Author of the Week — Kingsley Adrian Banks

An interview with Kingsley Adrian Banks. Read our review of his book, Adamma here.

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

Kinglsey: I was born in Onitsha, Anambra State. I grew up in Onitsha as well. I schooled in Onitsha right up till after my secondary school certificate exams (SSCE) before I left Onitsha for Abakaliki in 2008. I obtained my first degree in Law. To be honest, originally, this was my father’s and mother’s choice—I wanted to study Literature-in-English. During my secondary school days, I was extremely good in Literature; I took to the subject like fish to water. Anyway, I studied law and did well at it and I am grateful for that even up till now. I reside in Lagos, Nigeria, but also spend a large chunk of my time in Onitsha (I hate Lagos traffic).

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

Kingsley: I work as a digital media consultant and lawyer as well. I do not make a living writing full time. One day, I hope to get to that level where I can comfortably say that my writing pays my entire bills or at least the bulk of it. It’d be a nice dream come true.

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

Kingsley: Like I pointed out earlier, I was extremely good in Literature. I started writing at the age of fourteen. I remember specifically because by then I was already in my SS3, preparing for my WASSCE—West African Senior School Certificate Exams—and I finished my secondary school at the age of fifteen. So, I pretty much remember. I’d written off and on for about a year before I turned fourteen, but from age fourteen I began writing like crazy. I had these stories swirling around in my head all the time, so much so that it seemed as if I would run crazy if I did not put them down on paper. So once the stories came, I started writing them down. I am twenty-eight now—this April, 2021—and I have written for half my entire life, literally.

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

Kingsley: For half my life, I have been writing non-stop so I always have something I am either writing or re-writing. Right now, I am re-writing the sequel to Adamma titled Forbidden Woman. See, I started working on the novel Adamma in 2010; I rewrote it start to finish in 2017. I rewrote it again start to finish in 2020. In-between the re-writing of this novel, I was working on its sequel. I am reworking that sequel now and I wouldn’t want to give out spoilers. I can promise you though, that I explored very dark themes of violence and death in it.

LE: Lastly, what are your hobbies?

Kingsley: I do love reading novels. I read and read and read. I check through the worldwide bestselling lists and make it a duty to read as many of those novels listed there as I can. I also watch movies and TV shows. Right now, I am obsessed with Chinese period martial arts (Wuxia and Xianxia) drama series and I watch them a lot. I also watch Chinese donghua (animated) TV shows and a lot of western animated TV shows. I love the visual arts.

Kingsley has one published novel, Behind Closed Doors.