Tell us a little about yourself 

Lieve Snellings is a Freelance Photographer Turned author. As a multi Award-winning Author who lives in Leuven (Belgium) and Quebec (Canada) her series of picture books/children’s books have been featured with whimsical photo illustrations of wildlife, ‘Margot the Groundhog and Her North-American Squirrel Family’. The series consists of four books, available in Dutch, English, and French.

Lieve Snellings is a Multi-Awarded children’s book author of

‘Why We Wear a Mask’ – Winner of the Gold Medal in the Readers’ Favorite Book Award 2021, category Children’s non-fiction – Winner Kidlit World Book Award 2021 in the category children’s non-fiction

‘Time for Margot to Go to Bed’ has been honored as – A Book Excellence Awards Finalist 2020 in the Animals/Pets category – Honorable Mention Readers’ Favorite Book Award 2020 – Finalist IAN Book of the Year Award 2020

‘Groundhog Secrets – Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Woodchucks’ – The winner of the TopShelf Book Award 2020 in the category Children / Animals. – IAN (The Independent Author Network) Book of the Year Award 2018: – Reader’s Favorite Book Award 2018

‘Margot Gets an Unexpected Visit‘ – BookGoSocial Top Voted Children’s Author 2017 – Readers Review Room Author of the month of October 2017 Since 2008.

After meeting up with her partner who lives in Quebec, you can find her for about five months a year in Canada. There she became a passionate nature photographer. She spent hours, weeks, observing wildlife, and searched every info she could find. The nature photographs she took in Quebec made her publish four children’s books in which photos are as important as words. Her stories take the traditional picture book experience and transform it by replacing illustrations with her own nature photography. The books are written in her mother tongue Dutch and translated into English and French.

Why Do you write?

I worked for forty years in the University Clinic Gasthuisberg in Leuven (Belgium) at the Emergency Department. When the second wave of Covid-19 had started, I was convinced I had to do something to support children, and people, to cope and get rid of the virus. With humor, I bring a story about the coronavirus that doesn’t frighten the children but puts a smile on their faces.

What genre do you write and Why did you pick this genre? 

Picture books illustrated with my nature photography. Two of my books are short fiction stories. Two of them are Children’s non-fiction in a narrative way.

Tell us about your book.

It is a fascinating story told in simple words and photographs. The perfect guide to inform your kids without scaring them.

Book Award Winner: – Readers’ Favorite Book Award 2021 (Gold Medal), category children’s non-fiction – Kidlit World Book Award 2021, category children’s non-fiction

What you can learn:

Some symptoms of Covid

How doctors and healthcare professionals try to provide care

Protecting oneself and the most vulnerable

The importance of washing our hands

The distance from each other

The need to wear a mask that covers the mouth and nose

What types of masks are available

What does ‘ pandemic ‘ mean?

Reasons, why to wear a mask.

How much time, do you dedicate to your author career?

That depends on the book I’m writing and illustrating with my photography. During the process of making the book, that is quite a lot of time.

How long on average does it take you to write your books?

It took me about three years to write and illustrate my first book ‘Margot Gets an Unexpected Visit’.

The second book, ‘Groundhog Secrets’ is written in the same schedule as the first one, as I worked on it simultaneously.

‘Time for Margot to Go to Bed’ took me a couple of months.

And ‘Why We Wear a Mask’ was born in about one month.

I was so convinced that I had to make this. It felt like my duty to copple my experience working at the Emergency Department of the clinic with my photographic work Doing so was a way for me to help inform about what we can do against Covid-19.

What is the best money you have ever spent on your author career?

When I started as an author, it was necessary to buy some books about ‘how to publish a children’s book. That helped a lot.

Once published, I believe it is important to take care of the promo of your book. So investing in Ads and learning how to make Ads is a needed spend too. And of course, as a photographer, I have to continue training and have the needed camera facilities.

What is the most difficult part of being an author?

I am an author because I was a photographer. So, in the beginning, the writing part was the most difficult. And then your book gets out. But how can people find it?

I would love everybody in the world could see the book because I think it is good, funny, entertaining, and needed. To show my book to the world, at this moment, is the most difficult part.

What is the best piece of advice you have for other authors?

The best advice I can give an author is to keep on going and believe in yourself.

It is also important to get proofreaders and a good editor. Errors in your spelling are not allowed, so correct them when they tell you. Listen well to advisers, but in the end, it is your book, you decide.

What is your favorite book?

I like all four of my books. But because of the pandemic, I believe ‘Why We Wear a Mask’ has a special place in my heart.

While putting a smile on the reader’s face, this story helps to discuss the difficult issue of Covid-19 without scaring. That’s why it is my favorite for now.

Direct book link for purchase

http://smarturl.it/x1gr9v

Social media sites

https://www.amazon.com/author/snellings

http://www.facebook.com/FotoBoekLieveSnellings

Tweets by SnellingsLieve

https://www.instagram.com/lievesnellings

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14186089.Lieve_Snellings

https://www.youtube.com/c/LieveSnellings

Website:

https://lievesnellings.wordpress.com/

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