A Q&A with Ayman Taslim

By Ayman Taslim | Guest Blog, Interview, Toolkit

Young Writer Ayman Taslim chases their dreams

Today we speak with Young Writer Ayman Taslim who has gone all the way from an idea to a complete book full of poems! This is an amazing achievement. Ayman was willing to answer some questions about the process and share their thoughts with us on writing a book, and how the Young Writers Toolkit helped them along the way!

Ready to find out what Ayman had to say? 

Here we go.

Firstly, congratulations! You’ve created your very own book, how does it feel?

I am really excited, proud and content. I have finally published my own book and now many can see my style of writing. I am glad that I have completed it and I can't wait to hopefully publish my next book in the near future.

Could you tell us a little about your book, what is it about?

When the Mind Speaks is a collection of original short stories and poems, written from when I was 9. Each story has a different theme and each poem has a different style. Lockdown did many things for many people, but for me the love for literature grew with an intensity that demanded an output, so I started to write short stories and poems that kept on opening new passages in my mind… this is clear in the varied themes and styles presented in the book.

Where did you get the inspiration from? Where did you find the idea behind the book?

Inspiration comes from everywhere but reading really opens the imagination, makes you travel to places you’ve never been, witness things you’ve never seen experience life you’ve not yet lived … such a powerful thing it is to unleash the imagination.  

My love of literature came from my mother, who has always encouraged me to read and write to my heart’s content.

My passion for reading and writing led to me to start writing my own poems and stories. The more I wrote, the more confidence I gained, and I was soon able to compile a whole collection of my work. 

My first poem I wrote in the lockdown called "The Days I stayed At Home" got to the Mayor Of London who replied by congratulating me. Furthermore it went up on my primary schools newsletter and twitter. I was made the young author and eventually appeared on TV, which was an amazing experience.

How did you go about writing it, did you find it easy?

Writing this book was definitely a challenge. Editing my work three times before perfecting it to go into the book., I had to check to make sure that the grammar and spelling was corrected and made sense. But I overcame this task and managed to eventually finish.

Did you find the toolkit useful? What was the best part about it or the most interesting thing you learnt?

At first I found it difficult to use but after a few lessons I managed to understand the toolkit. It was indeed very useful. Planning out each story with the idea, the title and the theme before the final piece made it very easy to follow. Once I got used to it I glided through the kit. Editing was made easy and saving it was the best part. I was able to use the toolkit with confidence. Moving the stories around one of the best things I enjoyed doing. I loved how I was able to view the book and really see it come to life. It really helped me invoke interest into the reader as they read each story. I would recommend every young writer to buy the toolkit.

What’s next for you? Are you going to write more books?

It has been a wonderful experience from beginning to end and the results were phenomenal. Having sold just over a 120 books has boosted me to push more as a young writer.  

I do plan on writing a new book sometime in the future, Maybe I could write a whole, long novel or do a roller coaster of poetry letting my imagination run away with me. I could not thank Young Writers enough for helping me publish my book. This is surely one of the most exciting things I have done in my school life. 

Rutlish, my secondary school, gave me recognition when finding out about my book. It got to the English coordinator and the head teacher who were extremely impressed. Additionally, it went up on the school newsletter. Sally Kenny, the Councillor of Lifelong Education, and the mayor of Merton heard about it and were also very impressed. They will be attending my school to give me recognition for outstanding achievements. 

I will be writing to the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, to ask for his support on pushing reading books in schools as I believe it is something that always gets put at the bottom on the pile!

I would like to see more young writers therefore I will need the support from a higher place,

Now that my work is published, I really hope that it will inspire others to aim high and fulfil their goals, too.