Stevenson Mukoro

Stevenson Mukoro was born in Lewisham, London, on June 25 but grew up in the middle-class suburb of Ughelli. The son of Samuel and Rose Mukoro grew up with two older siblings Macdonald and Regina and four younger siblings, Ovie Freeborn, Tina, Gloria and Kingsley. From an early age, he wanted to be a professional pilot because he often envisioned the beautiness of the world from the air. In high school, however, he developed two other passions that would define his career: A chance encounter with Peter O'Donnell and a prank, resulting in crashing the principal's car. Crashing the car resulted in an injury that put paid to his piloting career. That and his brother, Ovie’s death inspired him to write stories with a host of characters and long tenses. Stevenson first came to the attention of British readers when he won a two consecutive young poetry awards for excellence. Today he is slowly becoming one of England’s acclaimed vivid adventure writers, and communicates to his readers a deep interest in back stage criminal theories. Disagreeing with the established order that espionage anecdotes are on a decline, he believes that the spying game has become too established or commercialised to be over and that there is “much more to spying than is normally acknowledged”. He has degrees in Business Computing and Administration but prefers the task of writing instead of a demanding mundane 9 to 5 business office hours. After the July 07 bombings in London, Stevenson wrote many articles about war, terrorism, and the clash of democratic western societies with fundamentalist Muslim ones. A reporter once wrote, "His clarity of vision on the local impact of terrorist threat is alarming“. He adds, “Terrorism is terrible business and at times it could rejuvenate a society, but more often than not, it destroys" Stevenson is avid enthusiast of unknown heroes whose contributions are hidden in the annals of secret documents or power hungry officials. He believes his heroes should have Communion with tea in the morning, shoot the villain in the head during lunch, and still be able to read a bedtime story in the evening to a loved one. Similar views which one of his fictional heroines, Susan Dax expresses. His fictional books are expressively imaginative. Stevenson says, "I've always been a big fan of Lara Croft and Jane Doe depictions. I figured it was time for a new heroine to take the stage and convey our minds off the near ugliness of the world. Enter Susan Dax, a girl lacking nothing, needing nothing, but doing her utmost to do anything in order to create the peace and punish the evil doers. Such passion is hard to come by" He writes his bestselling adventure tales in a cottage overlooking the foothills of Bridlington, Yorkshire. Steven is the 2010 recipient of The Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Letters. For more information about the author and his books, visit www.stevensonmukoro.com