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Felice Arena
Author, Illustrator
Felice Arena is one of Australia’s much-loved children’s authors. His books have topped bestseller lists and garnered several awards, including six Australian Children’s Choice Book Awards. His works include the incredibly popular Specky Magee series, the hilarious Farticus Maximus books, Whippersnapper, Wish, the Boyz-Rule and Girlz-Rock books, the action-packed bionic-hero series Andy Roid, the Sporty Kids series and most recently his acclaimed historical adventure novels The Boy and the Spy, Fearless Frederic and A Great Escape.
Follow Felice on Twitter and Instagram @Fleech or visit his site: www.felicearena.com
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.
Testimonials
Felice kept 150 boys captive while he discussed his books. He inspired them to use their experiences as a writing source, and emphasised the importance of research in making stories more authentic…a flawless performance
Brilliant, engaging, captivating and inspiring are just some of the ways I would describe Felice’s sessions. His energy is infectious and its not just the students who enjoy themselves. Do yourself a favour and book Felice in at your school or library, you certainly won’t be disappointed.
Felice spoke to our Grade 5 & 6 students, with his usual vim! He is always switched on from the moment he sets foot in the school grounds, & wins over both students & teachers instantly.
This is the third time we have had Felice Arena visit our school, and he is always wonderful fun, yet educational as well! Felice’s sessions are as much a performance as anything, and the children don’t realise they are learning at the same time – nobody gets the shuffles, everyone wants to participate, & laughter abounds! We always have a resurgence in reading his books after Felice has visited, and even more so with his newly released titles. We love Felice!
The students thoroughly enjoyed Felice’s presentation and were highly engaged the whole time.
His latest book, The Boy and the Spy, was a perfect fit as we are currently studying historical narratives.