Award-winning Australian author Craig Silvey has pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing child exploitation material. The 43-year-old, best known for his novel Jasper Jones, appeared in Fremantle Magistrates Court on Tuesday to enter his pleas.
Silvey was first charged in January after detectives from Western Australia Police’s child abuse squad raided his Fremantle home. They allegedly caught him communicating online with child exploitation offenders and seized his electronic devices. He was later hit with additional charges, including allegations he produced child exploitation material between February and June 2022, and possessed further material on 12 January this year.
Prosecutors have now dropped those two additional charges. Silvey admitted the remaining counts of possessing and distributing child exploitation material linked to offences in January.
Silvey is the author of the 2009 coming-of-age novel Jasper Jones, considered a modern Australian classic and adapted into a feature film and stage productions. He also wrote Rhubarb, Honeybee (winner of the 2021 Australian Indie Book Award), and the children’s novel Runt, which was also made into a film.
Publishers Allen & Unwin and Fremantle Press stopped promoting his books after the original charges were laid, and most of his titles were removed from reading lists across the country. Silvey’s bail was continued, and he is next due to appear in the District Court on 3 July for sentencing.
