UQP acquires second verse novel by CBCA Honour Book winner Sandy Bigna

UQP is delighted to announce the acquisition of Searching for Starwings, the second verse novel by Sandy Bigna. Her debut, Little Bones, swept the 2025/2026 awards, winning a CBCA Honour Book, Queensland Literary Award and Aurealis Award, and receiving shortlistings for many others, including the Prime Minister’s Literary Award.

Her follow-up novel, Searching for Starwings, follows an eleven-year-old boy called Spitfire as he tracks down an elusive moth species to save a beloved snow gum and promises the same exquisite writing and atmospheric magic.

UQP acquired World rights in a deal brokered by Danielle Binks of Jacinta Dimase Management.

UQP’s Children’s Publisher Cathy Vallance says:

Collaborating with Sandy on Little Bones and watching its subsequent success has been a career highlight for me. I feel honoured that we get to do it all over again. This spell-bounding book has it all: a magical tree, a thrilling quest up a mountain and sentences so beautiful you reread them over and over in admiration.

Sandy Bigna says:

It was an absolute dream working on my first published book with Cathy and the UQP team, and I’m thrilled to be working with the same team to bring my second verse novel into the world. I hope that readers will fall in love with Spitfire and Snowy, and I can’t wait to share their story of magic and adventure.

UQP will publish Searching for Starwings in June 2027.