Felice Arena

Felice Arena is an Australian children's author and illustrator. He is best known for the bestselling and award-winning Specky Magee series, the Farticus Maximus books, the action-packed bionic-hero series Andy Roid, and Sporty Kids, a series for beginner readers. In October 2013 he received the "Kids Own Australian Literature Awards (KOALA) Legend award".

Biography

Arena was born in Kyabram, Victoria and attended La Trobe University, in Bendigo, Victoria. He graduated as a primary (elementary) school teacher but decided to pursue writing.^[1]

Arena is also an actor. He played the role of Marco Alessi in the Australian soap opera Neighbours for a year. He also starred in London West End musicals including Hair and Godspell.

Books

• Wish (1999; 2005)
• Breakaway John (2001)
• "Stick Dudes #1 Water Fight Frenzy" (2009)
• "Stick Dudes #2 Champions of the World" (July 2010)
• "Stick Dudes #3 The Secret Four-ce" (July 2010)
• "Farticus Maximus #1 Other Stories that Stink!" Australia (2008) UK (April 2010) Canada (Sept 2011)
• "Farticus Maximus # 2 Stink-Off Battle of the Century" Australia (2009) UK (April 2011) Canada (January 2012)
• "Farticus Maximus # 3 Bottomus Burps of Britannia" (Oct. 2010)
• "Whippersnapper" (August 2011)
• "Andy Roid and the Super Human Secret (April 2012)
• "Andy Roid and the Field Trip of Terror (April 2012)
• "Andy Roid and the Camp Howl Crusaders (July 2012)
• "Andy Roid and the Heroes of the Night" (July 2012)
• "Andy Roid and the Turbine Runaways" (Oct 2012)
• "Andy Roid and the Sinister Showdown" (Oct 2012)
• "Andy Roid and the Unexpected Mission" (Aug 2013)
• "Andy Roid and the Tracks of Death" (Aug 2013)
• "Andy Roid and the Missing Agent" (Sept 2013)
• "Andy Roid and the Avalanche of Evil" (Sept 2013)
• " Sporty Kids - Footy!" (May 2015)
• "Sporty Kids - Swimming!" (May 2015)
• "Sporty Kids - Tennis!" (August 2015)
• "Sporty Kids - Soccerl!" (August 2015)
• "Sporty Kids - Basketball" (April 2016)
• "Sporty Kids - Handball" (April 2016)

Picture Books

• Sally and Dave, A Slug Story Australia (2007) US (2008)
• "Hey, Cat!" June 2008

Book Series

• The Specky Magee series (co-written with Garry Lyon):

Specky Magee (2002)

Specky Magee & the great footy contest! (2003)

Specky Magee and the Season of Champions (2004)

Specky Magee and the Boots of Glory (2005)

Specky Magee and a Legend in the Making (2006)

Specky Magee and the Spirit of the Game (2007)

Specky Magee and the Battle of the Young Gun (2009)

Specky Magee and the best of Oz (2011)

Specky Magee

The Specky Magee series, written by Arena and his former school-mate and Melbourne Football Club star,^[2] Garry Lyon, have also been short-listed for numerous Australian Children Choice awards—including three time winner of the Young Australian Best Book Award. There are eight books in the series.

References

External links

• Felice Arena at the Internet Movie Database
• Official website
• Specky Magee