An interview with Sinmisola Ogunyinka. Read our review of her book, Scent of Water here.

LE: Hello Sinmisola, please tell us a bit about yourself.

Sinmisola: My name is Sinmisola Ogunyinka, and I wish to thank you for having me on your platform. I am a native of Ilesa, Osun State though married to an Ijebu man. I was born in Ife, and as a last child (retirement baby), grew up in Ilesa. I attended Obafemi Awolowo University where I studied Economics.

LE: What you do for a living? Is writing your full time job?

Sinmisola: I live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA with my husband (a pastor) and my four kids. And I have a day time job in customer service but I also write full time, lol.

LE: When did you start writing and what prompted it?

Sinmisola: I started writing when I was ten years old. I was in Form 1 and had a literature teacher, who prompted my interest so much. We were reading the book Sugar Girl at the time, and I started writing a variation of the story. However, I started self-publishing in 2003, after my husband compelled me to finish a book I was working on, Sister Minister. I still have all my old secondary school manuscripts but, my goodness, it will be a lot of work to get them in a readable condition.

LE: Are you currently working on any book and if you are, what is it about?

Sinmisola: I am working on several projects at the moment. I have a movie I’m about to shoot titled Cold.

Cold is the story of a guy who got shot while running from the police. He finds a back door open and enters. The door happens to belong to a nurse involved in an abusive relationship with a police officer. The plot thickens from there.

I also have a book in the publishing stage titled Blue Dawn, available online from October 1. Pre-purchase copies will be available from June 1. Blue Dawn tells the story of an African-American Texan woman, Shakira, whose Nigerian-born nanny flees from the scene of a homicide – Shakira’s two babies died under the nanny’s watch. The authorities did not work fast enough for the grieving mother and Shakira, on gathering information the nanny had escaped to Nigeria, followed her. With mind-blowing consequences.

My first full feature historical romance novel, still going through the editing process is titled I Loved a Slave, set in American slavery era (1859-1870 precisely) tells the story of a slave-owner’s son, Johnny Holt, who fell in love with one of his father’s slaves, and tries to help her escape.

I am also going through the first drafts of my new romance novella, Love Come By, a #TrueDream novel, my classic romance series.

LE: Lastly, what are your hobbies?

Sinmisola: I eat popcorn and sleep. I love hanging out with my family too and I love going to church (is that a hobby?)

And though you didn’t request but my books can be gotten on Okadabooks and Amazon. Thanks again for having me.

LE: You are welcome.

Sinmisola has over 30 published fiction and nonfiction books and several short stories;

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She’s on Twitter and has a blog.