Ep 448: Sami Bayly, author and illustrator of ‘The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Peculiar Pairs in Nature’

Meet Sami Bayly, author and illustrator of The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Peculiar Pairs in Nature. Check out these books that have been withdrawn from sale – and why. Our hotly anticipated Romance Writing course will launch this week. Plus, we have 3 copies of Bewilderment by Richard Powers to give away.

Listen to the episode below. Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or add the podcast RSS feed manually to your favourite podcast app.  

Listener Shout Out

Lynxgrrrl from Australia:

★★★★★ Brilliant!! Humorous, intelligent and informative. Al and Val are engaging hosts that have been nothing but a joy to hear. Great interviews with relevant people and I love the 3 tips. Incredibly helpful.

Links mentioned in this episode

• A new guide to suppressed Australian literature books you’re not allowed to read
• Romance Writing course
• WIN: Bewilderment by Richard Powers 
• So you want to be a writer Facebook group

Writer in residence: Sami Bayly

Sami is 25 years old and is currently based in Armidale, NSW. She has released three books, The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Ugly Animals, The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Dangerous Animals and The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Peculiar Pairs in Nature, published by Lothian – Hachette Australia.

Sami’s first book, The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Ugly Animals won the Children’s Indie Book of the Year Award and the Best Designed Children’s Non-Fiction Illustrated book held by the Australian Book Design Awards.

Her second book, The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Dangerous Animals, received the Honour Award for the CBCA Eve Pownall Award and was shortlisted for the Children’s Indie Book of the Year Award, the ABIA Book of the Year for Younger Children and the Queensland Literacy Awards for the Children’s Book of The Year.

Her latest book, The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Peculiar Pairs in Nature, is out now.

Sami is trained in scientific illustration through a bachelor of Natural History Illustration (Honours) at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She is inspired by artists like William T. Cooper and other natural history illustrators, after seeing their work whilst growing up.

Follow Sami on Twitter.

Follow Hachette Children’s Books ANZ on Twitter.

(If you click the link above and then purchase from Booktopia, we get a small commission. This amount is donated to Doggie Rescue to support their valuable work with unwanted and abandoned dogs.)

This podcast is brought to you by the Australian Writers’ Centre. 

Find out more about your hosts here:

• Allison Tait (@altait on Twitter and @allisontaitwriter on Instagram).
• Valerie Khoo (@valeriekhoo on Twitter and @valeriekhoo on Instagram).