Teen author aims for second book
HE’S only 13 and yet Ballito schoolboy Kieran Aleka already knows that before December his second published book will be on the shelves.
Kieran has been writing for many years and his first book, The Untold Academy, was launched last month with more than 100 copies sold in the first week and requests still coming in.
“At first it felt surreal because it was a literal dream come true but I eventually came to the realisation that it actually was something real and I was overwhelmed with pride,” he said.
Kieran who starts high school this year says his love for words began when his parents regularly took him to the library as a little boy, but it was a set of Roald Dahl books gifted by his dad that cemented his love for books.
And then he started writing, all the time, prompting his Grade 2 teacher Sandy Heeley to give him a doodle book.
“She had seen that I would write on whatever I could. If she gave me a worksheet, I would write a story on the back of it and eventually, she gave me a book and she said I must use that to write.
“It was really unexpected, but I really appreciated it nonetheless. And then other people saw me writing on it and they decided to ask my teacher for one as well.”
Soon the whole class was writing stories but for Kieran it wasn't a fad but a way of life.
He had built up a huge collection of stories over the years and in 2024 his dad encouraged him to have them published.
Three of those stories made it into the first book and although they had already been written, it took many months to get it ready for publication.
“So the stories weren't very long, they were about 10 to 15 pages each, and I had to work quite hard to be able to express what was going on in my head and write it out, which isn't the easiest. I would do my best to manage my time well, but found the best time for me to write was towards the evening. I would try to write at least 10 minutes after karate and hockey and football and all the things I do in my normal day.”
At one point Kieran wondered if it was worth the effort but he persevered. “I decided that even if it doesn't work out I'll be proud of myself because I'll still have something to look back on and say, I wrote this. And my mum was on my tail like nothing, so I didn't really have much of a choice,” he said.
The three short stories in The Untold Academy are riveting.
Life on Earth is about a boy who is the only human left on earth because everyone else had moved to Mars and ordinary plants became dangerous because no one was maintaining them.
Star Nova is set in the future where earth is overrun by robots and almost destroyed because of technology.
The final story called Untold Academy is about a boy who runs away from what is portrayed as a good boarding school, but is actually just a prison.
Kieran has a full schedule every day. Apart from school he also participates in hockey, swimming, football, cricket, cross-country and karate.
“I just make sure that I manage my time well. And when you have parents like I do who are ready to support you at any time, it makes it go quite easy. The day before, when I'm packing my bag for school I look at my timetable to see all the things that I need to do tomorrow, and I make sure that I also set aside time for me to also have fun and then after that, have some time for writing,” he said.
Kieran says he won’t stop writing and foresees many more books in his future.
“I would like to say that every single person in this world has a story in them all they need to do is just pick up their pen and start writing.”
His mom Aritha Aleka has encouraged other parents to help their children fulfil their dreams.
“I think when we were on the launch day it really hit me what a journey it had been up to that point. I just encourage any parent to not be like many of our parents of the past who underestimated our capabilities or just thought one day you'll do this, but didn't think they could be the one to give that necessary support,” she said.