So I dived head first into research and spent many happy months immersed in everything I could find online and in book and museums and in the heads and memories and experiences of friends and family. I had a lot that I already knew but I knew I had a lot to learn. And to show the diversity between the countries as well as what they have in common.Īfrica, Amazing Africa is my first non-fiction book and I didn't know what I was getting into when I started to write it. So I decided devote a page to each country. So many children still think of Africa as being a country, not a continent. Their histories and geography are all so different!Įducationally it was important to include them all in the book. Some countries children still herd goats and camels and have cultures where play and love and patience and respect are more important than money. Some have mega cities with cutting edge technologies and hospitals and tech facilities. Every single African country is so different and so diverse. But in the end I could not bear to leave out any of the 55 African countries. My first idea was a rather complicated Alphabet book. I wanted to focus on the things that intrigue and inspire me about the whole of the African continent, without any focus on story at all.Īt first I didn't know how I was going to go about writing a book about the African continent. Through my fiction I share with children all over the world the fun and joy and colour and craziness of Nigerian life.īut I got to the point of wanting to write solely about the facts that fascinate me. My love of the cultures and colours of the country of my birth, Nigeria, is one of the driving factors of my fiction. The richest person that ever lived was a King of Mali who caused the first banking crisis in Europe! I am intrigued by it's waterfalls and snowy mountains, by it's crazy chaotic cities and blinding deserts, by the diversity of it's languages and its tales of ancient kingdoms and rulers.

All my life I have been fascinated by continent of my birth.

The fantastic Atinuke tells us about writing Amazing Africa and reconnecting with the continent of her birth.

Africa Amazing Africa by Atinuke