Richard, aka RPKB, is many things – a poet, photo journalist, blogger, public speaker, even a Forex trader, but at heart he is first a writer. Born 1991 into a humble (but poor) Ghanaian family to a family of ten (5 brothers and 2 sisters), Richard lost his father at the age of 5 in 1996 and his mother in 1998 at the age of 7. Despite experiencing tragedy at such an early age, Richard always wanted to become a medical doctor, till – (in his own words) “one day I saw my soul holding pen” – everything changed, he wanted to become a writer; and he was 12 years old. As a teenager, he wrote several short stories; and even completed a book at the tender age of 14, though it was never published. His writing style has been said to be a pragmatic approach to how life’s dealt with everyday. Richard’s first published work was a book of poetry, Life lessons & The Birds (2010) which appeared first in Rising Artist Magazine (April, 2009). Other poetic works have followed – Kiss of Death, The Soon Drama and The Muted Island – all of which have propped him into international recognition. April 1, 2012, Richard published his first novel, The Tale of an Orphan: A Lesson to Learn, with E-Magine (New York); a true story inspired by his (painful) childhood experiences. The Tale of an Orphan: A Lesson to Learn has been described as a book about an orphaned village boy in Ghana relying on God for his daily needs, suffering both physical and verbal abuse because of his situation, but not giving up. Richard’s resilience can be seen in his determination to becoming an international success; thus he has employed all means to market his work – all forms of social media (including youtube), appearing as a guest speaker on radio and the good old, door-to-door marketing. His marketing efforts do not come as a shock considering the fact that the draft for his debut novel was rejected 88 times. Richard has described his writing style as thus – “I think of the number of pages, chapters, and the format to use. I define my target audience. The next step is to begin writing. I first write in my notebook then later transfer onto a computer. It is during this stage that I do first editing.” And he keeps motivating himself by reading, a lot! Every week, he visits major bookstores online to see what kinds of book have been released to give him an idea on what’s in-demand for the market and also what the competition looks like. And listening to radio interviews and watching TV interviews of authors and writers. He’s currently the CEO and founder of Orphan Trust Movement (PUT A SMILE ON AN ORPHAN’S FACE Project), an organisation established to assist and encourage orphans; which receives a percentage of the profits of his book. Richard’s currently working on his next books: My ShoesDon’t Fit: A Young Man’s Conversations with God and a novel, The Girl Who Swallowed Fire. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter By Olus0la Agbaje
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