13-year-old girl publishes bilingual book series

Since she was 11 years old, Gabriella Kikwaki has been self-publishing books.

The young girl from London, Ont. has published a series of fantasy books, most of which are bilingual, published in both French and English.

“I’ve written 12 books but five of them are published and whispering willow will be joining the five soon,” said Kikwaki.

She told CTV News that she enjoys writing about galaxies and parallel universes, which are revealed throughout her novels.

“I like the fantasy genre because you can really write it the way you want like you can add a bunch of mythical things like super powers,” she said.

Kikwaki wrote her first book called ‘A Link Between Two Worlds’ at the age of 11. Two years later she has a new upcoming bilingual book called ‘Whispering Willow.’

All of her books with the exception of ‘Twisted Destiny’ are bilingual.

With her unique story, Kikwaki encourages others her age to pursue writing if it's something they enjoy.

She's also decided to put her skills to good use by taking a portion of her book sales and donating them to UNICEF, her mother Angel said.

“One day she shows up and says she has 50 pages and I said ‘wow that’s very interesting, let me read it and look at it,’ ” said her father Olivier.

He told CTV News that Gabriella began writing in her journal daily. That was the start of her writing career, he said. “That's when it hit us that she really wanted to become an author”

As the number of pages she wrote grew so did her parent's confidence in her ability to become published.

“I feel so happy and proud of my daughter,” said her mother. “I wanted to cry and I just gave her a hug.”

Reaching for the stars, her brother Ange said, “Maybe her books might become a movie and maybe very popular.”

Those interested in meeting Gabriella can do so this Saturday at her book signing at the Best Western on Wellington Road in London from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

“I’m excited but kind of also a little nervous because I’m going to be talking to more than five people at the same time,” she said.