AWARD-winning author and illustrator Sami Bayly was in Moree during the week as part of LitUp live literature, a pilot program from not-for-profit initiative Australia Reads that aims to bring authors directly to regional communities.
Ms Bayly hosted school workshops and children’s art classes, and showcased her books, which focus on the weird and wonderful aspects of nature.
She joined students at Moree Community Library Thursday afternoon and also visited Moree East Public School, St Philomena’s School and Moree Christian School to meet with students.
“People often ask if I ever run out of ideas, but the answer is always ‘never’ – there are so many cool things out there,” Ms Bayly laughed.
“There are so many cool things about these animals and all the kids love the cool topics, so it’s a perfect mix.
“A weirdness to different topics helps kids remember the strange stories behind them – things that trigger their minds,” she said.
Ms Bayly has published several books, including the Illustrated Encyclopaedia series – The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Ugly Animals, The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Dangerous Animals, The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Peculiar Pairs in Nature, The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Extinct Animals and The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Fast and Slow Animals.
She has also written two hybrid picture books focusing on animal evolution stories for younger children: How We Came To Be – Surprising Sea Creatures and How We Came To Be – Creatures of Camouflage and Mimicry.
Ms Bayly, who now lives in the Lake Macquaire district near Newcastle, grew up with animals and pets always nearby, and her love of art was nurtured at a young age.
“When I lived in Port Macquarie as a child we had about five acres and had pets and animals everywhere – miniature ponies, donkeys and cows. We lived near a zoo as well,” she said.
“My mum, Ros, is an artist. She is always painting our pets, and I learned from mum how to paint animals.
“I went to uni and did a Bachelor of Natural History Illustration at Newcastle, the only one of its kind in the southern hemisphere. I did that for four years and learned all about animals, plants, fungi, culture and medical science, and I found a love for the weird parts of nature,” she said.
Winning a competiton led to a career illustrating and writing books about all the weird and wonderful animals on the planet.
“I created a picture of an ibis, or bin chicken, and entered a competiton,” Ms Bayly said.
“I was named one of the winners and the head of Children’s Publishing in Sydney saw my artwork and asked if I wanted to do a book on ugly animals.
“That was eight years ago, and in that time I’ve written seven books. It’s been one book per year however this year I’m having a bit of a break.
“I have a puzzle coming out instead, and I’ll make a bigger book next year,” she said.
Writing about and illustrating all the weird animals means its hard to list a favourite but there are a couple of “cool” creatures out there, Ms Bayly said.
“One deep sea creature is a very long, slender fish called an oarfish,” she said.
“They can grow to about 11 metres long – they’re huge and they’re beautiful, but they terrify a lot of people because of their size when they surface.
“I also love a lot of my extinct animal friends. There is a frog called a northern gastric brooding frog that became extinct in the 1980s because they caught chytrid fungus, which is a fungal disease affecting amphibians.
“These frogs are incredible and give birth from their mouths, and there are now some amazing scientists on the central coast trying to bring the species back from extinction,” she said.
