Craig Silvey, the award-winning author of *Jasper Jones*, was jailed on Monday for seven months after pleading guilty to distributing and possessing child exploitation material earlier this year.

The Western Australian district court heard that the 44-year-old father of three was found with numerous category one photos and videos when police raided his Fremantle home, according to The Guardian.

Judge Hayley Cormann called the offending very serious and very disturbing, saying it involves children and is destructive and devastating. The Saudi Gazette reports that the sentence was backdated to 22 October and that Silvey is eligible for parole.

The Guardian reports that Silvey engaged in an online conversation with another user on a pornography website under the handle Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy, describing himself as a 'Fremantle guy' before suggesting they move to encrypted messaging.

There, the court heard, he said he was 'extremely open-minded and obsessed with taboos' and discussed his sexual interest in boys as young as five. Police told the court his chats discussing child exploitation were open at the moment they arrived to raid his house, according to the Saudi Gazette.

Prosecutors argued he contributed to the cycle of abuse victimising the children in the images and sought a harsh sentence.

Silvey's lawyer, Eloise Barker, argued he did not have a sexual interest in children and was seeking out 'the most depraved material' as a form of emotional self-harm, saying his behaviour provided temporary relief from psychological agitation, the Saudi Gazette reports.

She also cited his genuine remorse and the media scrutiny that led his former partner and children to relocate interstate. Judge Cormann did not accept many of these arguments.

The Guardian quotes her telling Silvey he had devastated and betrayed the trust of thousands of people and let entire communities down, adding that the victims are real and traumatised, with long-lasting consequences.

Two further charges of producing and possessing child exploitation material were dropped in May.

The fall is stark for a writer shortlisted for the Miles Franklin and International Dublin literary awards. *Jasper Jones*, his 2009 coming-of-age novel set in Western Australia, sold more than half a million copies, won a Book of the Year award in 2010, and was adapted into a 2017 film starring Toni Collette and Hugo Weaving plus several stage productions.

His children's novel *Runt*, about a girl and her stray dog, became a 2024 film featuring Celeste Barber, and *Honeybee* won the Australian Indie Book Award in 2021.

The Guardian reports that publishers Allen & Unwin and Fremantle Press stopped promoting his books after he was charged, and most of his titles were removed from reading lists across the country.

The Saudi Gazette adds that bookshops pulled his works from shelves and some states' schools removed his books from teaching lists.