Disgraced Australian author Craig Silvey pens 9000-word apology

Australian author Craig Silvey has published a 9000-word apology revealing allegations he was abused as a child, after being sentenced on child exploitation material charges.

Silvey, 44, was jailed for seven months in the WA District Court on Monday after pleading guilty to two charges of possessing and distributing child exploitation material earlier this year.

The court heard that he engaged with anonymous online accounts, claiming he “loved” incestuous child exploitation material and his “perfect age” was eight years old.

On Tuesday, the Fremantle-based author posted an article on his Substack titled “My Apology”, where he wrote “the enormity of my remorse feels beyond my aptitude for language”.

“I am guilty of these offences. I am appalled and mortified by my conduct, and I am deeply, profoundly sorry,” he wrote.

“My conduct has blindsided friends and family, the people my world is centred around, people I love and care about devotedly. They are undeserving casualties, and I will carry this regret for the rest of my life.

“For many who are familiar with me and my work, reactions have included confusion, sadness, shock, dismay, disgust, concern and disappointment. I understand this response, because I share it too.”

But Silvey wrote that he feared “the nature of my offence and aspects of my vocation have led some to speculate that I have arranged my life around some kind of calculated and insidious conspiracy”.

“I want to be very clear that this is completely untrue,” he wrote.

“I am painfully aware of the possible assumption that my offence must have been informed by a horrible and inappropriate attraction, and that my behaviour must then be connected to sinister and ulterior motivations. I assure you this is not the case at all.

“I have spent this year engaged in intensive therapy and deep reflection, trying to reconcile who I am with what I have done.”

The disgraced author blamed a history of trauma, shame and anxiety for his offending, which culminated in “an intolerable collision of past and present distress led to a crisis of mental health, and ultimately a destructive, despairing breakdown” at the end of 2025.

Silvey detailed alleged experiences of emotional neglect, violence, and sexual abuse as a child.

“I did something unthinkable that I had never, ever done before. I sent that image. I pulled the trigger. I made everything stop. I sabotaged our lives. I got ahead of my failure. I engineered my abandonment. I destroyed it all. I caused unimaginable hurt. And there is no end to my regret,” he wrote.

“Following my breakdown and arrest, I was confused, sickened and troubled by my conduct. I was also frightened: I genuinely did not understand what had caused me to behave this way.”

In court, Judge Hayley Cormann said Silvey’s possession and distribution of images had “contributed to the physical harm and the trauma that is being suffered by those children in those videos and in those pictures”.

“You acknowledge you have devastated and betrayed the trust of thousands of people, and you’ve let entire communities down,” she said.

During sentencing, the court heard Silvey had maintained a profile on a fetish and pornography website before his arrest, and messaged one anonymous profile in January this year.

“Fremantle guy here,” he said. “You sound absolutely amazing and gorgeous too … would love to chat more.”

He asked the user to move to an encrypted text messaging service called Session, where he told them he was extremely “open-minded and non-judgmental”.

Over the next few days they continued to speak.

“I love love love love mums being intimate with little boys, I think it’s the sexiest and most beautiful thing in the world,” Silvey wrote.

“To answer your question I would range [age] five plus.

“I had a great collection [of material] and then I panicked and deleted it and regret it every day.”

He went on to say a child aged eight was “the perfect age”, and he would ask other users for child exploitation material.

Prosecutor Daniel Harrop told the court Silvey had the chats open on his computer when police executed a search warrant at his Fremantle earlier this year.

He then refused to provide detectives access to his devices.

Silvey’s lawyer Eloise Barker told the court his actions had amounted to “emotional suicide” and a psychologist’s report said Silvey was at a low-risk of reoffending.

But Harrop rejected the psychological report, and said it read more as a character reference than a court report.

He said the psychologist had offered heavily discounted sessions and had not read the chat logs, which contained most of the material that indicated Silvey was “particularly” sexually interested in young boys and often initiated conversation.

Silvey’s books were pulled from library shelves and removed from school curricula after he was charged.