The Silent Immigrants Blog Tour: Author Interview

Boniface Nwugwo, author of The Silent Immigrants shares the story behind his book in the interview below. To learn more about the book, please read my previous post here.

1. What is your favorite quality about yourself?

Not taking anybody or anything for granted.

2. What is your least favorite quality about yourself?

Procrastination.

3. When did you first know you could be a writer?

I don’t think it happened in one instant. However, I grew up as the child of an elementary school teacher and headmaster and the school system that I attended during my elementary and secondary school years concentrated more on essay-based tests and exams instead of multiple-choice. I’ve come to believe that all those essays were very instrumental in my later years and in my writing ability.

4. Who or what influenced your writing over the years?

I would say reading Shakespeare and Chinua Achebe’s writings.

5. How did you come up with the title of the book?

It was during the 2010 Immigration matches and protests. I was listening to a radio show and the hosts and their guests were discussing the protests around the country and the participants. One of them made a comment about how Africans don’t ever participate in these immigration matches and protests. I said to myself, these commentators don’t actually understand anything about African immigrants. That motivated me more to write the book and title it “The Silent Immigrants”.

6. What was the hardest part of writing your book?

The hardest part was picking the 4-5 stories of other West African immigrants to include in the book. Another hard part was mustering the energy to focus on the actual writing in the midst of other demands such as job and family priorities.