I’ve just returned from an inspiring week in the Pilbara – and, frankly, it was the kids inspiring me most of the time. The Literature Centre and I ran creative writing workshops at high schools in Port Hedland and Newman, and after school we met the amazing Follow the Dream students. The honesty and effort these kids showed in their writing […]

I had a lovely week this week thanks to two schools, their staff and awesome students. On Wednesday I spent the day at Carmel School, working with Year 7, 9 and 11 students. I was so warmly greeted by staff, and then had the pleasure of talking with inquisitive, engaged students – as a writer-in-residence, […]

The other day I came across this old photo of me walking the Bibbulmun Track in the mid-1990s. It’s in this part of the world, along this beautiful walking trail, that I set 90 packets of instant noodles. This is where 15-year-old Joel goes to live, alone, for three months, in a run-down wooden shack. It’s […]

Shannon Osrin of RTR FM interviewed me and other creatives for this radio segment on inspiration – check it out! How to: Find Inspiration

Am thrilled to be able to share here a 3-minute podcast of me reading from At my door, my latest book. It’s for readers aged from 7 to 11. Hope you like it! https://www.fremantlepress.com.au/c/classroom-express/4642-deb-fitzpatrick-read-a-long

Look at these faces. These are the faces of the inspired, hard-working writers and illustrators I’ll have the pleasure of chatting with on stage at this year’s Perth Writers Festival. It’s a tough gig, it really is. I hope to see you there! It’s this weekend (18–21 February 2016) at UWA’s Crawley campus. The events […]

Welcome to the new year, everyone! I must say that I’m always glad to find myself on the ‘other side’ of the silly season. I’ve had a lovely break in the karri and marri forest in southern WA with my family and am really excited to get into a couple of big writing projects in […]

I had the pleasure of meeting Nic Emmerson and his dad, Roger, this week. Nic emailed me a couple of weeks ago. His email began like this: Hello Deb,  My name is Nic Emmerson and I am 20 years old and I am interested in learning about writing books for children and young adults. In January […]

Today I received a copy of the newly reprinted 90 packets of instant noodles. The first thing I did was flick through to the imprint page, where I saw this: That line – reprinted 2013, 2015 – made me glow with happiness. I never, ever would have thought when I signed my first book contract […]

My latest book, At My Door, is partly about being a mum. And the different kinds of mums out there. In the book we get glimpses of two mums, though one we never actually meet – Mei’s mum. Mei, a toddler, is left at the front door of Poppy’s house one night. Mei’s mum is […]