James Foley's Blog

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.

March 21: How to Create a Graphic Novel with James Foley

Join acclaimed author and illustrator James Foley for an inspiring and hands-on session that unlocks the secrets of graphic novel creation.

In this engaging two hour workshop, James will guid...

I’m honoured to have some artwork included in the 2026 SQUIGL calendar! But the artwork isn’t just mine – it’s a collab between me and a kid living in regional Queensland called Will Thomas.

I was given Will Thomas’ excellent whiteboard drawing of a toucan …

… which I worked up into a very scribbly rough …

… then a more detailed rough.

My next step was a colour test, which I liked …

… but once I had my final artwork together...

SQUIGL Club is an awesome online drawing group for kids in regional Queensland. It was developed by author-illustrator Andy Geppert along with Somerset Storyfest and the Longreach School of Distance Education.

Andy had a brilliant idea – let’s raise funds for regional kids to visit a writers festival, and let’s sell calendars to do it! Each month’s artwork is an artistic collaboration between a kid living on a remote property and a professional illustrator. The kids each drew a bird ...

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 b...

Some great news: my picture book Bigfoot vs Yeti is on the shortlist for the 2025 Children’s Peace Literature Award! ⁠ ⁠

It’s a biennial award from the Psychologists for Peace interest group (part of the Australian Psychological Society). ⁠ ⁠

Also on the shortlist are friends and colleagues Deborah Abela, Karys McEwen, Amy Freund, Kooky Chooky, Jared Thomas, David Metzenthen, Larissa Ferenchuk and Prue Pittock . Congrats all! ⁠

Buy a copy:

*Signed copies* – Paper bird

Lo...

I’ve got four new titles coming out next year!

First cab off the rank – the sequel to my very silly picture book about a super chill capybara. It’s out in February through Scholastic.

Pre-order now:

SIGNED COPIES (PAPER BIRD)

Booktopia

This one is part of Walker Books’ Paw Prints series – junior fiction books by funny authors and illustrators. Fuzzball is written by Nathan Luff, illustrated by me! Out i...

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 ...

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...

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...

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