Meet the Creator: Bethany Loveridge

Before becoming an author and publisher you worked in education, did this experience influence you as a writer/illustrator/publisher)?
Absolutely. And before I was a teacher, I was a youth worker. I care about the young people in this country and the stories they’re surrounded by. I’m also a mother of two so I have a vested interest (but as James Baldwin wrote, ‘the children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe.’)

Working with young people also gives insight into thoughts and behaviours and language so hopefully that’s helped me write compelling stories for young readers!

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Huge congrats on your debut MG Harper Wells: Renegade Timeline Officer! Can you tell us a bit about this book and how it came to you?
Thank you! You’ve been around for a lot of my journey to publication. Mid-2020, I read this article about the Wollemi Pine (aka ‘dinosaur tree’) an incredible endemic tree that has survived unknown in a hidden grove in the Blue Mountains. The Wollemi disappeared from our fossil record and was thought to be extinct until it was accidentally discovered in 1994. How magical! That night I had a dream about the Wollemi being so timeless and enduring that it could send people back in time. When I woke up, I wrote the first 7000 words!

I really wanted to include some under-celebrated Australian women, so in the first story Harper meets a young Edith Cowan (Australia’s first female parliamentarian), in the second, Constance Stone (Australia’s first female medical doctor), and in the final, Jessie Hickman (a female bushranger)! I also aim to broach the idea of questioning history – who decides what makes our history books, and why. Time travel is a pretty great vessel to explore all these themes!

Can you share anything about your upcoming picture book (or anything else you're working on)?
I am VERY excited about another trilogy coming out with Wombat Books, illustrated by the incomparable Jade Goodwin. The first story is out mid-2026 and called Josie Mack: The MEGA Division. It’s a junior fiction series about a little girl who befriends a talking wombat and is invited to join the FUN (Fellowship of Underground Nocturnals). Expect big heart, adventure and environmental themes (hey, it’s perfect for fans of Ella)!

Next year I’ll also have two picture books and a young adult novella released – it’s going to be wild. One of the picture books is illustrated by Chris Kennett. I am such a fan and could never have imagined working with him. When I found out he was illustrating I did ugly shaking happy crying. This PB (with Little Book Press) is out very early next year, and it will be SO FUN!

You're having a huge year(!) How long have you been working towards your ‘overnight success’?
How glad am I that I didn’t quit? Cassy, it’s been a lot of years of writing and near-successes and heartbreak. I even remember thinking there must be a big red cross against my name for some reason (you know, on the Global Aspiring Authors List). I started my first story in 2017 (it’s trash, obviously) and signed my first contract in July 2024. So since that first contract I’ve signed another nine contracts and signed with my dream literary agent AND started Perentie Press. It’s a lot but I am so ready for it.

Tell us about Perentie Press. How did the idea come about and how did you get it off the ground?
Perentie Press came about when Rochelle Stephens (my publisher at Wombat) and I were joking about starting a company together. We got to this stage where she was like, ‘wait, are you serious?’ and I was like, ‘I am if you are.’ And we are having the best time making books. Rochelle has been a publisher for over fifteen years – she has an incredible wealth of industry expertise and has definitely done the heavy lifting in terms of setting up a business. I did draw our perentie though!

What can we expect to see from Perentie Press (and what is still on your wish list?)
We are publishing graphic novels for kids aged 5-17 and have signed some incredible Australian creators including Natashia Curtin, Brent Wilson and Wendy Tyrer. These three represent early reader, middle grade and young adult fiction titles respectively and they’re all brilliant.

We recently opened the Perentie Prize for graphic novel manuscripts, so we’re currently open to manuscripts (words only) for the purpose of the prize, but otherwise would only take author/illustrator submissions.

I have very eclectic taste in terms of themes, but always want hooky, unexpected stories that are begging to be told visually. I’m a big genre fan, but I’m also looking for special interest stories, strong schoolyard stories and I’d love to find a gripping mystery!

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Why did you want to champion graphic novels? Any favourite titles that inspired you/Perentie?
My childhood holidays were spent at my nonno’s farm, reading The Phantom, Archie Digest and other serialised comics over and over. Later, when I studied film, I found that storyboarding felt basically the same as reading or writing a comic. A graphic novel is something a bit more substantial than a comic book – and ours will be colour and be nice to hold (refer to my earlier comment about books being treasures).

Why do I want to champion them? I love them, and so do kids! With declining reading rates, we want to do all we can to get books in kids’ faces (rather than screens where possible), and graphic novels are absolutely the book of choice for lots of kids.

I have so many favourites. Some include Cross Bones (by Jack Henseleit and Chris Kennett – yes, MY illustrator), the Home Time books by Campbell Whyte, Ink Girls by Marieke Nijkamp and Sylvia Bi, the Lightfall series by Tim Probert and anything by Remy Lai.

How do you juggle writing, illustration and now publishing? Any rules or rituals to help your compartmentalise?
Hah! I laugh in the face of balance! But seriously, I am protective of all the things that matter to me. So I have days set aside for family, days for Perentie, days for my own stories. All the other things fit into the gaps or fall away. Also, I drink a lot of coffee.

Does one role feel a bigger part of your heart or personality than the others?

You've just been hit by a new idea in the middle of work/life/a shower/the night. What's next? How do you record it and how/when do you tackle it?
Excellent. I love this for me. I maintain that showers are for cleanliness, but I will often have a genius idea or a breakthrough in the middle of the night. I roll over and send myself a text, because my memory is terrible, and I know from experience that I will always, always forget. The next time I turn on my laptop I will have an alert from myself. I’m always thankful for Last Night Betty and her insights. If I am not sleeping, I will stop whatever else I was doing to write it down (because I can’t be trusted to remember in the daylight hours, either).

Do you jump between projects or follow one through til the end?
I would prefer to live in one story world at a time, but I have found that I can be more productive if I have several projects simmering away. This way I always have something I feel like working on, and maybe it protects my heart a bit when I get a rejection.

What’s still on your creative bucket list?
One of my earliest dreams was to write and illustrate a picture book, so that’s on my list of things to do. There are some editors I really want to work with, so I want to dream up the right project for them, too. Oh! And I’d love to keep meeting young readers for the rest of my life. Honestly, every time I tick a thing off my list, I’ll add another three dreams.

Find out more about Perentie Press at perentiepress.com