Biboye Afenfia is a 12-year-old super-intelligent child who recently made his debut as a writer with a wonderful fiction titled, “Paxoid”.
Famous dramatist, Williams Shakespeare wrote in his “Twelfth Night” that “Some are born great, some achieve greatness while some have greatness thrust upon them.” Biboye was born great by Michael Afenfia, the current president of Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Bayelsa state chapter, and author of another superlative fiction, “Don’t Die on Wednesday.”
In this exclusive interview with Thinkers Newspaper, Biboye talks about the motivation behind the book, his ambitions as a writer and the relationship between him and his dad and co-author of Paxoid.
According to him, he aimed to use the character of Patrick in the novel to inspire youths and kids not to be limited by their age but to aim higher in life and use their talents to help humanity. Excerpts:
How do you feel, making your debut as a writer?
I feel very good and excited.
What role did your dad, who is a known writer, play in this debut?
He played an important role. He helped me a lot. He believed in my story and he gave me the courage to write. When I started, he was there for me till the end.
Was this book your idea or your dad’s
It was my idea.
If your dad was not a writer, would you have written this book at this age?
Not sure I would have gotten the support and encouragement this early.
What did you aim to achieve with this fiction?
What I set out to achieve is to encourage people especially young people that they are not too young to achieve great things. You are not too young to do everything you dream of.
The story is all about a 14-year-old boy called Patrick who visits his mum on her hospital bed and the mum tells him he is going to have a younger brother soon.
He has been an only child all his life and so the news that he is going to have a junior really sound strange to him. He decides to go somewhere alone in order to clear his head and digest the strange news properly.
He meets two strange men who gives him a medallion which confers certain magical powers on him with a piece of advice to use it to save humanity.
The book explores whether Patrick is able to use his new-found status for positive reasons and how prepared he is to take the additional responsibility of a big brother.
What informed the title?
The title was inspired by the heroic name Patrick assumed. The name is of course adopted because he doesn’t want people to know who he really is. Its a mixture of the first two letters of his name with the heroic name of his choice.
What are the specific lessons kids can learn from reading it?
Kids can learn that they are never too young to leave a mark on the society. Age is never a limitation. Kids can learn that they can be someone in the society, no matter who they are or their background. They just need to be themselves.
Kids should also learn to use any power or talent they have to help others and remain humble in greatness. In the book, we can see that Patrick gets the medallion because someone who had it before him misused it and was consumed by his arrogance.
How is the reception of the book like among your friends in school?
It’s very good. My cousin and friends who are aware of the book commend me for the effort.
What are your ambitions as a writer
My ambition as a writer, is to write books that will give good values to children.
Do you intend to take writing as a career or just a pastime?
I want to go into full-time writing and take it as a career.
How will you combine your school work and writing and what do you want go study in the university?
Whenever I have free time I will use it to write. I am not yet decided on my course of study in the university even though I have interest in many different things.
What next after Paxoid?
I will soon start work on the continuation. The story is not over yet.
