Sami is 27 years old and is currently based in Newcastle, NSW. She has released 4 books, 3 of which are part of The Illustrated Encyclopaedia series: The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Ugly Animals, The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Dangerous Animals and The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Peculiar Pairs in Nature. With her 4th being the first of a newly released series, How We Came To Be - Surprising Sea Creatures. All published by Lothian/Hachette Australia. Over the years Sami has won and been nominated for numerous awards, these include: Winner of the Children's Indie Book of the Year Award - Indie Book Awards Winner of the Environmental Award for Children’s Literature Non-fiction - The Wilderness Society Winner of the Sun Project Shadow Judging - Shadowers’ Choice for the Eve Pownall Award - CBCA Winner of the Best Designed Children’s Non-Fiction Illustrated book - Australian Book Design Awards. 2020 GOLD Winner for the Juvenile Non-Fiction Award - Foreword Reviews Honour for the Eve Pownall Award - CBCA Shortlisted for the Book of the Year for Younger Children - ABIA’s Shortlisted for the Booksellers' Choice 2020 Book of the Year Awards - ABA’s Shortlisted for the Children’s Book of The Year - Queensland Literacy Awards Highly Commended for the NSW Community Educator of the Year - AAEE Longlisted for the World Illustration Awards (Science & Technology category) - Association of Illustrators Included in the top 50 Favourite Australian Books - Booktopia Winner of the Emerging Artist Competition - The Olive Tree Market Winner of the Start Your Studio Scholarship Award - Jasco Art Winner of the William Fletcher Foundation Fund - University of Newcastle Co-winner of the Scientific Illustration Scholarship - Australian Museum Her books have also been published overseas in numerous countries including the UK, USA, South Korea and Russia. With future publications to be released in Sweden, Israel, China and more. To keep up to date you can follow Sami on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samibayly/