Samantha Wheeler lives in Brisbane with her family and many animals.
Her first children’s story was accepted into the Allen and Unwin Manuscript Development Program in 2010, and in 2011, she won a place in the anthology, One Book Many Brisbane’s.
She went on to write Smooch & Rose, a story for children inspired by her concern for Queensland’s koalas, which was published by UQP in 2013.
Her second book, about horses and bats will be released in 2014.
WHAT CYA CONFERENCE DID FOR ME
I attended my first CYA in 2010, and pitched to Kristina Schulz of UQP and Leonie Tyle, then with Random House. It was nerve wracking and my story was terrible, but they were both encouraging and helpful with their advice.
I continued to attend CYA over the next two years where I learnt a lot, and of course kept pitching.
In 2012, I pitched a new story to UQP, and this time, Kristina liked what she saw. She asked for the whole manuscript and three months later I was signing my very first contract.
Without CYA, my manuscripts would still be sitting on the slush pile and I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of networking with some wonderful publishers and writers.
