About me
Thank you for stopping by. I’m so glad you’re here!
I’m Dr Isabelle Schupak (known to my little readers as Dr Belle): a Melbourne-based medical doctor, children’s author and more recently, mum to one cheeky little girl.
A lifelong creative, I spent many years training as a classical violinist before trading concert halls for hospital wards - and eventually finding my way back to storytelling in an entirely new form.
Before stepping into the world of picture books, I wrote for publications including Australian Doctor (Medical Observer) and Pulse, exploring topics often left unspoken in healthcare - from doctor wellbeing and disability, to caring for patients affected by domestic violence and dementia. Much of my writing has been shaped by my own experience living and working with sensorineural hearing loss, and by a strong belief in the power of storytelling to help people feel seen, understood and connected.
That same belief ultimately led me to children’s books.
I wanted to create stories that introduce children to big ideas - sustainability, kindness, empathy, identity and collective action - in a way that feels gentle, engaging and hopeful.
My debut picture book, Herbie and the Big Clean Up, grew from that vision; a playful, rhyming story about an adventurous hermit crab who discovers that even the smallest creatures can make a meaningful difference.
