Leigh van der Veen creates art and stories for children in the Blue Mountains, NSW. She is a mother of four gorgeous children, a primary teacher and an English as an Additional Language (EAL) teacher. She uses vivid language and layers of meaning to explore the lives of her quirky, lovable characters in uplifting stories. Leigh strives for excellence in her craft so she can connect with as many readers as possible.

Leigh’s writing has featured in Australian and international educational publications for fifteen years. She has had numerous short stories and non-fiction texts published in a range of primary-aged English assessments, including ICAS-English, NAPLAN Literacy assessments and UK SATs.

Further, Leigh’s short story Concrete Jungle, was published in a Creative Kids Tales (CKT) eBook Anthology after it won 6th place in a CKT competition (2014). In addition, Leigh received a ‘Special Mention’ award from Kids’ Book Review Manuscript Award (2015) for her picture book manuscript, The Monster and also had a descriptive piece about her country childhood published in a magazine (2015). In 2019 Leigh worked with a mentor, author Coral Vass.

Leigh is also the founder of ‘In a Nutshell Book Reviews’ which is a space where her children and herself review books.