the WA launch in the insta post below.
My new picture book Bigfoot vs Yeti: A Love Story is now available in bookstores!
I’m so happy with how this one has turned out! Huge thanks to everyone at Freo Press for their help.
You can see some sneak peeks of the book here.
AND here’s a little video to celebrate the book’s release!
My new book Bigfoot vs Yeti: A Love Story is out from March 3rd.
If you’re in Perth or Sydney, please come along to a book launch to help me celebrate!
Get ready for a fun-filled celebration of imagination, rivalry and unexpected friendship! Join us on Saturday 15 March at The Literature Centre for the highly anticipated launch of Bigfoot vs Yeti: A Love Story.
From participating in a fun tug-of-war or ‘snowball’ fight (no risk, all fun!), this event is packed with exciting, hands-on activities for all ages. Bring your family, friends and love for reading – there’s something for everyone!
DATE: Saturday March 15
TIME: 11am-1pm AWST
WHERE: The Literature Centre, Cnr Knutsford St & Hampton Rd, Fremantle WA
REGISTRATION: essential, via Humanitix
I’ll be in Sydney at the end of March to celebrate the release of Bigfoot vs Yeti and the new colour edition of Dungzilla! Join me at Gleebooks in Glebe for a ridiculously fun double book launch.
DATE: Saturday March 29
TIME: 10:30am
WHERE: Gleebooks, 49 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe, NSW
REGISTRATION: rachel@gleebooks.com.au
James Foley 