OMOSEYE BOLAJI AND HIS TEBOGO MYSTERY SERIES

OMOSEYE BOLAJI AND HIS TEBOGO MYSTERY I was obsessed with creative writing since I was a - Bolaji Introduction Omoseye Bolaji, a Nigerian writer, is mainly renowned for being the creator and author of the "Tebogo Mystery series" which features the adventures and cases of a South African based private detective, Tebogo Mokoena. Bolaji has also published several other books. Henry Ozogula, who has published a book (study) on some of Bolaji's writings, spoke to him recently...

QUESTION. You obviously fell in love with books, reading and even writing from a very young age. Can you cast your mind back to your childhood? BOLAJI: That is very true. My father was a then famous editor and journalist, S. Labanji Bolaji, and of course he instilled the habit of reading in particular into his children. We were kids, but he kept on buying us a medley of comics and general books; he had a fine personal library too which contained so many books, a plethora of fiction for example ... Anyway, I remember that since I was a kid, I was obsessed with the idea of writing my own books, and seeing my by-line in particular! I was so obsessed with this that my Mom, Chief Bolanle Bolatito Bolaji was worried about it! But the dream continued...When I was in my mid-teens the dream became so strong and I was already writing my own juvenilia ... in my mind then I strongly visualised publishing ten interesting fictional works in my life ... I could not see beyond that then ... Question: But now you have published well over 30 books, perhaps half of them fiction. You also have many books out on literary criticism, book reviews, poetry, biography, and even a play or two I believe BOLAJI: (laughing) When I was young, all I wanted - and visualised - was writing books of fiction, not the other genres. In those days, what I envisaged was a series based on a sort of sleuth - like my Tebogo Mystery series. But of course what I had in mind then was a young protagonist, a boy approaching manhood as the protagonist ... Question: Now let us look at theTebogo Mystery series created by you. In a sense, your childhood dream came true since you have written and published ten books on your sleuth, Tebogo Mokoena. The books have been generously reviewed worldwide, with even full length books published on the series by critics, including a white essayist, Petro Schonfeld. What do you say about the series? BOLAJI: You seem to have said it all! (laughter)... it of course gladdens me that many readers loved the Tebogo books. Many people would say, especially ladies, "he (ie Tebogo) is not a bad guy, rather weak but...". Anyway, from the financial point of view Tebogo and the Haka (2008) was the most successful. But it must be remembered that over the years, I have published some general novels too; and these are often stated to be my major works. NOTE: Omoseye Bolaji's major novels - aside from the Tebogo Mystery series - are Impossible Love, The Ghostly Adversary, and People of the Townships. His latest published book is Wildflower (2021) based on a tv series. THE TEBOGO MYSTERY SERIES BY BOLAJI Tebogo Investigates (2000) Tebogo's Spot of Bother (2001) Tebogo Fails (2003) Ask Tebogo (2004) Tebogo and the Haka (2008) Tebogo and the Epithalamion (2009) Tebogo and the Pantophagist (2010) Tebogo and the Bacchae (2012) Tebogo and Uriah Heep (2018)