Award-winning Australian author Craig Silvey has pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing child exploitation material. The 43-year-old writer, best known for his novel Jasper Jones, appeared at 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. Two additional charges, including one alleging he produced child exploitation material between February and June 2022, have been discontinued by prosecutors.
The father of three admitted the remaining counts related to offences in January. His bail was continued, and he is next due to appear in the District Court on 3 July for sentencing.
Silvey’s publishers, Allen & Unwin and Fremantle Press, stopped promoting his books after the original charges were laid. Most of his titles were removed from reading lists across the country. His 2009 novel Jasper Jones is considered a modern Australian classic, adapted into a film and stage productions.
