Young writer weaves a fantastic tale of magic

“This is magic!” exclaimed Joseph Baraka Bokea.

You see he had strayed into a land so wonderful that the people who lived there were green.

Their neighbours’ skin was the colour of the rainbows. They all lived in big houses that no one else could see except themselves surrounded by a forest of cool breezes and still waters.

Joseph 13, a grade 8 student at Aga Khan Academy was not disappointed that he was dreaming. He decided to keep dreaming. His dream has now been published into a book titled Magic.

The book, published by Storymoja in January this year is the first of eight fantasy fiction novels coming soon from the budding writer.

Joseph was born in Nairobi to Crispin and Helen Bokea. The third of four children, he began his schooling at St. Christopher’s Kindergarten and later joined Strathmore School.

In 2009 his family moved to Bangkok, Thailand, where he joined Shrewsbury International School. It was here at the tender age of 8, he discovered he could not find as many books as he wished to read and he set about to write his own.

However, he lost the script and with it the interest as his family returned to Kenya. He was enrolled to Nairobi Academy when he had this awesome dream that inspired him to continue writing.

FRUIT OF HARDWORK

In the dream, he met wonderful people who could make things appear and disappear.

They could change shapes and forms with one word or a flick of their wrist. He enjoyed his time so much that he decided he would take his friends on an adventure to this place he could only describe as magical.

The book is a story of Joe who is adopted into a family of green people. He lives in a castle with his friend Oak and his sister Ivy who spend their days studying with their teacher Master Leaf. Oak’s mother is the fabulous Mistress Opal who keeps a close eye on the boys while Ivy, the tattle-tale younger sister takes the fun out their mischief.

Joseph began by handwriting his story and then typing it. When he was eleven, he presented his father with the manuscript.

Crispin Bokea, an economist at Strathmore Business School vowed to support his son.

“I asked around and was directed to Storymoja Publishers who began working on the book,” he said.

Muthoni Garland, the publisher at Storymoja was very impressed with the quality of Joseph’s work.

“It was incredible. He had conjured this magical worlds with fantastic well developed characters all coming together in complex story lines. We could not believe the writer was only 11 years!” she said.

Garland then suggested that Joseph outlines his book and follows one theme through into one book. She assigned Vaishnavi Rammohan to assist Joseph put his book together.

Joseph who loves to play, chess, table tennis and the piano with his siblings, set to work with his editor on weekends.

It was hard work as he would find out. "I got annoyed a lot because at some point I thought she wanted to change my story." he says.

Helen, his mother agrees, “In fact, it got so bad that we, the parents, had to intervene so that we could reach an agreement." 

Joseph was however inspired that his story somewhat inspired by the Harry Potter series was written the same way. The writer, JK Rowling, outlined the books and set to work on each at a time.

FAN CULT

Their hard work of two years came to fruition when the first of the eight books was published.

“I suggested the book’s title be Magic. The editor looked at the work and agreed that the title was an apt description of the book. I was happy about that,” he says. 

Joseph and his book are set to be the star attraction at the Storymoja’s Hay Festival set for Nakuru later this year.

Dawn Makena, the festival’s producer said, “we are so excited that we get to showcase this rare talent. It shows that children have potential to write good books and we should celebrate them.”

Garland said Storymoja was hoping to produced the book in digital formats and was talking to people in animation and film to consider turning the book into a movie, a series or a game.

“This book has the potential to create a fan cult around it. It could our Kenyan Harry Potter,” she said.

His class teacher, Doreen Karau said she is proud of him. “I was initially shocked to learn he had written a book. I am now proud of him especially how he has inspired his classmates some of whom have submitted their work to publishers.”

Joseph who is currently working on his next book credits his mother for his love of books.

“She read bedtime stories to us when we were younger. Just like me, my elder siblings Alfred and Pauline are also avid readers,” he says. “However, Andrew, our last born prefers football to books.”