To an artist, the world is a huge canvas of a smorgasbord of beauty and darkness, to be repainted in strokes spilt out by tints and shades of colours. The writer is no different in that sense; with every stroke of the pen, words come alive, portraying the lives lived, being lived and wished to be lived. In the same manner, the richness of the voice reaches the crevices of the soul of people when used well. I may be biased for the writer is a true artist who, through the stroke of the pen, paints pictures with words to capture the imaginations of people and, through a call with the pen, voices out the beauty and darkness around man/woman. It is therefore an honour to say that nature has gifted me with the gift of the stroke of the pen, my muse being everything nature.

Gems such as diamonds, pearls, gold, etc., are explored from the deepest depths of the earth and the deepest reaches of the blue, then they go through stages of polish, and then the final product draws and mesmerizes the eyes. Writers are no different from such gems; they go through several stages of polish. However, with the writer, the more he/she writes, the better he/she becomes. I am going through such stages. My dream is to get better, like an aged ambrosia, enchanting all the senses: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin and, above all, the heart, mind and soul.

My journey began with well-intentioned parenting. Central to this series of my life was a sophisticated illiterate, my grandma, who knew the ways of the world. She taught herself the very basics of sounds, enough to cringe at casting her as an illiterate.She schooled me in making the community library my second home, with her rural-fashioned restaurant, an extension of which was a forest of plantain, my third home. It faced the main street, a highway, that fanned my imagination of the rigors of life: the daily lives of people of all walks of life. The locally run restaurant itself was a cauldron of spicy stories that I am yet to scoop my stories from. Then there is also the African family, an extended family, the interaction of which pulls at different strings of emotions and shapes one’s thoughts about the spectrums of humanity and introduces one to emotional intelligence and diplomacy.

My interest in putting pen to paper for my thoughts was also shaped by my schooling. I had an interesting education. All my educators made different efforts in shaping who I am; however, my poetry teacher inadvertently made the most impact on my interest in writing because that was the writing niche that drove me to try my hand at writing. Of course the writing of essays was part and parcel of my early education, but the literary techniques that were used in condensing colorful and picturesque information in such pithy writing drew and held my interest and have ever since.

Ever since, I have been writing different pieces, most of which are yet to be published. With my volunteer work from a contributing writer to a staff writer with the Global Writers Project, I have different forms of my work published on its websites, in its quarterlies and in other projects, including “Trampled by Callous Souls”, “Nature’s Love Letters”, “In the Ring of Writing", etc.

Aside from writing, I have a zeal for teaching, which I have formally been doing for a little over eight years now. I have volunteered with some NGOs as well. I am currently volunteering with Meer. I do hope you enjoy reading my work.