Five-year-old British-Cameroonian becomes first child author to host storytime in Europe’s largest library

Five-year-old British-Cameroonian Jayce Joyce has made history as the first child author to host storytime at Europe’s largest public library, The Library of Birmingham.

He hosted the event on October 28, during which he read out stories from his books to other children.

Jayce’s mother, Anim, said he started writing at the age of three. His two illustrated books, A Beach With No Sea and Jayce’s Sweet Tooth, released in April this year are on Amazon.

He published them when he was just four.

Prior to the storytime event, the young author told MMI, “I feel extremely delightful because I will be reading one of my stories to a large audience at one of the largest public libraries in the world.”

Anim said Jayce started reading at the very tender age of two.

Since then, the gifted author has embarked on a mission to inspire other children to know how to read like him.

“I want to inspire children to be able to read and write their own stories too, like me or even better,” he said a few days to the storytime.

At the age of five, Jayce has written five books and he said he is planning on writing another.

He adheres to five golden rules. “My five golden rules for creative writing are, Think It, Say It out Loud, Love It, Write It and Inspire.”

Despite his incredible talent at a very young age, Jayce is not receiving the acknowledgment he deserves, says Anim.

He has featured on the BBC twice but other British media have done very little to spotlight him.

His mother thinks Jayce could have been better acknowledged if he wasn’t black.

“Jayce is championing a good cause – using his God-given talent to promote literary pursuit among other children,” she said.

“I rather feel led down by the fact that despite the hugely inspirational child Jayce is, he is still not receiving the recognition he truly deserves.”

Mimi Mefo Info