Panorama learner begins journey towards becoming young author

A love of books has inspired Panorama Primary School Grade Three learner Unakhokonke “Una” Nkabinde to pursue her dream of becoming a published author who encourages children to read and believe in themselves.

The young learner’s talent has not gone unnoticed. Her teacher, Tammy Stradling, said Una’s exceptional writing ability became evident early in the school year during an independent sentence-writing activity.

“I first became aware of Una’s talent for writing when reading her first independent sentence-writing activity at the beginning of the year. Her creativity and level of thought in developing complex sentences of sound structure at such a young age is remarkable,” Stradling said.

As the year progressed, Una continued to impress in the classroom. During one writing exercise, learners were asked to use a series of verbs from a word bank. While most completed the task as instructed, Una went a step further by creating an entire story.

“Una successfully created an entire storyline complete with all parts of speech,” Stradling said.

Recognising her potential, Stradling believes Una has all the qualities needed to realise her dream of becoming an author.

“I hope that she will compete in writing competitions, submit poems and short stories, and become a published young author. She certainly has the drive, the ability, the imagination and the unwavering support of her parents, teacher and peers to accomplish this dream,” she said.

For Una, her love of writing began with a love of reading.

“I love to read, so I thought of writing my own stories. I also hoped to inspire other kids to start reading and to believe in themselves,” she said.

Fairy tales are among her favourite books because they encourage her to use her imagination. Although she is not currently working on a specific project, Una enjoys journalling and hopes to start writing a book of her own stories.

She credits her mother with nurturing her passion for reading from a young age.

“My mother inspired and supported me. She often buys me new books and encourages me to read more. She says it will help make my brain healthy and strong,” Una said.

With the support of her family and school, Una hopes to one day see her work published.

“I wish to write a book which children can read one day and be inspired to believe in themselves,” she said.