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Balthazar Rodrigue Nzomono-Balenda, known as Rodrigue or Balthazar is a French-born Danish author, originally from the Republic of the Congo. Balthazar was born in Oullins, which is a suburb in Lyon, in France and his parents were diplomats in South Africa, before he and his family moved to Denmark. His parents, André & Rose Nzomono-Balenda were diplomats under the mandate of the former Congolese president, Pascal Lissouba. In 1997, there was civil war in the Congo as presidential elections scheduled for July 1997 approached, tensions between the Lissouba and Sassou camps mounted. On June 5, President Lissouba’s government forces surrounded Sassou’s compound in Brazzaville and Sassou ordered members of his private militia (known as “Cobras”) to resist. Thus began a four-month conflict that destroyed or damaged much of Brazzaville and caused tens of thousands of civilian deaths.Balthazar has written two books, The Depth of My Soul & The Struggle of Power & The Fight for Survival. He is a multimedia designer and a student at the Nordic Multimedia Academy (NOMA).

Balthazar identifies himself as a French born Congolese because he is more connected with the Congo and France than Denmark. He speaks French, English, Lingala, Norwegian, Danish, partially German, Dutch and Afrikaans. Balthazar learns Chinese and Japanese in his spare time, he writes poems, paints and goes out and enjoys himself.

You can visit his website at www.ganymedeweb.com. 

ABOUT THE BOOK:  It is a book of poetry and in the book; I focus on injustices such as wars, corruption, war crimes, religious fundamentalism, child abuse, other types of abuse, torture, dictatorship, relationship problems etc. When I wrote this book, I was also inspired by the news I watch on CNN and other media. I have learned lots of things from CNN and I am so grateful to them for  so many things. The goal of this book is to share my approach with my readers about the problems we face in this world and also to hear from them.  

Change for our societies

Whether we like it or not these problems are real and I believe that everyone of us can make a change in our societies. Time after time, our leaders promise that those who stand behind war crimes will face justice, but when they are warned about the problems, they do not listen. I do wander if the national interests come above reaching out to people who are in pain and those who have been victims of torture and oppression.

Abuse

In the book, I also talk about child abuse because I was a victim of many types of abuse, when I was a young kid and I have not still overcome that pain. I have gone through reaction and insults and I thought religion was the answer to overcome such a horrible experience, but I was wrong. I was raised a Christian and I was a Christian myself and did what Christians do, but I realized that the bible is self contradicted and phony. And I realized that there was never a god who could save me. I can save myself and be a fighter for my life. The message, which I want to send to my readers, is that abusers are cowards and their goal is to find someone whom they can isolate and blame for their problems. To be honest with my readers, my abusive past is the root of my atheism and my hostility toward religion. I was also a victim of psychological abuse and the only I deal with it is by being a hard working person. 

Freedom and justice  

I focus on the fight for freedom, justice and peace and hope for our countries, especially in the situation where we are dealing with the financial crisis because hope is the engine of optimism. Freedom is important because in our Western societies, we enjoy so much freedom and we still need to support those who do have freedom because if we don’t help those who don’t have any freedom, then we’re giving dictators wings to fly. When they fly, they oppress their people and find ways to corrupt some multinational companies so that things can go their way. In order to fight religious fundamentalism, we have do discover why people become religious fanatics and we have to fight for separation between politics and religion. When you mix politics and religion, there are more problems. I have written poems about people like Mandela, Martin Luther King, Kevin Rudd and Miriam Makeba because they are icons of justice.   

Poetry  

I express myself through poetry because poetry goes beyond logic and I express my emotions about these circumstances. I have published my book at I – Proclaim publishing house, which is an imprint of Dorrance Publishing Company, America’s Leading Author Services Company Since 1920. The publishing house is situated in Pittsburgh PA.  

INTERVIEW: 

Why don’t you begin by telling us a little about yourself? I am a French-born Danish young man, but I am originally from the Republic of theCongo. I was born in Oullins, which is a suburb ofLyon, inFrance. My parents were diplomats inSouth Africa for the Congolese embassy from 1995 -1998. In 1997, there was a civil war in the Republic of theCongo and the current president, Dennis Sassous Nguesso came to power by making a state coup. He planned to plot former diplomats who were working under the former elected president, Prof. Pascal Lissouba, my dad included and the former South African government could not guarantee our safety, that is why the United Nations sent us in
Denmark. I was a student at theUniversity ofSouthern Denmark, where I studied in the area of Humanities. Today, I am a multimedia designer student at the NordicMultimedia Academy, also known as NoMA. I am known as either Rodrigue or Balthazar.  

When did you decide you wanted to become an author?  There was a time in my life, when I never saw myself as an author. I just wrote poems for fun or sometimes, I was doing it to get awards from the International Library of Poetry, also known as poetry.com and that was my goal for success. I never imagined myself writing a book because I underestimated it as a something which could a profession. To me, If I wanted to write books, they had to be about Information Technology and other things about the computer world.  I showed my poems to one of my acquaintances, and he recommended that I write a book, but I was very skeptical because my dream is to be a web designer and I was always afraid that my book would not be appreciated  by readers. I was afraid to make a foul out of myself to many readers. I decided to give it a try and there were times when I saw myself writing books. I see lots of things on the news, on the internet both good and bad, and I decided to talk share my thoughts and approach with my readers. I thought, ok may be my book can make a difference, you may never know.  

Do you have another job besides writing? Yes, I am a translator, a temporary worker and a multimedia designer  student.  

Were you an avid reader as a child? What type of books did you enjoy reading? When I was a kid, I did not read many books, but I was a fan of Peter Pan. When I was a child, I read books about politics, history, biology etc. and I learned lots of things from my parents.  Tell us a bit about your latest book, and what inspired you to write such a story.  get inspired by people like Christiane Amanpour, Martin Luther King, Kevin Rudd, Nelson Mandela, Miriam Makeba, Lumumba, Patt Condell, Mark Steyn etc. because they are great fighters for freedom, free speech, justice and they bring so much hope, even when things seem to be tough. Christiane Amanpour from CNN does a great job talking about the hardest subjetc of all, genocide. And  I have learned so much from her, her team and the rest of CNN anchors as well. It is said that people perish because of the lack of knowledge. I decided to get inspiration from the following  documents: Scream Bloody Murder and God’s Warriors because I want to share my approach and thoughts about why there are genocides and what impact does religion have when it comes to such evil acts. I heard about my country of origin, the Republic of the Congo go through civil wars because of political instability, just like in most of Africa. That is why I decided to write a book where I express myself through poetry. I am forever grateful to Christiane Amanpour because her documentaries have opened my eyes, even if I am chocked, you ask yourself why in the world as humans could choose to do such evil acts. And why don’t we learn from it?

Did your book require a lot of research? Yes I had to make a lot of research about war crimes, genocides, xenophobia and I did also watch new on CNN and other internatinal  news networks. I had to do it because I wanted to increase my knowledge so that I could go deeper with the book.

What was your goal when writing this book? My goal for this book is to focus on things we deal with in our respective societies, both good and bad. I am also going to write about certain events of the past because history is not just about the past. It also affects us now, in one way or the other: Abuse, climate change, bullying, discrimination, corruption, oppression, dictatorship, wars, poverty and other problems. In order for me to deal with such issues, I have chosen to express myself through poetry. Poetry is a powerful weapon because it helps us to deal with difficult issues in the way that goes beyond logic. In this book, I externalize my thoughts about things that matter in our world yesterday and today.

Who is your target audience? My audience is readers who are interested in poetry and the events that take place in the world.  

How was your experience in looking for a publisher? What words of advice would you offer those novice authors who are in search of one? I would recommend I-Proclaim and I encourage them to keek seeking for publishers who accept them and value their talents as authors. They must believe that they have something to offer to their readers. 

Who are your favorite authors? My favorite authors are: Dr. Frank Lawlis:  He brings answers about ADD problems. Dr. Phil McGraw: The world’s best psychologist who helps people get excited about life. Ayaan Hirsi Ali: A brave woman who stands up to Islamic fundies and fights for freedom. Mark Steyn: Mark Steyn does the same things as Ayaan Hirsi. AliPat Condell: Very funny, cool and serious about the big problem Europe is facing today. Richard Dawkins: A great Atheist and he is my inspiration. Christopher Hitchens: A great Atheist and very provoking. Stephen Ross Meier: I good friend and an wonderful novelist.  

What is the best writing advice you’ve ever received? I have to check my  spelling errors all the time. Otherwise, I will be seen as an incompetent writer.  

Do you have another book on the works? Would you like to tell readers about your current or future projects? Yes my second book of poetry has been published. The title of my second book is The Struggle of Power and the Fight for Survival . The book is about man’s desire for power and survival when he goes through different situations. In the book, I focus on general things, but talk mostly about free speech under attack, religious fanaticism, terrorism, financial crisis, greed, Darfur, discrimination etc. In the book, I criticize religion and to be specific to my readers, I criticize the desire of religion to gain power over people’s lives and Islam is also criticized. Let me make a point to my readers that criticizing Islam is not racist because in the West, free speech is one of the key values.
Europe is facing a huge problem because its free speech is under attack. I talk about the integration of immigrants in societies that welcome them and I also talk about the hope that I have for mankind and legacy. This year, I will write a couple of non-fiction books.  

As an author, what is your greatest reward? I have never have any rewards as an author, but I have won several awards from the ILP (Internatinal Library of Poetry).  Anything else you’d like to say about yourself or your work? My identity is connected withFrance because it is my native country. It is also connected with the Republic of theCongo because it is my country of origin and that’s where I have my roots and ancestors. I am a hard working person and I take what I do seriously. I am working hard to make sure that this is all about you and I want to make sure that as a writer, I meet your expectations. I do my best to learn from my mistakes and make sure that I widen my wisdom so that I can grow and become a better author.  

Thanks for the interview!

THE DEPTH OF MY SOUL VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR ‘09 began on April 1 and will end on April 30. You can visit Balthazar’s blog stops at www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com in April to find out more about this talented author!

As a special promotion for all our authors, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away a FREE virtual book tour to a published author or a $50 Amazon gift certificate to those not published who comments on our authors’ blog stops. More prizes will be announced as they become available, so be sure to leave a comment!

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