...The SaintsAwards Project...

What inspired you to write this book? –
A lot of things, a lot of experiences with different people that bothers on race and personality and I see a growing need for people to get to understand our differences to be able to deal with the challenges of the new world order. In the search for answers to so many of the misunderstanding I encounter everyday with people that I guess has personality problems to deal with I came across this old song done by Jimmy Cliff about a wonderful world and a beautiful people of your dreams…I just thought of the rare possibility of such a thing without a broad understanding of who we are and where we’re all coming from and from which perspective we create our judgment at issues…This is how I started working on the book.

What did you learn from writing this book? –
I learnt tolerance, I learnt patience and I learnt determination – a lot of things happened while I was collecting materials for the book, as you can see, most of the content of the book were from personal experience with people, then there was a lot of setbacks and distraction, like couple of folks had told me that ‘you might be wasting your time writing because it won’t fetch you the desired money’ – I had to ignore this kind of advice through patience – if I had listened to them maybe this book won’t be a reality today – in order to achieve this I was determined – this book taught me determination because I never had the kind of money the publishers were quoting do a Self Published book here in China – it’s quite expensive!

How long did it take you to write it? –
Say about 4 months of intense research and continuous work – as you can see part of this book is a collection from over a hundred great teachers that has done similar works alongside my own ideas.

What do you want people to learn after reading the book? –
I want people to learn the art of dealing with individuals from a diverse angle, you know, humanity is such a complex being, you need a broad understanding to be able to bridge the gap between the animal side and rational side of humanity, this is what my book is going to teach you. Also, after reading my book, you will be able to save yourself tons of worry over why people always act in a particular manner instead of the way you would have expected them to act over certain issues – there is a lot of issue relating to interpersonal skills discussed in the book.

I want the reader to become his/her own spy, policeman, teacher, actor or any role model you can think of after reading my book in such a way that people will naturally relate with you as highly civilized individual – the art of civility is driven on a society’s level of tolerance to the outside environment and how they are able to manage the excesses of humanity. Then we can say, this people are civilized or this society is advanced, in the absence of that my book will teach you where you belong.

Is this your first book? -
No, this is my second book

Any other books in the works? –
Yea, I am doing another book that has something to do on the Psyche of the African – Social and Political, this book is going to be hot when it’s out and another book on Africans from the streets of Beijing – this one will be revealing – Beijingers should keep their fingers crossed till am done by 2011.

Who gave you the nickname "7 Fingers Genie"? –
7 fingers genie means ‘this guy has extra fingers other than the normal six every human being has. It means he can do things beyond an average person. I chose the name by myself – Whenever people asked me the question; who are you and what do you do? – I lack words to describe myself so I just said; “consider me a man of many fingers” and they stare at me like ‘What?’

You see - I do a lot of things, I started as a Cartoonist, doing Double Spread in a national daily with the name ‘Atinga’ then I moved up as a Graphic Artist, then I got trained and become a Web Designer – big time! then a Self Styled Painter with about 3 Art Exhibitions to credit, then I had train myself to drum till I can get paid for drumming, my first shot in Beijing was Drumming gigs with one of Beijing’s Africa’s Number 1 Drummer, Afrokoko roots, people used to think – this other drummer until one day they found out that there is more to that, now I write (I had to train myself to write too by reading other people's pen) and delved into publishing the First Africa-China Magazine in Beijing 'LensAfrik' while doing that I picked up Photography too and had been invited to participate in a Photo Shooting event with World Famous Photographers and lots more – I was once a classroom teacher, a Poet and has done couple of recitals.

So I just decided to wrap myself up with the phrase ‘7 Fingers Genie.’ For me it’s like concentrate on a specialty but maintain added interest, make yourself indispensable! Add creativity to whatever you do and you will stand out. Today I’m a writer trying to get established but I still have my fingers here and there incase the need to use them arises.

Where can people buy copies? –
The Book Wonderful World Beautiful People by Njoku SaintJerry A. has been there in the Bookworm Beijing, Wangfujing Bookstore, Xidan Bookstore and couple of bookstores around the city - just ask the book store attendants there, they’ll pull it out for you and it’s one of the most cheapest good things I ever seen – the publishers fixed the price anyway so it could reach out to everyone.

Who is your intended audience for the book? –
The book is meant for everyone. Good enough, the language is both in Chinese and English because it is discussing an issue that is paramount and crucial today as people get to mingle.

This is the best time for everyone to understand or grab enough background information about the guy or the lady next door or how a system operates. Lacking such information alone could make you a prey or a risk and nobody likes this kind of classification.

Nobody wants to relate with a ‘risky individual’ and certainly do nobody wants to be a prey, so what do you do? – you pick a book and you study and I have given the Beijing community an opportunity to learn fast as our community grows.
saintjerry75@gmail.com