Seven-year-old Michelle Nkamankeng has made history by becoming the youngest author from the African continent to make it in the top 10 youngest writers in the world.
Nkamankeng describes herself as a humble little girl who happens to be an author. She is confident in herself and just wants to inspire young children to follow their dreams.
Her mom, who is her biggest supporter says that Michelle is also incredibly active… she does ballet, plays netball, gymnastics, swimming, music and writes.
“She’s caring, passionate and smart; she never lets anyone get in her way,” says her mother Laurentine (Lolo) Nkamankeng.
Nkamankeng’s held her first book launch for her novel titled Waiting for the Waves over the weekend at the Wits University’s education campus in Parktown. This book is the first part of a series of four.
She said she drew her inspiration to write Waiting for the Waves after she visited the beach with her family in South Africa.
Seeing the waves rising and falling, she believed that she was encouraged not to fear the waves which are figuratively used to mean life’s difficulties.
In one of the cover pages of the book, it is explained that Waiting for the Waves is about a little girl, Titi, who loved the ocean and the big, big waves.
She also loved spending time with her Uncle Joe, who encouraged and inspired her to overcome her fears. Her fascination and love for the big waves also underscored the law of polarity of both love and fear.
Ultimately the love of her uncle and family helped her conquer her fear of the big waves.
“This story highlights the contradictions of emotions: ultimately, by freeing oneself from fear, you give yourself permission to truly experience the beauty of nature,” wrote the Head of Sacred Heart College, Colin Northmore, in a forward of the book, published by LANSM Publishing Ltd.
Her father Paul Nkamankeng said through his daughter, he now has an idea of what it takes to publish a book.
“As a parent, my main role was to give advice, encouragement and financial sponsorship to make this a reality. I just learnt that publishing a book is a very expensive exercise!” he said.
And even though it’s been an expensive exercise, Nkamankeng is excited to help his daughter with the other books in her series.
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