As a kid growing up in the Dallas area, Osawese Agbonkonkon read all kinds of fiction and was captivated by Cartoon Network.
He was definitely a Marvel Comics guy. And Black Panther was his favorite.
Who knew that after years of swirling those interests in Osawese’s head, he would come up with his own fictional adult action and adventure book, Psychic Suit? Not only is Osawese a published author, but in his everyday life, he is also a track and field star at the University of Texas and an Economics/Pre-Law major.
Any one of them is a full-time responsibility, but Osawese is juggling them all at a high level.
“It’s just scheduling. The calendar app is really great. Writing down things is also really great,” Osawese said to the Defender when asked how he manages it all. “Of course, my coaches are very supportive of this. Professors are very supportive, as well.
“If I ever need to show up to … I wouldn’t say show up to practice late to do an interview or I need practice moved so I can do an interview or things like that, they understand. Just a lot of support from the UT community, as well. The city of Austin and alumni, it’s just been great.”
It’s been quite the adventure for Osawese, who began his collegiate career competing for the University of Oregon as a freshman last year before jumping into the portal and transferring to UT to continue competing as a high jumper in track and field. Osawese spent his weekends and whatever time he could find writing his 318-page book in the midst of it all.
He got the idea to create a story about characters he calls psychics who crash-landed in Africa. They gained powers from an alien metal, providing them with wealth and political influence. The psychics are able to use the alien metal to make weapons that eventually fall into the hands of the wrong people.
“The psychics that we focus on in the book live lives of opulence because of what their ancestors did,” Osawese said. “So there is a terrorist attack in New York City using technology powered by their metal. And now they have to go and stop this terrorist organization that is using their metal for evil.”
I haven’t always been a writer, but when I learned how to write in fifth grade, I decided I wanted to start putting down some of these stories that I’d always been telling myself. And so, I think it was about 2018 that I started putting this down on paper.
Osawese Agbonkonkon
Osawese began putting words to paper for his book in 2018. Initially, the novel was just from a lot of thoughts in his head, but with events like the George Floyd murder, Osawese decided to intertwine social aspects into his story. He completed the book last spring, self-published it and now Psychic Suit can be purchased on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google and pretty much anywhere you can buy books.
“They were kind of just characters in my head,” Osawese said. “But as I matured, I realized that, at least for my first story, my characters need to look like me for future stories. I can get as diverse as I’d like, but for my first story, that needs to represent me and people who look like me. I’d say James Bond definitely influenced this a lot. The espionage angle of it, even real-world events influenced this.”
In his real world, Osawese is also a star track athlete with aspirations of doing big things. He established a personal record with a jump of 7-foot-1 during the indoor track season, has performed well during the outdoor season with the Longhorns and now looks forward to the upcoming SEC Championships.
A heavily recruited track athlete out of high school, Osawese first took his talents to Oregon, but now seems to be in his comfort zone closer to home. The Economics major is focused on his macro goals, which will put him on the world stage.
“I want to go to nationals and be competitive there,” Osawese said. “And then, of course, we’re going to have our USA Track & Field meet and then go to Worlds. I’d like to compete there. And if we have a really good day, you will see me in Tokyo wearing USA on my chest.”
Osawese’s goals and plans, which also include attending law school and pursuing an MBA and Jurist Doctorate (law) after undergrad, seem quite ambitious. But those who know Osawese best believe he has no ceiling on what he can accomplish.
“He’s very charismatic. I would say positively. He’s very headstrong,” said Ishmael Lawrence, who is Osawese’s marketing agent for his track career and his book publishing company. “He definitely believes in himself. And he is a go-getter. He’s very much a go-getter, outspoken in a positive way. He’s very vocal. He communicates well what he wants, what he feels and it translates in his sport, also translates in his schoolwork.”
If you think he is planning to slow down or scale back anytime soon, don’t count on it. Osawese has a plan to keep going and continue growing.
“I’m very business-minded. I get that from my mom, who I believe gets it from my grandmother,” he said. “So the plan for now is this first book, make it a success. And then, of course, I have ideas for second, third and fourth books. I also have ideas for books that are separate from this series. Then I already have ideas written down for parts of the actual novel written as well.
“This is definitely a project that I want to parlay my book into eventually publishing other books.”
