Award‑winning author Craig Silvey has pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing child exploitation material, while a charge that he produced such material has been dropped.

Silvey, 43, was first charged in January after detectives from Western Australia police’s child abuse squad raided his Fremantle home, allegedly catching him communicating online with child exploitation offenders and seizing his electronic devices.

The father of three was later hit with extra charges, including allegations he produced child exploitation material between February and June 2022, and possessed further material on 12 January this year.

Those two additional charges have now been discontinued, and Silvey has admitted the remaining counts of possessing and distributing child exploitation material linked to offences in January.

Silvey faced Fremantle magistrates court on Tuesday, when he entered guilty pleas.

The popular author is best known for his 2009 coming‑of‑age novel Jasper Jones, considered a modern Australian classic and adapted into a feature film and several stage productions.

He has also been widely recognised for other books, including Rhubarb, Honeybee – winner of the 2021 Australian Indie Book Award – and the children’s novel Runt, which was also made into a film.

Publishers Allen & Unwin and Fremantle Press, which released Rhubarb, stopped promoting his books after the original charges were laid and most of his titles were removed from reading lists across the country.

Silvey’s bail was continued, and he is next due to appear in the district court on 3 July for sentencing.