British Council to collaborate with PAWA

Accra, Nov. 3, GNA - Mr John Payne, Director of the British Council in Ghana, on Monday outlined a holistic programme of action to collaborate with the Pan-African Writers Association PAWA), to promote Africa literary works.

The programme is to deepen the relationship between writers in Ghana in particular and other African writers with their counterparts in the developed countries especially the United Kingdom.

It would, in addition provide international voice to unknown writers and introduce "Crossing Boarder," targeted at youth writers to communicate through the Internet and share ideas with their counterparts in Europe.

Mr Payne outlined the modalities during a courtesy call on the Secretary-General of PAWA, Professor Atukwei Okai in Accra. Prof Okai commended the Council for its immense contribution to literary works, heritage, and cultural exchanges.

He emphasised the need for recognition and nurturing of mutual understanding of peoples in the world through writers and other artistic works stressing that these were crucial for advancement of peace, brotherliness and unity.

Prof Okai expressed concern about poor publicity and recognition given to African writers and publishers who had worked with extraordinary originality, flair and great integrity. He said African writers had written about their lives, experiences, culture, history and myth, published widely on the globe in diverse languages, but their work from the African continent remained unknown and uncelebrated.

Prof Okai said African literature should now focus more on creating new value systems and explore the continent's past that had been ignored.

The PAWA Secretary-General expressed concern about the value and marketing of African literary works and urged African governments to exempt literary materials from taxation.

He said taxation on literary materials had contributed to the high cost of African Books and works that had adversely affected the reading habit of the youth.

Prof Okai said growth in reading habit depended on access to books and the ability to acquire them.