What inspired you to write your memoir?
It started with a search.
I was in University and on track to live a life that conventional thinking saw as very rewarding, but within me I felt some strange resistance that I had not previously been aware of. When the restlessness became more than I could bare, I decided to drop out of University and to focus entirely on my Self; to find the cause of my restless spirit and then to find a way to return my Self to a state of peace.
I figured that peace was more important than a job.
3 years of searching eventually led me to a place where I heard – for the first time – my Inner Voice. And it was after years of questioning, that I eventually clarified myself to a single question, and on that day, my Inner Voice…the place of Spirit, responded.

“Go where I tell you, and write your story for the world to read.”

And that was it. I continued probing this Inner Voice, seeking clearer direction and, over time, I received it. What followed was a 5 year adventure that carried me into the wild unknown of rural Africa. I never knew what was up ahead, all I knew is that I was called to write the story, as it happened.

About your Book:
Have you ever had the desire to just leave everything you know behind and set off on an adventure? Philén Naidu did just that! Aged 23 he dropped out of university, left family and friends behind and set off to discover his true potential.

Naidu allows us to join him in his mid-life crisis as he journeys into an Africa that few of us get to truly experience. There’s no new camera and bug spray in his luggage, as he packs a backpack and heads north from his comfortable suburban South African upbringing into the wild unknown.

It’s a movingly honest account of his time spent traveling and living amongst the people of rural Zambia, his westernized way of thinking constantly challenged as he becomes accustomed to a new way of life.

Whether he’s bumping into wild rhino at night, sitting in the shade of mango trees with the villagers, sharing in their ‘local brew’, or learning the intricacies of smuggling items across the border for business, what he discovers along the way about life and himself is so clear and simple, yet so difficult to apply.

It’s a journey that will have you thinking about everything – where your food comes from and with whom you share it, to how you’d go about fighting off competitors to get the prized liver from a recently culled elephant.

How did you decide how to publish your book and where is it published through:
It was about a 7 year journey of research and questioning before I reached my decision. I’m not a supporter of the Corporation…the Establishment, so I have a natural dislike for the traditional publishing industry. The idea that I create something and then sell the rights to it, to get published, never sat well with me at all.
Writing a memoir has been a deeply personal journey, and each story, every word, my style and choice of formatting is all intentional. It’s MY story. It’s MY heart, so I’ve crafted my work accordingly. As I learned about the publishing industry, I learned that – after all the back and forth and time wastage and rejection that I would need to endure – finally, when I would be accepted for a contract, I would relinquish the rights to my manuscript. This meant that the publisher could make whatever changes they wanted.
Essentially, I would give the publisher carte blanche to reshape my heart.
I couldn’t do that. It didn’t feel true to my calling.
Besides that, I am a South African, and it’s my desire to pave a way for young Africans to follow, so that they can all share their amazing stories with the world. I figured that if I went the traditional publishing route, that I would isolate most of Africa’s youth.
So I decided to self-publish; to maintain full ownership of my work and to release it to the world with minimum cash outlay, so that I could be an example for Africa’s youth to easily follow.

My ebook is currently on an Amazon 90-day exclusive promotion, although it has been (and will again be) published on Smashwords, Nook, Kobo and iBooks.
I printed 100 copies in South Africa, which are available only in South Africa.
I am about to list an international print version on Amazon, via their CreateSpace website.

And I must say, that as much as I have been hasty to get my book all out there, I have learned that the service that Amazon offers, via Kindle Direct Publishing and Create Space – with all their templates and reviewing software and customer support etc. – makes the journey of self-publishing an absolute pleasure

How do you see writing a Memoir as different from writing other genres of books?
Well, I haven’t written a fiction book, so I can’t honestly compare. But what I can say is that the Memoir journey is a deeply personal one. It’s not something that I could sit and create entirely in my imagination, it was a journey that needed me to live it first, before I could write it. And then after living the journey and recording it, I then needed to find my creative space where I could access my memory to get back into the story – the sights, smells, sounds, tastes and textures. This was the really challenging part, because I wanted to remain as honest and transparent as I could bare to, simply re-telling my story exactly as it took place, but it turned out to not be that easy.
You see, the thing about a memoir is that there is no imagined character to hide behind. We stand completely naked in front of the world, when we choose to write a memoir…or, we choose to tell a lie, to protect what we perceive to be our ugliness.
Like I said, it is a deeply personal journey; it is a refining of the author’s character, through a baptism of fire.

Author Bio:
Born in 1976, in Durban South Africa, to two government-school teachers at all-Indian schools, in a country governed under the law of apartheid, I began a life that held little promise.

A boy who was taught to believe in his dreams and to take the necessary risks in pursuing them, I have lived – and continue to live – a life devoted to freedom and truth, mostly against the currents of convention.

I spent 2001 to 2006 in wild, unknown and rural Africa, following a call on my heart. I released my debut book about this, My Life My Africa, in 2013.

From 2006 to 2013, I have been in Johannesburg South Africa, devoting my time to the community of Zandspruit ‘Squatter Camp’, setting up the My Life My Africa Children’s Foundation. This NPO is committed to grassroots development, particularly focused on initiating community development projects, equipping and empowering local leadership, and then handing over.

Currently working on book two, I am also preparing to head east, in search of REAL China, from January 2014, for my next adventure. I feel that a little sabbatical from Africa will do me well, offering some fresh perspective, before I return to continue my African Dream, together with my friend The Lobengula!

Website(s)
Author Home Page Link
Link To Book On Amazon

Your Social Media Links
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7102830.Phil_n_Naidu
https://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Life-My-Africa-The-Book/157993397598678?ref=hl
http://twitter.com/philenn