MICHAEL
DAVID OGBONNAYA BIOGRAPHY- SYNW YOUNG WRITER OF THE MONTH (OCTOBER 2020)
Michael David Ogbonnaya
is a Nigerian Writer works ranges from Novels to short stories and to
nonfiction.
Born on the 13th of
April, 1994, he is a native of Lodu Imenyi in Bende Local Government Area of
Abia State. He was born in FESTAC, Lagos. He comes from a family of seven;
father, mother and five children. He is the only boy and the first child and
has four beautiful sisters.
He had his Primary
Education at Kristobell Junior Academy, Iba Estate, Ojo, Lagos. And at a time,
because he parents were civil servants, they moved to Abuja where Michael
finished his primary education and started his secondary education.
However, he moved back
to Lagos to finish his Secondary education. For University, he decided to come
down to the East to have his Tertiary education. He went to Nnamdi Azikiwe
University where he graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Zoology.
While in the
University, he discovered his passion for writing after he discovered Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
through her Ted talk titled 'The danger of the single story' in 2014. The talk
he says, was given to him by his roommate's friend. And he says, it set things
in the right perspective for him.
As a person of the
science extract, before he watched Adichie's Ted talk, had never considered
himself a Fiction writer. Although he had read Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall
Apart' and 'No Longer at Ease' and 'Arrow of God', Ifeoma Okoye's 'Behind the
Clouds', Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo's 'Trafficked' and some other books he
compulsorily read during the course of his Junior Secondary School. He read all
for pleasure and to broaden his personal knowledge.
His mother, he says,
'She's good at buying books, although she never read most of them.' He used
most of his free time to read most of the books, she bought.
His father another
hand, saw to it that he did his home work. His father, he considers a reader.
He became an ardent reader in University days and proceeded to reading of our
Adichie's works and other works of renowned authors like Lola Shoneyi, Ben
Okri, Buchi Emecheta, Sidney Sheldon, Binyanvanga Wainaina and a host of
others.
Today, he calls himself
a die hard distant fan of Adichie.
His works covers a
large scope from Politics to ethnicity to Boy Child to Girl child to Parenting
to Christianity to history and a variety of other things.
He looks at the world
with an empathetic eye. He says, 'Literature made me care deeply for issues
that did and didn't directly affect me. Because irrespective of race, gender,
ethnicity, religion or whatever, we all share a common humanity and in that
humanity lies our similarities rather than our differences.'
While in his secondary
school, he loved mathematics and he said it was because he had a good
mathematics teacher, whose name was Mr. Emmanuel.
His poem has been
published in a Chinua Achebe's anthology. He has a couple of short stories to
his credit. Currently he is working on his first novel.
He loves Okpa as his
favorite snack.
When he's not busy with
work, loves get enough sleep as it helps him deliver effectively in his
writing.
