Q: First tell us something about yourself?
My name is Natalie I was born and bred in London though have both Italian and Greek heritage. I have always been very interested in people, travel, cultures and behaviour. Whilst I have lived most of my life in London, I have also lived in other countries and most recently moved to Milan with my family. I have a British husband, and two young children aged 9 and 6 who now attend the international school here in Milan. I write to try and make the future a happier, healthier place for them, for all children and the generations to come.
Q: How and when did your journey start as a writer?
I have passionately written diaries since I was a young child, this is definitely where the journey began.. I have always loved writing and find it the best way to express my feelings, views and to communicate in general. I have had various jobs since graduating from university in languages, and completed teaching English language courses and writing courses. When I got married around 10 years ago, I turned my hand to writing professionally, I wanted to share my story. I have had numerous articles published with the Huffington post and other such publications on and off line and published six books.
Q: When did you write your first story? Is it published or not?
I wrote my very first book when I got pregnant and stopped working – this book was of a different genre to the childrens books I now focus on. It was more of a life story, a lessons learnt style memoir, a compilation of my years of diaries and it was published in 2016. The process was a great experience and also led me to take creative writing courses to perfect my writing style, which i thoroughly enjoyed and cemented my decision to wish to pursue writing as a career.
Q: Tell us something more about your books?
My most recent focus is educating children at the critical behavioural formation ages of 2-6, the importance of kindness. I found there to be a lack of fun, relatable material and specific characters for children to refer to in order to enjoy learning functionally about the importance of kindness and the positive effects that come from being kind to each other, to ourselves and to the world – and so I created The Heartbeats! The Heartbeats are a family of giant heart shaped people who’s motto is ‘it’s cool to be kind!’ The books focus on inclusion, acceptance of all people, embrace diversity and push the message that being kind is cool and kindness is indeed a great strength.
Q: Why do you choose kids as your reader ? is there any specific reason?
I choose kids as children are agents of change. Children are the future. I wanted to do what I could to create a happier, kinder world for children to grow and flourish in and so I targeted my books to the fundamental age where their behaviour patterns are formed. If we can educate the youngest generation successfully on the importance of being kind we will pave the way for a better future, children will be the catalyst.
Q: How did these stories and characters come to your mind?
The characters sprung to mind immediately when I realised that I wanted to develop kindness mascots that children would recognize as positive loving people the second they saw them. Hearts seemed to be the logical way. I love drawing and art in general as well as writing so the concept as a whole fell together very naturally once I knew I wanted to make learning about kindness fun and something that children would enjoy and want to do. The actual stories each stem from experiences that I have observed with my own children and others, at school, on playdates, in the park, at home etc. I’d see the issue and write about it in a simplified way, identifying how kind behaviour would create a happy scenario.
Q: Do you want to leave any message for your readers?
Yes I would like to! Dear readers, do please try and get your hands on some of the books in The Heartbeat series which can easily be found on Amazon searching The Heartbeat series – Natalie Savvides. Do please leave reviews and spread the word. I would love to hear your views on how The Heartbeats helped your children understand the importance and benefits of kindness. Every little bit will help create a brighter future. Please do support us on the socials to help raise awareness! Thank you!
