I am Stephen Onyekachukwu Mokuye, from Nigeria.
I am an award-winning Poet, trainer, blogger, publishing agent, and educator with two decades teaching experience.
By the grace of God, I have authored over 7 books, three of which are also in hard (print) copy, with many manuscripts waiting for their turn.
MY WRITING JOURNEY: HOW IT BEGAN
I grew up in the midst of books: books of different fields- science, humanities, business, religion.
I developed an interest in storybooks (novels) and drama at that early age.
I borrowed from my neighbours, when I exhausted the ones in the house.
At this point, I never ever dreamt of becoming a writer, until after secondary school, when I got a teaching job in a private school.
I was intrigued by the nursery rhymes that I taught the children.
This made me try my hands on some rhyming lines- writing nursery rhymes.
Boom!
It clicked with the children.
Seeing that they liked it, it encouraged me to write some more.
About this time, I joined the Sunday School team of my Church.
So, aside from preparing lesson notes for my teaching job, I also prepared lesson notes for my Sunday School students.
This was a defining moment in my writing journey because the Sunday School Superintendent, known for his meticulous scrutiny of our lesson notes, gave me a clean bill of health, thus allowing me to teach the topics I prepared, though not all the time 🤣
Prior to my admission to the university, I came across a poem by the African Nobel Laureate in Literature, Professor Wole Soyinka.
It was a conversation between a white landlady and an African, who wanted to secure an accommodation in her house.
Reading those lines, something struck me: “So, a conversation between these two people qualified to be included in an anthology for students preparing for external examinations to read and be examined on?” I asked myself.
This was my moment of epiphany.
From that very moment, I took poetry writing seriously.
I wrote on anything that came to my mind, most times, in a rhyming sequence.
So, getting to the campus, I came across a poetry club.
I joined without wasting time.
We read poems and discussed them.
I also read poems, as testimonies during Sunday services.
Then, the big break came in 2004, when the national body of our campus poetry club organised a poetry competition.
Out of the contestants, I was among the overall national winners, with four of my poems published in an anthology, Silence of our Campus.
I have never looked back since then.
As if God wants to sharpen my writing gift, I was chosen as the President of my Campus Fellowship, more like a pastor on campus.
I laboured to prepare messages/sermons to preach on most sunday services.
After graduation from the university, I returned to teaching- this time at the primary school level. Then to secondary school, from where I moved over to the university level.
In all these jobs, writing was and has remained the primary medium of passing information/knowledge to the learners.
BECOMING A PUBLISHED AUTHOR
In 2009, I self published my first book, Write Your Way to Wealth.
The idea for this book came from Habakkuk 2:2, “Write the vision and make it plain upon tablets, that he may run that readeth it.”
It focuses on encouraging people to attach value to their ideas and thoughts, and put their experiences and knowledge into marketable information products. It’s out of print currently.
By 2013, I published my second book, Sell Your Oil: Secrets to Unending Prosperity.
The idea to write this book came from the story of the widow in 2 Kings 4:2, whose husband died indebted and the creditor was threatening to take her two children into servitude, and how Prophet Elisha made her realise the potential in the little bottle/jar of oil in her house.
With the help of the Holy Spirit, I made readers understand that locked up in every one is the little bottle/jar of oil- call it idea, a skill, etc, that can change our lives for the best, if we take time to harness it.
The third book I published is, I Choose To Win: Activate The Winner In You, which was launched in 2023, and has been nominated for this year’s ACABA Awards.
This Book attempts to realign the mind of the readers to the undeniable truth that we most often forget: that we are products of choices, and that these choices define who we become and the extent we can go in life.
The idea for the title came from the book of Proverbs 23:7, “..as he thinks in his heart, so he is.”
It is aimed at rechanneling the thought life of the readers to a wholesome and productive venture, from a negative, jaundiced mindset, which has implications for them and the wider society.
In all my writing, I have been guided by Apostle Paul’s ministry goal of making an effort to “save some” (1 Corinthians 9: 22) and I’m grateful to God for the feedbacks from those who have come across my works- books, articles , blog posts, etc, particularly, the young people, who are my primary audience.
In order to empower more creatives, I started SMITA (Stephen Mokuye International Training Agency).
Through this medium, I train people on blog creation, ebook publishing, graphic design, and even book writing, with 30 Days Writing Challenge in the mix.
Over 70 people have been trained in blog creation and monetisation, while over 100 persons attended the eBook publishing class.
Some of these trainings are offered free of charge, while some are paid courses.
