Shara Curlett is a New Zealand children's author who is passionate about inspiring creativity and imagination in children, believing a good foundation of creativity can help with mental health later in life.
Shara spent most of her career in the business-improvement space, eventually owning and running her own business. It wasn’t until 2016 that she returned to writing to help her get through a challenging time, then decided to pursue it seriously.
In April 2025, Shara's debut middle-grade novel, Welcome to Miracle, was published by Scholastic Australia. Shara has a number of other projects in the works, and is also practicing her illustration, with the dream of one day writing and illustrating her own junior fiction novel.
WHAT CYA CONFERENCE DID FOR ME
I've participated in CYA assessments, bootcamps, and the CYA competition for quite a few years now, along with attending the conference online (from NZ). I've found CYA to be one of the best opportunities out there (especially for new and unpublished writers) to learn from, connect with, and get in front of publishers, editors, and agents - particularly those who might otherwise be closed for submissions.
Every year that I've participated in CYA, I've chosen different works to be assessed. I've always valued and appreciated the feedback that I've received. In 2022, I attended a couple of bootcamps with Michelle Madden from Penguin Australia. While I booked them for my writing, she expressed an interest in my illustrations within the junior fiction space, and encouraged me to keep going. Following this, she invited me to stay in touch, sharing her time and knowledge back and forth over the next year to help me develop. She took one of my graphic novel manuscripts to the team, and also offered continual feedback on my junior fiction illustrations as I kept practicing. While we couldn't get anything across the line, it was this connection and especially her kindness that stuck with me, giving me the encouragement that at least I was on the right track.
What I realised through this time, however, was that having young kids made illustration practice very difficult! Not only this, but I was writing less and less. I find writing cathartic - it's something that I need and love to do, or I get a bit tetchy! So, I told Michelle that I was going to return my focus to writing for a while, and once my son started school (end of 2025), then I'd have more time to get back into illustration and get back in touch with her.
This decision turned out to be a good one! Stepping away from illustration freed up my time to focus purely on the words. That was when I went away and wrote, 'Welcome to Miracle' (my debut novel!). The following year, I submitted this to an agent, who requested the full but eventually passed on it. I then submitted it for a CYA assessment with Lorae Fossy from Scholastic Australia. This was the only CYA assessment that I had budgeted for in 2023, but I was hopeful, believing that Scholastic was a perfect fit for my manuscript. Luckily, I was right! During the assessment, Lorae told me that she had loved Miracle, and requested the full. However, as the next couple of months passed without hearing back from her, I decided that she must have passed on it, and carried on with life. I've learned not to sit around and wait after submitting. Instead, I just keep on writing, as I always have multiple projects on the go. So, imagine my surprise, when a month or so after writing it off, I received an email out of the blue from Lorae saying that she'd taken it to acquisitions, the team had loved it, and that they'd like to make an offer, if it was still available!
When I received this email, I ugly-cried on the floor for a good few minutes until my sweet little boy came and hugged me. After reassuring him that they were "happy tears", I re-read the email (probably a hundred times!) then replied to Lorae to say yes, it was still available! This was one of the most memorable writing (and life!) moments to date, and I owe it all to the opportunities that CYA provides.
Welcome to Miracle is now out in the world, and other exciting things have also been happening in the background (!!) which I can't wait to share, when I'm able to (you can find me on instagram @sharacurlett).
I'm so very grateful to Tina and the CYA team for everything they do in providing these opportunities for writers. Having managed events and conferences in a past role, I know the amount of work involved logistically, management-wise, not to mention customer service-wise in trying to keep everyone happy. A lot of what they deal with is invisible to us, yet with each event they come to it with the same level of enthusiasm, positivity and responsiveness that is a huge factor in making it so successful. Thank you so much, team!
If you're a new writer or trying to get published, then my advice is to keep writing, keep putting yourself out there, and keep taking on feedback. And I hope that one day you, too, can share your success story on this wall!
