Babette Lind Mendy is a writer and lifelong creative with a particular love of storytelling, physical theatre and work that explores identity, belonging and the human experience.
Born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden, and now based in the UK, Babette comes from both Scandinavian and West African heritage. Her family roots stretch through Sweden and Finland on one side, and The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau on the other, including her Manjago heritage.
Growing up surrounded by both sides of her family gave her a strong connection to different languages, traditions, foods, communities, beliefs and ways of seeing the world. Folklore, mythology, family stories and cultural traditions from her Scandinavian and West African roots continue to influence her imagination and the stories she wants to tell.
Growing up mixed-race in Sweden also shaped Babette’s understanding of identity and belonging from an early age. Those experiences continue to inform her curiosity about what makes us feel at home, how we understand where we come from, and how people hold on to a sense of themselves when the world around them changes.
Her personal experiences, alongside her heritage and imagination, continue to shape the emotional truth of her writing.
Her Manjago heritage remains an important part of the way she understands her connection to ancestry, nature, spirituality and the deeper stories we inherit and carry with us.
Babette has been drawn to stories and performance since childhood. Her creative interests have ranged from acting, poetry and songwriting to theatre and writing. She has a particular love of physical theatre and remains interested in projects that bring people and communities together.
Alongside her writing, Babette has been involved in the arts within her local community. She spent three years as a Non-Executive Director of Cambridge-based children’s theatre company NIE, worked with Acting Now on a community theatre project involving vulnerable women, and is a member of Write-On Cambridge.
Professionally, Babette has worked in public service since 2012, with experience spanning children’s social care, housing development, public health commissioning and NHS mental health services. Working across different communities and areas of public life has further strengthened her interest in people, society and the circumstances that shape individual lives.
Her first published children’s book, Babou’s Kingdom, begins a four-part illustrated short-story series exploring war, displacement, migration, friendship, identity and belonging through the eyes of a child.
But Babou’s Kingdom is only one part of a wider creative journey. Babette continues to develop new stories and projects, drawing inspiration from imagination, ancestry, folklore and the complicated, sometimes beautiful experience of finding our place in the world.
Lind & Lore is the home for that evolving body of work.
