Samantha is a Dunedin based writer who lives on the Otago Peninsula. She has written over a hundred educational readers for Harper Collins UK, Hodder & Stoughton UK, Wendy Pye Publishing, Flying Start Books and the NZ Ministry of Education.  She is currently also writing for DK Learning UK and Maverick Books. In 2025, she will take up the position as Otago College of Education Creative New Zealand Children's Writer in Residence. She was delighted to be chosen as the winner of the Storylines Janice Marriott Mentoring Award in 2022, and has recently completed her novel from this project. 

Samantha is also a poet who has been published in the anthologies Perch; Nga Kupu Waikato: An Anthology of Waikato Poetry and Pengin Days.   Her poetry has also appeared in Landfall, takahe, 1964, as well as various online and paper publications. Her poetry for children has been placed in national competitions, and her collection Swallowing the Sun was published by HarperCollins Big Cat in 2024.