History Unbound Festival 2025

ROCHELLE STEPHENS

Rochelle Stephens is the editor and publisher at Rhiza Press and Wombat Books. She is passionate about great books. Wombat is looking for early readers, junior fiction, middle fiction while Rhiza Press is looking for young adult and adult, with a particular interest in historical novels. Rochelle is excited to work with authors and develop them on their journey and often encourages repeat submissions.

Wombat Books/Rhiza Press has national distribution of all new titles and is focusing on including audiobooks with each new novel release.

Rochelle is also an author in both educational writing and her Riz Chester series, with The Fingerprint Code having been shortlisted in the 2024 Speech Pathology awards. She has completed her Masters in Editing and Publishing with a thesis exploring middle fiction and what children want to read.

Rochelle is interested in assessing a range of stories for children for Wombat Books through to young adult and adult for Rhiza Press. She would love to see young adult or adult historical crime/mystery and fantasy, and any genre for children.

What is Rochelle looking for?

What is the minimum word-count your agency or publishing house accepts?

Adult we are looking for historical between 80k-100k and we have a more conservative outlook in adult fiction. Inspirational, women's fiction, crime, but conservative so reduced language and limited violence and sex
General YA between 50,000-80,000
Young Adult - We have a short teen novella list (Rhiza Shorts) which is 15000-25000 aimed at reluctant readers
Or Junior/ middle fiction between 5000-60,000 words

Which historical sub-genres or genres are you not looking for?
Erotic romance, Explicit heavy violence

Is there a historical sub-genre you're particularly keen to see?
Children's, historical fantasy, time slip/ time travel, young adult fiction, war history

Which historical sub-genre is your personal favourite?
Based on true stories, war history.

What is your major turn-off in a book?
Initially it is about how engaging the book starts. So if a book doesn't start in action and ready to engage that would turn me off reading more.

What is likely to really impress you besides an engaging voice and well-written book?
Unique stories. History that is unusual or different. Scientific or Mathematical (or other STEM) breakthroughs explored in fiction. Interesting journeys and overcoming challenges. All time periods, but well researched.

Any advice to your potential pitchers?
Having a really strong elevator pitch and a unique selling point.

Get to know Rochelle...

If you could have dinner with any historical figure, who would it be and why?

This was a really hard question to answer. I love so much of history. However if I was going to to go out of basics I would choose Leonhard Euler. Why? He was a prolific mathematician with some amazing contributions, but also published 100s of books, on math yes, but just achieving that is something amazing. Not only am I a fan of math's and science, but I am a fan of anyone who is that prolific and hardworking. I would love to meet a whole heap of other people such as Isaac Newton, Archimedes and Pythagoras (if he did exist), but I would also like to chat to literary greats such as George Bernard Shaw! Choosing one is super difficult!

Book a pitch with Rochelle

HISTORY UNBOUND FESTIVAL TEAM