Australian novelist Craig Silvey charged with child exploitation offences

Prize-winning Australian author Craig Silvey has appeared in court charged with possessing and distributing child exploitation material.

Silvey, best known for his novel Jasper Jones, was arrested on Monday after police raided his home in Perth. Police alleged he was actively engaging with other child exploitation offenders online when they arrived.

The 43-year-old father of three did not enter a plea during his appearance in Freemantle Magistrates Court on Tuesday and was granted bail.

Jasper Jones is regarded as an Australian classic. It has sold more than half a million copies, is often a set text in schools and was made into a film starring Toni Collette in 2017.

The book won the Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year Award and was also shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Awards and the Miles Franklin Literary Award.

Another of his books, 2022 novel Runt, was also made into a film starring Celeste Barber.

The sequel, Runt and the Diabolical Dognapping, was launched at the end of last year and was Australia's number one "best-selling children's book" according to its publisher Allen & Unwin.

Silvey is to appear in court again on 10 February.