“I have written more books than Achebe and Soyinka put together.” Anguslaz Anokwute.
3 min read
EDITOR’S NOTE:
This is a reproduction of an interview Umuaka Times had with the late Angus Anokwute in August 2019 about his books.
He is an author, poet, security systems consultant, computer scientist and an engineer. He is a very soft spoken fellow and he makes no noise about himself. He is always in his study room gathering facts and trying to add to the growing number of books he has written so far. It will surprise you that this great Akalite has written books more than Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka put together.
Chinua Achebe wrote books like Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, Arrow of God, A Man of the People, Anthills of the Savannah, Girls at War and Other Stories, The Trouble with Nigeria and There Was a Country. While across the Niger, Wole Soyinka wrote, The Interpreters, You Must Set Forth at Dawn, Ake, The Man Died, The Trials of Brother Jero, Myth, Literature and the African World, Season of Anomy, The Open Sore of a Continent, The Burden of Memory and Of Africa.
Umuaka Times had a brief chat with Anguslaz Anokwute and he revealed to the world that he has written more than 35 books and 17 of the books have so far been published on Amazon Books. This revelation shocked Umuaka Times reporter who visited him and the reporter tried to find out what inspires the writer. He said again that it is God that inspires all his writings and at times his environment and life experiences.
For someone who has written more books than Achebe and Soyinka put together, he is supposed to be at least as rich as one of these famous authors. Umuaka Times asked him if he is making money from the books. Regrettably, Anguslaz Anokwute responded in the negative. He bluntly accused pirates whom he described as enemies of progress of making life difficult for him as a writer.
He also cited his inability to create serious awareness over his works as another factor. “I have not made any reasonable money on the books because I have not carried about any serious advert on any of them you know business is all about creating awareness.” He went further to explain that like any other human endeavour, “finance is a challenge.”
Anguslaz Anokwute explained that none of his books is in hard copy as it stands today but he intends to start publishing massively here in Nigeria as from 2020. When asked how to start doing this, he responded saying, “I have other international publishers, like Authorhouse, Xlibris, Createspace, and more which want to professionally publish some of the books for some fees, but I hope to surmount the challenges in no distant time.”
Anguslaz Anokwute who lives in Abuja, graduated from Hilltop Primary School Uba and proceeded to High School Umuaka and he left HSU in 1988. Finally, he studied Computer Science & Engineering at Enugu State University of Science and Technology. He is into hi-tech security installations and business.
As it is said that charity begins at home, Anguslaz Anokwute demonstrated his love for Umuaka in one of his books titled, Umuaka: The Past is History and the Future is Now.
While chatting with Umuaka Times reporter, Anokwute appealed to Umuaka sons and daughters to always stay on the side of truth and justice especially now that the issue of autonomous community variations is about to breed some political problems in the community. He also used the opportunity to congratulate Umuaka Times on the birth of the online newspaper.
