CYDA and Sofia Starts School
Last year, Laura was approached to collaborate with CYDA (Children and Young People with Disability Australia) to write a picture book called “Sofia Starts School.”
This was part of a wider project called ‘Take Charge of Change,’ developed by CYDA to support parents and young people with disability as they transition through different life stages.
Like Minded Collaboration
Laura collaborated with talented 12-year-old illustrator Tex Paynter. Laura says working with Tex was an incredibly meaningful process.
“I don't think I'd met an adult with CP until I was an adult myself. So knowing that and thinking that maybe I could be like one ofthe first adults with CP that Tex had met was just really beautiful.”
Tex and Laura discussed how the illustrations could bring the story to life in the most powerful way.
“There were quite a few ways that I'd envisioned things, or that I'd imagined that I wanted to see in the illustrations, but I wasn'tsure like how much I would be able to say that or have input in that,” she says.
The books’ main character, Sofia, has a wonderful relationship with her primary carer and adult figure, Nonna. The relationship between the two characters is based around Laura’s own late Italian grandmother.
“My Nonna was my favourite person in the whole entire world. The relationship that I had with her was just so close and so special."
When Tex and Laura met online, they got on really well. When they discussed the illustrations, she learned that Tex also had Cerebral Palsy (CP), like her. He shared her visualisation about what some of the characters would look like.
“We went through each page in the book and broke down what a potential illustration could be for that page and if there were any particular details that I was really passionate about…I wanted Nonna and Sophia to both use a walking stick because that was something that they shared and a way for Sophia to feel more confident and less alone.”
“When I was imagining Miss Baker, the teacher, I had in my head from the beginning, a curly haired person. And it was funny, I hadn't even said that to Tex, he was like: ‘so I was thinking Miss Baker with curly hair. And I was like, yes, that would be great.’
The fruit is in the detail
The pair discussed the small, special significant details Laura wanted included in the illustrations, such as the stickers that Sofia had on her cane or images around Sofia on the cover. Tex included a watermelon somewhere in the book, as Laura is a huge fan of the fruit.
She has watermelons everywhere: on her dresses, t-shirts, earrings, everywhere, and it was important to her to incorporate these within the story. Laura describes watermelons as her signature. The hidden disabilities sunflower also makes an appearance.
Laura says she didn’t consciously plan to write Sofia’s character with a specific disability, such as cerebral palsy, leaving this open reader interpretation.
“It's not openly stated (in the book) that she [Sofia] has CP [cerebral palsy], but in my head she has CP, it’s almost saying, ‘this is how it could have been.’ I had so much internalised ableism (from my childhood) that I almost wanted to pretend that [my CP] didn't exist. To write a book like this is almost reclamation.
When she wrote the book, Laura hoped it would reach other disabled young people and help them challenge their nternalised ableism.
She hopes other disabled young people will be “able to talk about their disability, to be able to share their experiences of ableism when it happens and then take action to challenge it and change it. And then to be able to live in a world where they are included and they can feel [that] disability pride, whatever that disability pride looks like for them.”
Authentic Voices Australia
Laura has also just co-launched an online platformcalled Authentic Voices Australia (AVA) with fellow author Niki Foreman. AVA is part of the Diversity in Australia and New Zealand Children’sBook Award (DANZ).
This platform will address gaps in Australian Children’s publishing and how marginalised groups are represented.
Laura and Niki wanted to address the misrepresentation and harmful representation of disability and other aspects of marginalisation in children's publishing.
They want to make sure people with lived experience were included and reimbursed fairly for bringing their expertise to the literary and publishing world.
“We said, okay, we need to fix this, because unfortunately there's so much misrepresentation and harmful representation ofdisability and other aspects of marginalisation in children's publishing. The other branch of Authentic Voices Australia is around accessibility of publishing, in terms of accessibility of children's literacy and book events, and the books themselves. This might be things like the font that's used, but it might also be around the introduction of easy read books, which is supportive for people with low literacy.”
Authentic Voices Australia will launch in October 2026. It will include a series of blog posts by people with lived experience from different marginalised groups and contracts for authors, publishers, and authenticity readers when they engage on work together.
“At the moment, there's no real standard (within the literacy consultation space) there's no real set of fees, it's often like unpaid consultation or very low paid,” Laura says.
Laura is also a member of the International Easy Read Community of Practice. Her experience in Easy Read and accessible communication will inform AVA’s work, too.
“One thing that we eventually want to address is that gap in libraries, to ask that they curate Easy Read books for audiences of people with low literacy.”
The Power of Community and Crip Stories
Laura has also co-edited ar ecent anthology of memoir and poetry by disabled and marginalised writers this year, titled ‘Crip Stories.’ This amazing career opportunity was something she had only ever dreamed about, and when she got the invitation to participate, she was overjoyed.
“It filled me with the absolute sense of fulfilment and purpose and meaning,” she said.
When the editor of Mascara Literary Review approached her seeking her help with theproject, Laura’s answer was immediate: “one hundred million trillion percent yes!”
The call out for written contributions to the anthology attracted over 400 submissions. They were then narrowed down to 35 short stories and poetry selections. Laura edited around nine entries, and the rest were split among the four editors.
She couldn’t pick a favourite piece after editing so many but was grateful to meet some of these incredible writers and contributors to the collection.
“I really loved them all [the pieces]. Since the anthology’s come out, I've got to meet some of the contributors in person at different events and actually heard them read their pieces. And that's been so meaningful and important.”
Award Winning Writing
Last year Laura also won The International Easy Read Story Writing Competition. The Easy Read competition celebrates short stories and poems written by and for adults with intellectual disabilities.
You can read Laura’s winning story abouther beloved cat Giles here.
This year’s competition theme is now open and the theme is "stars."
You can find further entry details here.
Professionally, Laura is not slowing down. She is a name to look out for in the literary world in the next few years. Her writing career is only just beginning. Here’s to seeing more inclusive writing collaborations in the future.
You can watch Laura read Sofia Starts School on YouTube.
To find out more about Australian Children’s book week, visit their website.
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