Wenda's passion is to write stories that help children be imaginative, courageous and curious. Her picture book story, Eva’s Imagination, was shortlisted for the Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year 2019 and read on ABC’s Play School Story Time. In 2021, she has four picture books coming out with Storyhouse Publishing, Affirm Press and EK Books. Wenda's middle-grade manuscript, Strong-Wheeled, was shortlisted in the Queensland Writer’s Centre 2020 ‘Adaptable’ Competition. She lives in Brisbane with her husband, daughter and, as a huge 'Pig the Pug' fan, a pug and a dachshund.
WHAT CYA CONFERENCE DID FOR ME
I started writing for children in 2016 and was overwhelmed by the amount of information out there for kidlit authors. In 2017, I attended my first CYA conference and came away full of inspiration, relevant knowledge about the industry, and pure shock. I had met my first editor. Naively, I imagined I could be offered a contract there and then. But no, they weren't interested in my work.
Looking back, the feedback I received from that editor and other authors at the conference helped me enormously and set me on the right path. So in 2018, when I met Anouska Jones from EK books at the CYA conference, I was prepared for the reality of the situation. Having placed in an international competition for a 50 word story, Pear of Hope, I was interested to know if my text could be made into a picture book. Anouska offered me great feedback and suggested I resubmit after expanding the story. In 2019, I signed a contract with EK Books. Pear of Hope will be released in May 2021.
