Fiction From a Freshman

An interview with Aydin Rizqi, an award-winning author and student at AHS

Staff Writer

At only fourteen years of age, Aydin Rizqi—a freshman at AHS—has published eight fantasy novels and has won multiple awards for his work. An experienced writer and avid movie fan, Rizqi sat down with the Eagle Era to talk about his experience being an acclaimed writer at such a young age.

“When I was eleven, I took the leap and I published my first book, Ethan Anderson and the Wielders. That’s the first book in the five book series,” says Rizqi. “It’s about this boy named Ethan Anderson, and it tells the story of how he finds out that he’s the ‘chosen one.’ He’s something called a wielder who has mystical powers.”

Rizqi explored many options for outside help for creating the final product of the book, as well as the process behind publication.

“I went on this whole journey with months and months of research. Eventually, I learned the basics of publishing a book. I went on Upwork, a freelance website, and that’s where I hired my illustrator and editor. Together, we worked towards what became the cover and the inside.”

After the book was completed, Rizqi needed a publisher in order to distribute the novel at some scale.

“I was looking in my mom[‘s] really big bookshelf in the living room, and I saw that one of the books was published by Barnes & Noble Press. I did a bit more research and found that Barnes & Noble actually has a self-publishing company, so that’s how I published them.”

However, because Barnes & Noble Press is a self-publishing service, Rizqi’s books don’t get as much publicity as they would if he worked with a traditional publisher such as Scholastic.

“One part of this journey is getting a literary agent. Literary agents are usually the ones who get you into publishing companies to get your books out there. I’ve been sending queries to literary agents, and I’ve sent my books [directly] to publishing companies.”

Rizqi has won various awards for his literary works—namely for his K.I.D.S. trilogy, which is about an Afghan immigrant in Canada who gains supernatural powers. He claims it to be, unironically, “popular with the kids.”

“About two or three weeks ago, I won the BookFest Honorable Mention award, which is great because I was competing against adults. I was one of the youngest people to participate and actually win an award. There’s this organization called Open Silicon Valley, and they nominated me for [their] youth rising stars panel,” shares Rizqi.

Behind all these awards is the invaluable support of the young author’s close friends and family.

“My family really supports me a lot. They always come to my book signings and advertise my books. My mom helps me a lot, like a lot a lot. When my mom read The Wielders, she was like, ‘This book is really good. Why don’t we publish it?’ Every time I need help from her, whether it’s books or just life and school, she’s always helping me.”

When discussing his overall goal with writing, Rizqi says, “I want to inspire kids. I want to show them that if I can write books and I can win awards, they can too. If you want to go out and try to live out your dreams and goals, just do something that pushes you out of your comfort zone. One thing to always remember is that anybody at any age can achieve anything if they put in the hard work.”

Caption: Aydin Rizqi (9) stands in the AHS library holding two of his books, Ethan Anderson and the Wielders and K.I.D.S., both of which and more can be found on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble. (P.C. Muhammed A. Ali (11))