At only 8 years old, the Eastern Cape’s Ezekiel Jewell is already a career man with a published book to his name!
Makhanda, South Africa (02 July 2024)—It’s rarely ever too late or too early to take a real leap toward one’s dreams, and for little Ezekiel Jewell, who is only eight years old, the latter couldn’t be more fitting.
While his parents made sure to instil a love of reading in their son, we’re sure they had little idea when he picked up reading at age five that only a few short years later, he’d be reading his own work to others of all ages.
Despite only being in Grade 2, Ezekiel is already a career man with a published book to his name—’A Collection of Short Stories’. His debut book naturally blew literary lovers away at festivals like the National Arts Festival in Makhanda and the Joy of Books Festival in East London, both for the strikingly young age of its author and for the kind of creativity inherent to childlike curiosity it channels.
His school, Kingswood College, shares that he wrote the book when he was just five.
For his parents, the whirlwind experience of having a young author for a son has been a wonderful surprise, as “A Collection of Short Stories” was initially intended never to be sold, but rather to become a keepsake as they shared with Grocott’s Mail.
Still, they couldn’t be more proud of their son, as is his larger community in Makhanda.
Ezekiel’s story speak to the beauty of uniqueness, finding one’s confidence and accepting who you are—something many adults still grapple with.
Watch him read from his book here.
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