Felice Arena

Author, Illustrator

Felice Arena is one of Australia’s much-loved writers for kids. He is the author of many best-selling and award-winning books, including Wish, the Boyz Rule stories, the hilarious Farticus Maximus and the hugely popular Specky Magee series, co-written with old school mate and football legend Garry Lyon.

Felice is proud to be one of the ambassadors for the National Year of Reading 2012 program and the Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge.

Where were you born?

I was born outdoors in the sun-kissed Goulburn Valley, in country Victoria. My very pregnant mother was working in my Italian grandfather’s orchard, picking pears (um, yeah, I know, what happened to complete rest, right!?). There was no time to rush me to the hospital as I was already on my ‘way out’ and no one, not even my mother, was going to stop me. So my first look at the world was from under the shade of a pear tree. There was no partridge in the branches, but plenty of smiles and applause all round from the traveling German fruit-pickers. “Das ist ein schönes Baby! Ja! Ja!”

What themes are recurring in your work?

Sport. Love. Loving sport. Sporty love. Friendship. Action. Adventure. Tolerance. Hope. Dreaming big. Play. Boys. Girls. Teachers. Coaches. Parents. Tween/and teen life.

What have been the highlights of your career?

Winning five Australian Children Choice Book Awards would definitely be up there, but nothing can beat five thousand excited kids attending a Specky Magee book launch and screaming out at the top of their lungs, “Specky! Specky Specky!” That sort of thing makes me feel extremely humbled, blessed, and gooey all over!

Haven’t I seen you before?

In the 90s I was a former resident of Erinsborough – some may know the suburb from a little TV show called Neighbours As ‘Marco Alessi’. I lived at number 34 Ramsay Street, worked at Lassiter’s coffee shop, saved Bouncer the dog, kissed Natalie Imbruglia, found my long-lost adopted sister, sold dodgy cars, split up my cousin’s marriage to Paul Robinson, and joined a gang of shady underworld criminals. All in one year. Phew! I then followed my fellow soap-opera thespians to the UK, where I performed, yes, in a couple of pantomimes, but also in the lead West End roles in Hair, Godspell, and What a Feeling. In between theatre shows I presented children’s television and appeared in a couple of films.

Follow the links to news articles below to see past testimonials.