James Foley's Blog

I’m thrilled to be at next year’s DREAM BIG Children’s Festival in Adelaide! ⁠
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I’m on the schools program, running some Spontaneous Storytime sessions.⁠

⁠What is a Spontaneous Storytime? That’s where the kids write it, I draw it, and nobody knows what happens next, including me. ⁠
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In these live, laugh-out-loud storytelling sessions, I take the stage with a blank page and one mission: to hand creative control straight to the audience. Your child’s ideas, no matter how bizarre, random, or b...

This was such a fun project!

Me and a bunch of Aussie kid lit illustrators were given drawings by country kids, and we were asked to incorporate that drawing into a bigger illustration.

Then those illustrations were gathered together to make a fundraising calendar.

You can see my contribution here; the talented Evie Thorpe drew a very funny clownfish and I ran with it. Amazing drawing, Evie!

Our collaborative drawing on the left, and Evie Thorpe’s original o...

The reviews are in! My new book Amazing Astro Animals has been out in Australia and NZ for almost three weeks now – big thanks to everyone who’s shared a review so far.

Amazing Astro Animals

Buy it here:

SIGNED COPIES @ PAPER BIRD LOCAL INDIE BOOKSHOPS FREMANTLE PRESSBOOKTOPIA QBD Dymocks

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The Maitland-Newcastle Diocese has decided to restructure its 58 schools, saying it will redeploy its teacher-librarians or make them redundant.

This is a whoppingly-bad addition to an already worrying trend around Australia, where bean-counters treat the existence of trained TLs as an optional luxury.

With literacy rates falling, and misinformation and AI on the rise, we need TLs in schools more than ever. 

Click the instagram post ...

My new book, Amazing Astro Animals, is coming to a bookshop near you very soon!

Join me for a book launch in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.

Each launch will include a short lecture by renowned astrozoologist Professor Vüpshe Dazchy.

Professor Vüpshe Dazchy, seen here at the Baikonur Cosmodrome (Космодром Байконур) on the 1st of April 1973, shortly before he sent his own tapeworm to spacePERTH, SEPT 29

DATE: Tuesday Sept 29th
WHEN: 2:00pm
WHERE: H...

Barking Gecko Arts’ incredible stage adaptation of Stellarphant is back for a limited run this school holidays!

If you missed it back in May, now’s your chance. It’s got the original cast and creative team, which means you’re in for a treat – they really knocked this out of the park!

Stellarphant is on at the State Theatre Centre from Tuesday September 29 to Saturday 3rd October. Tickets are only $10 and you can book your seats here.

There’s even an Auslan-interpreted session...

Perth’s Awesome Festival is coming up, and I’ve got a bunch of events on!

Plus, book launches for Amazing Astro Animals! LET’S DO THIS!!

PERTH, Sept 29-Oct 3: STELLARPHANT STAGE SHOW

The incredible stage show of Stellarphant is back as part of this year’s Awesome Festival! If you missed it back in May, now’s your chance. 

Full of laughter, heart and imagination, Stellarphant takes audiences on a cosmic adventure about determination, equality and following your dreams. A...

I just came across a wonderful grassroots campaign from 2024, started by an illustrator called Beth Spencer. In response to the beginnings of generative AI, she designed a logo with the words ‘Created With Human Intelligence’. Here’s her piece:

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She invited people to draw the logo in their style. So I had a go and made this:

Beth’s positive, community-centred logo was just what I needed to see this week; like me, you may have noticed ...

My first non-fiction, Amazing Astro Animals, is out this October!

Born out of my research for Stellarphant, this is a true history of animals involved in space travel.

Before humans ever left the planet, animals boldly went where no man had gone before. Even now, these unwitting test pilots and space travellers outnumber their human counterparts.  

From microscopic tardigrades to a pregnant cockroach, from last-minute mutts to unhatched chicken eggs, these animals and their st...

My picture book BIGFOOT VS YETI is on the WA Premier’s Book Awards shortlist!⁠
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Congrats to the other shortlistees in the Children’s Book of the Year category: ⁠

Creature Clinic by Gavin Aung Than Everglade 1: Rise of the Witch by Kitty Black One Day by Shirley Marr and Michael SpeechleyThe Surface Trials by H.M. Waugh
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And congrats to all the other shortlistees! Western Australia is overflowing with local talent. Thank you to the judges and the State Library of WA for...