Up Close and Personal with Tracy Lee May
Introduction
Welcome to week four of #MeetTheAuthorMonday and this week we are all excited because it is #NationalStoryTellingWeek so we are all getting geared up for story sessions. Our next author to introduce is getting herself prepared for a Book Signing on Saturday 14th February 2026 with Toadstools Bookshop.
Please welcome Tracy Lee May. Like all the authors joining in with our interviews, Tracy was sent a selection of questions, not necessarily to do with the books she writes but more to get ‘up close and personal’. So, without further ado, here are the questions Tracy chose to complete:
Childhood
What’s your favourite childhood memory?
As a child and teenager, I wanted to be a vet or work with horses, as I was mad about horses. Sadly, I was not a good student at school and was never able to go to veterinary school, so becoming a safari guide seemed like a brilliant opportunity and great fun. I have had many different jobs in my life, from safari guide to photographer, personal assistant and Human Resources, and now I have a new dream of being an author and sharing my stories of wildlife with the younger generation.
Fantasy
Are you a dreamer, and can you recall them when you wake up? Have you ever used material from a dream within your writing?
I am a bit of a dreamer, although I do not always remember the dreams when I wake up. If I do and it was a good dream, I write it in the notebook I have next to my bed. My dreams have not made it into my stories yet, but you never know. In my school reports, the comments from my teachers were always that I could do better if I could stop dreaming. I spent some lessons, mostly maths, staring out the windows, dreaming of riding horses or, even better, a winged horse like Pegasus.
Work/Writing
What is your typical day like when you are writing?
As I still have a normal day job, I have to fit my writing and illustrating around that and my family life. I try to meet a writing friend once a week, either online or at the Ledbury on a writing retreat, which ensures that I do get something done with my next book. Other than that, I take my iPad with me everywhere and will draw, write, and sketch in the car, in a coffee shop, in a library and sometimes, in front of the TV in the evenings. I am currently working on a non-fiction book for children from 7+, which I am hoping will be the book they will take when going on safari to Africa.
Relaxation
As a booklover are you able to give us an estimate of how many books are on your TBR (to be read) pile?
How many books are on my “To Be Read” pile? Golly, that’s hard to count. I think I have at least twenty books, but I have more on Kindle, and I’m halfway through listening to Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell on Audible. Having finished reading Looking for Mrs Livingstone by Julie Davidson, tonight I will be going through my pile or kindle list to see what I’ll read next.
Personal
What is the best thing you’ve done in your life so far?
As a safari guide, my husband and I used to take walking safaris in our native land of Zimbabwe. On one safari, we were tracking a pride of lions. Tracking was one of my favourite things to do, as the excitement of finding the animals built up. This walk, I knew we were close, and we had paused to inform our guests that the lions weren’t far ahead. Treading carefully and quietly around a thorny acacia tree, I caught a whiff of lion; they have a strong smell, especially if they have urinated or defecated. Then, as I came around the bush and on the path on the other side, was the male lion. I narrowly avoided stepping on his tail as he suddenly saw me, my foot poised in mid-air. He leapt away in fright, and I gave a nervous squeak. The lion took off in the opposite direction and hid behind another bush not far away. He then realised that he was supposed to be the “king of the jungle” and proceeded to growl at us menacingly. We allowed him to calm down and relax and then crept a little closer to allow our foreign visitors a wonderful sighting, not to mention a great story.
Extras
Is there anything else you would like readers to know about you?
I grew up in the second-largest town in Zimbabwe and spent my childhood wandering the bush either with my falconer father or on the back of a horse. I've always been an animal lover. We always had a gaggle of dogs, but I was also rescuing animals from pink naked rats, who were so small they had no fur, to Bulbul chicks (a small bird, a bit bigger than a sparrow). We also had hedgehogs, the odd serval and once even a pangolin.
When I grew up, I started working in boring office jobs until my husband & I decided to train as safari guides. So I spent my younger adult years showing people around my corner of Africa and sticking my fingers in piles of warm wet animal dung, Rhino and elephant to be precise.
Ntombi, A Rhinos Story
On the night Ntombi was born, her mother narrowly escapes the poachers hunting her. Desperate to keep her baby safe Ntombi’s mother seeks the safety of the crash in the Dwala Safari Park.
Weeks later, two pampered and spoilt children Abigail, and Dexter arrive on holiday. Little do they know that their lives are set to change forever after they meet the rhino. Tragedy strikes when Ntombi's mother is shot after a bush fire, and she must face the vast wilderness without her mother's protection. With the help of two unlikely friends in the form of a tiny oxpecker bird and a scruffy baboon.
Will the trio find safety, and will Abigail and Dexter find the little rhino before it’s too late?
Conservation
STS Saving the Survivors
Tracy supports 'Saving The Survivors'. (STS) was formed in 2012 as a field-based, non-profit conservation organization, in response to the severe poaching of Rhino in Southern Africa which started in 2008. Click at the end of the following line to learn more.
For more information or to make a donation visit STS HERE
Social Media Links
Facebook www.Facebook.com/TracyLeeMay
Instagram www.instagram.com/zimtracy/
Website www.tracyleemay.com/
Amazon for Books www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Tracy-Lee-May/
I've read 'Ntombi, A Rhinos Story' and it is a wonderful read, a little upsetting at times, so not for sensitive souls. Thanks for joining us Tracy, it has been a treat reading about your exciting adventures. Thank you for allowing us to get up close and personal.
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