Aleesah Darlison is a multi-published, award-winning Australian children’s author. She has written over thirty-five books for children including picture books, chapter books, novels and series.
Aleesah has won numerous awards for her writing including the 2015 Environment Award for Children’s Literature (Non-Fiction) and an Australian Society of Authors (ASA) mentorship.
Her novels include the Little Witch Series, Running from the Tiger, Awesome Animal Stories for Kids, the Netball GemsSeries, the Unicorn Riders Series, and Ash Rover: Keeper of the Phoenix. Her picture books include Spider Iggy, Little Meerkat, Warambi, Puggle’s Problem, Our Class Tiger, Stripes in the Forest: The Story of the Last Wild Thylacine and Mama and Hug (koalas).
Her short stories have appeared in the Random House Stories for Boys Anthology, Random House Stories for 8 Year Olds Anthology, Random House Stories for 9 Year Olds Anthology, the black dog books Short and Scary Anthology, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Hopscotch: Packed Lunch Anthology, Fight or Flight Anthology, The School Magazine and Little Ears Magazine.
Aleesah travels throughout Australia and internationally delivering talks and workshops to children and adults at preschools, schools, libraries, literary festivals and writers’ centres. Her 8-book fantasy adventure series, Unicorn Riders, has been released in hardcover and paperback in the US.
WHAT CYA CONFERENCE DID FOR ME
In 2009, CYA offered one-on-one pitching sessions with publishers and agents. I knew this was too good an opportunity to miss. My meeting with Jacinta di Mase, literary agent, was a huge success.
I submitted my CV and several manuscripts to her before the meeting so she could get a feel for my work and for me. I came to the meeting fully prepared: I had rehearsed a pitch about what I had achieved to date in my writing career, and where I was headed. I think my eagerness and determination to succeed must have shown through - and I did have a good track record, which I am still continually cultivating - because Jacinta agreed to represent me on the spot. Of course, I was floating on air for the rest of the day!
Since then, Jacinta and I have been working together, submitting my work to publishers and celebrating successes along the way.
It’s been a huge help to my career having an agent representing me, elevating my status as a writer, having someone to advise me on career development, offering my work to publishers and negotiating contracts on my behalf to save me all that stress and to protect my best interests.
I viewed the cost of the pitching session at CYA as an investment in my writing career and it has well and truly paid off.
