Louisa Buah talks about ‘Ghana Literary prize’

Ghana literary prize foundation is a non-governmental organization for the promotion and advancement of Ghana literature.

We caught up with its chief communication officer and she briefed us on their strategies, and plans of revitalizing the Ghanaian literary world in the shortest time possible.

Tell us a little about yourself?

My name is Louisa Buah Chief communication Officer Ghana Literary prize foundation, I was born in western Region of Ghana in the city of Takoradi to be precise, I am a lover of literature, even as a child I remembered reading Efua Sutherland’s Playtime in Africa, vulture vulture and yes I remember Chinua Achebe’s Chike and the river.

What is the true Mission of Ghana literary prize foundation?

The decline in reading culture in Ghana society is alarming so the ultimate goal of Ghana Literary prize is aimed at promoting creative writing and reading culture in the Ghanaian society which is very low at the current decade.

The prize will curb mental laziness and will encourage young emerging writing talents in the nation thereby initiate the spirit of creative entrepreneurship in the young in the society, bringing wind of change into the mental pictures of our young and old, it will encourage Ghanaian Writers, readers, publishers, literary societies, thinkers and marketers of Literature into a new wave of improvement and development.

Ultimately, it is aimed at advancing the trade of creative writing and promote the art of reading, and its impact to the intellect and mind of the Ghanaian society will be enormous.

It is a means of making known to readers, publishers, booksellers and distributors, literary critics and reviewers, the latest achievements of the best writers in Ghana.

The competition contributes in a practical way to sustaining the tradition of excellence in Ghanaian literary world, discovering new authors and keeping older ones in focus. In addition to highlighting the opportunities in the writing industry to the young and upcoming African writers.

And the need to recapture the attention of the youths into reading and creative writing and the socio- economic boost literacy can add in any community.

How does the foundation intend to actualize this goal?

We know that it won’t be easy, the thought of taking this upheaval task alone is frightening so we intend to implore for the support of all Ghanaians first in achieving this goal, this is something that we must do unilaterally as a nation, we are going to approach the vital ministries that will have makor roles to play in actualization of this dream, for example the ministry of tourism,culture and creative arts and of course the education ministry because this falls under their jurisdiction after that we shall solicit for funds and support from the appropriate quarters to ensure that our goal of uplifting the Ghanaian intellectual and literary society will be actualized, we can’t do this alone and we are certain of getting the Ghanaian nation behind us with that there is no stopping us because this is a noble idea that will reward one of the most important arm of our society that we have neglected for so long, we are impressed with the dexterity and hard work of the Pan African writers association Ghana, which we are drawing a lot of inspiration from in taking this step.

In our brother nation Nigeria for instance they have a Literary prize being sponsored by the Liquified Natural Gas Company of Nigeria, this corporation gives out One Hundred thousand dollars annually to the best author of a genre of literature every year and this is a sort of motivation to the youths of the nation and right now we have lots of Nigerian writers who are successful in the international stage people like Chiamanda Adichie, Uwem Akpan whose book was nominated by Oprah in her talk show as sometime last year in the USA, and of course the Belgium based Chika Unigwe who won the LNG prize for literature in Nigeria last year is also thriving in the global literary world The challenges so far on the road.

There have not been so much at the moment and by the grace of God we don’t thing that there is any challenge that we can’t surmount to celebrate the Ghanaian writer.

Projections for the prize

We are working out the modalities for that at the moment and what we shall give out depends on the support that we are able to get from targeted sponsors of this literary prize, but our goal is to have an attractive offer that can get the attention of the seasoned writers in this nation and the young and emerging ones,and of course our book publishing companies, book shops and libraries are going to benefit from the surge that we expect to propel from the general public

Any rules for the literary prize?

The rules are not going to be that different from the normal national literary prizes in other nations, first the prize will be for Ghanaians alone, we are still contemplating if books written by Ghanaians but published outside Ghana will be eligible but before the Grand launch of the Ghana literary prize we will have a set of rules and regulations that will be fair to Ghanaians we are going to bring in veterans in Ghana literature and authorities in the literary world as judges and deciders of the prize winner, we will only the organization and leave it to authorities in the literary world to execute and decide the best literary book for the year and we put together a grand event to celebrate the winner and the finalist and our unsung literary heroes as well.

You are emerging in our society as a woman with a great instinct for positive change, who loves and cares about Ghana and its progress, what are your plans in cementing the change you dream of for your nation Ghana.

Hmm that’s a tough one, I think the only way we as individuals can be able to push ourselves forward positively is to be honest to ourselves, know ourselves well enough to understand our weaknesses and strengths, limits and capabilities and then work daily to improve on the areas needed most towards achieving our dreams and aspirations, I try as much as I can to be honest to myself and of course to others, then I employ the laws of positive attraction, determination and the spiritual habit of unwavering faith in my maker and sourcing for strength in prayer, humility and love for my fellow beings.

The most memorable book you ever read and your favourite author I think Ayi Kwei Armah’s ‘Beautiful ones are not yet born’ is one, I think it’s quite difficult to point at a particular book, if I must choose one then of course I will say the Holy bible, because it’s an exciting book of stories as well depending on how you choose to read it, right now am reading My First Coup d'état by the president.

What’s your view on the Ghanaian literary industry?

Oh the Literary industry in Ghana has never been dormant, we have vibrant and awesome writers like Ama aita ado, Sir Ebo white who are still dishing out sumptuous works of literature we have the upcoming ones like Empi baryeh, I stumbled on her book at the silver bird lounge in Accra mall, Crystal Tetteh is a wonderful poet and I love her works and listen to her audio poetry on Facebook, I think the GLP is going to bring out more hidden talents that will surprise the Ghanaians literary world and of course the world at large.

We have chain book stores like EPP books which is spread all over the nation they can make good distributors of literature and help make them accessible to Ghanaians regardless of their location in the nation, we just need to start celebrating our writers and rewarding them as well this will inspire our young ones into creative writing and then make wonderful works of literature available for our consumption, we don’t have to stay glued to the television all the times, if we have a good book for company.

Are you a creative writer?

Yes I am and am working on a poetry collection at the moment, but it’s not funny that when I finish my work it won’t be eligible for Ghana literary prize because the organizers and their family members can not participate but if my work is good and accepted by the public, I will as well submit it to other international literary prizes out there, so am not sad at all, because Ghana Literary prize is not for me but rather for the growth of the intellectual society of Ghana and a vision for transforming and empowering the literary arm of our dear nation Ghana.