Mr Clarke and Ms Clarke, no relation, will next week release their third book collaboration called Kerosene Tin Jim - The Man Who Loved An Island which tells the true tale of Dimitrios Georgis Karageorgis.

After emigrating to Australia from Greece as a young man, Mr Karageorgis lived and fished on Broughton Island for 49 years before returning to Nelson Bay where he passed away in the early 1970s.

"I never got the chance to met him but I've gathered many stories and recollections of Kerosene Tin Jim and turned it into a book," Mr Clarke said.

"He was known as caring, compassionate, generous and cheerful man. Rather than this character disappearing from history, he is now immortalised in a book. His history will never disappear."

Mr Clarke said it was important to him as a historian to recount tales of the characters that have helped shaped Port Stephens so they too are not lost to history, but to also get children interested in that history.

Kerosene Tin Jim is Mr Clarke's ninth book and third with Ms Clarke following on from Unwanted - The Adventures of Stinker and Stinkpot and Clarabelle.

The pair have collaborated to create illustrated books which are aimed at appealing to the young and adults.

Ms Clarke said she was "thrilled" to see the printed book after spending about one year working on the illustrations to complement Mr Clarke's words.

"I always wanted to illustrate children's books and working with John has provided me the opportunity to do it. And I have learned so much," Ms Clarke.

"Not just about illustrating for print but I have a better appreciation for the history of Nelson Bay."

Kerosene Tin Jim will be launched in a COVID-limited event on November 13.

The book will be available for purchase through stinker.com.au, newsagents and bookshops in Port Stephens and the Port Stephens Artisan Gallery at d'Albora Marina, Nelson Bay from November 13.

Books will sell for $15 each.