16 Jun 2016

Nsununguli Mbo has always been a writer.

As a child growing up in the North East, he had an addiction of always scribbling little stories under his desk during lessons. 

Little did he know that years later, this “vice” will turn him into a great novelist.

“I enjoyed reading and writing more than anything else and I used to spend a lot of time perfecting my writing skills as a young boy. I had no idea or plan of making anything big out of it, but was just content with the joy it brought me at the time,” said Mbo.

After a few encouragements from people who got the chance to read his short stories, Mbo decided to send a manuscript to Macmillan Publishing Company. 

“Unfortunately by then I had started at the University of Botswana and the course I was pursuing was so demanding that I couldn't continue with writing, so I had to break for a while,” he said.

Mbo, a psychiatrist by profession, had to complete his psychiatrist course in Ireland where he met many writers who encouraged him to continue doing what he loved. 

This was in 2004 and although he was still studying his medical course, the urge to write kept nagging him.

“I was doing my psychiatry rotation when my desire to write returned. I started writing my first book titled Wrong turn which I later self-published in 2009.  After its publication it now became clear to me that what I have been treating as part time passion was really a talent that had to be shared with the world.  So many ideas started coming to me and pretty soon I was busy with my second book,” he said.

A lot of writers usually explain that they get their inspiration mostly from their surrounding, but for Mbo it was different since he was inspired by his love for listening to people and their body language. 

“I am a psychiatrist and I deal with a lot of people who are psychotic or depressed to the point of seeming mutism,” he said.

He explained that his duty required of him to observe his patients and write a report so comprehensive to his supervisors that they would be able to visualise the patient. 

This he said, was the skill he normally applied to his writing too. 

“I always apply my profession when I write and this is what is unique about my novels because my readers can relate more with characters and visualise them,” he said.

As a fiction writer, Dr Mbo added that it is essential for one to always try and figure out what goes on in people's minds mostly basing their judgments on their body language and the way they behave. 

“I believe life is nothing but a long story made up of many characters and each one of us has a story to tell or a story that needs to be told about them, and what better way than to bring those stories to live by writing about them in a fictional way,” he said.

Dr Mbo explained that a writer has to be able to choose the perfect characters and combine their features to create characters for their books that do not exist in real life. 

He said the imperfect characters also make a good story as no one in life is perfect. “A story has to relate and send a positive message to include everybody,” he said  

The star in Dr Mbo has not stopped shinning as he has thus far published eight novels, the latest being a 360 page thriller that will sure keep the reader on the edge of their seats. 

The book, named The other four has been a hit among fiction novel lovers and is said to be doing very well in the market.

“Some of my other books that are doing well include Missing Corpse, The basketball school and Wrong Turn. People love these books and are always enquiring about them,” he said.

Dr Mbo explained that what sets him apart from other novelists is his ability of mixing humour with suspense or thriller, though he is quick to point out that two of his novels are purely comedy.

 “Most of my books are set in the fictional village of Tsebeyatonki, the surrounding fictional settlements and the fictional Lentsweng town and they are all available at Exclusive books at Riverwalk, UB bookstore or Books Botswana,” he said. ENDS