Geraldine Sinyuy Interviews Ansu Juwara, a Budding Writer from Gambia

Geraldine Sinyuy: Hello Ansu Juwara, thank you for accepting to be interviewed. What inspired you to become a writer?
Ansu Juwara: My name is Ansu Juwara. I am a writer, got inspired by a literature teacher called Mr Okoro. He wrote few books about poetry, English Language for senior secondary school students, etc. I became motivated and happy anytime I read his books or attended his class. I grew into loving literature so much that I started writing my own rhymes or lines to practice.

Geraldine Sinyuy: At what age did you start writing and what was the easiest genre for you at that time?
Ansu Juwara:  ⁠I started writing at age 15, senior school class 10.  Nonfictional writing with a lot of rhymes in verses became the easiest to write and my favorite too.

Geraldine Sinyuy: At what time of the day do you find more inspiration and energy to write?
Ansu Juwara:  My writing has no specific time frame in a day. I just get to it at any time an idea pops up into my head. I write better when the society experiences difficulties. Especially authority related issues.

Geraldine Sinyuy: How do you manage social media distractions and the writing career?
Ansu Juwara: Social media is actually less distractive to me because I hardly go online just for online’s sake. If I have to go online, it’s just to communicate and share articles then go offline. My work space is usually my school library sometimes the beachside cafe. So I’ll say my workspace is friendly and quiet or peaceful.

Geraldine Sinyuy: I understand apart from being a writer, you still have other responsibilities. Can you share with me how you manage to successfully navigate through all these responsibilities and still have time for writing?
Ansu Juwara: It’s just through hard work, relentlessness, passion and willingness that help in navigating through the different responsibilities.

Geraldine Sinyuy: According your context, what is the most trending issue in present day literature as far as human rights are concerned? Ansu Juwara:  The most trending issues will be; human rights violations like rape, theft & robbery, denying children access to school, teenage pregnancy (early marriage). Other cases like school dropouts, drug abuse, wrong parenting, weak laws.

Geraldine Sinyuy: Can you tell us which of your works brought you to the lime light of the literary circle? Can you tell us where we can find any of your books?
Ansu Juwara:   ⁠I came to the limelight when Kebba the panacea discovered my work. He started pressuring me to keep writing and sharing because he learns through my work. I wrote an article about the government’s responsibility and failure in societal development.
For now, my works can only be found with me and on WhatsApp platforms. Sometimes on X. I am working hard to create a better and reliable platform.

Geraldine Sinyuy: It is said that a writer is the voice of the voiceless, have you written any piece of work that calls for any kind of justice in a sense? If yes, what was it?
Ansu Juwara:  I have written about HEALTHY POLITICS. This topic focuses on how politicians manipulate and control the public funds through few individuals forgetting the actual people.

Geraldine Sinyuy: What advice will you give a young aspiring writer?
Ansu Juwara:  My advice to aspiring writers is, read very well, know your rights and seek professional advice.

Geraldine Sinyuy: How does your community receive human rights related literary and artistic works?
Ansu Juwara:   ⁠My community averagely but positively receives the literary and creative work though. The literacy level here is kinda average or low with respect to reading. This makes it a bit difficult to reach certain age groups.

Geraldine Sinyuy: Have you ever felt threatened in any way due to the kind of writing you produce?
Ansu Juwara: ⁠I have not yet experienced being threatened in anyway. Maybe because of my small platform. I heard some are threatened and sometimes arrested. Especially politically related matters.

Geraldine Sinyuy: Literature entertains. What do have to tell us about this?
Ansu Juwara: Additionally, I do write for fun not business. I like catching the attention of people towards current issues base on facts. That’s why I use measured rhyme schemes. To help create that rhythm especially for young readers to pick up the feeling of reading and also be inspired someday. Thank you. 

Geraldine Sinyuy: Thank you so much for your time and insightful responses.

My name is Ansu Juwara, I am a poet who focuses on societal issues and eye opener articles especially for school children or students. I attended Nusrat Senior Secondary School (2007-2010). Then got admission into The Gambia College and pursued a diploma course in Education (2011-2014). I have been teaching in English Language and categorized Grammar lessons in different schools since then.