Du Bois Memorial Centre will host the Inaugural Storymoja Ghana Festival on Wednesday as Ghana marks the birthday of the nation’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
The Storymoja Festival, which is an annual literary and arts celebration, traditionally held in Nairobi is being brought to Accra as it has now developed into a pan-African event.
Organisers of the events are looking forward to a very successful inaugural event which commences from September 21 to 25, celebrating the life of the Ghana's founder, as well as remembering the late writer Kofi Awoonor.
Storymoja is a Kenyan publishing house, and promotion of a national reading cultural is a critical part of its business strategy
The move marks a bittersweet moment for Nairobi, as the festival has now been put on hold in the city indefinitely.
According to the co-founder of Storymoja, Muthoni Garland, the orgainsisation there has been challenges in organising the event in Nairobi despite the fact that it has been a premier showcase for artistic talent and top literary minds.
“Insufficient local funding is the reason, . We are dismayed at the low level of corporate support for book-related events”, he said.
“The festival is our key platform for promoting books and celebrating authors,”
The idea for the festival was sparked nine years ago when Muthoni attended the Hay Festival in the UK. She says she was amazed that 150,000 people would commute three hours or more by train and taxi to attend a book event in a temporary tent-city in a sheep farm in Wales. She decided to organise something similar back home.
The book fair brings together local and international authors, artists, bloggers, musicians and opinion leaders to exchange thoughts on writing and culture.
In 2007, Storymoja partnered with the Hay Festival to host its first literary jamboree in Nairobi. Over the years, the festival has brought in authors like Ben Okri, Michela Wrong, and M G Vassanji, Vikram Seth, and Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka.
Wednesday, September 21 is a public holiday to mark this year’s Founder’s Day and the festival at the Du Boise Centre will be used to remember the late Kofi Awoonor, producer and director of Storymoja Ghana who was killed in Nairobi during the West gate Mall terror attack of September 2013.
By Fiifi Abdul-Malik/ghanaguardian.com
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