Pa Gya! Literary Festival ends in Accra

Pa Gya! the literary festival organised by the Writers Project of Ghana came to an end on Sunday, October 20, at the Goethe-Institut in Accra with some very insightful conversations taking place.

The three-day event, which began on Friday, October 18, hosted some personalities including Prof. Ato Quayson, who spoke on several issues relating to his award-winning books Oxford Street and Fathers & Daughters in a chat with Prof. Esi Sutherland.

Prof. Sutherland (Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana) engaged Prof. Quayson (Department of English, Stanford University -USA) on the roots of cosmopolitanism, urbanism and distribution of space among others following his descriptive account of the city of Accra in Oxford Street.

Prof. Quayson unearthed the various planning systems that had shaped Accra alongside diverse effects that were compounded by the International Monetary Fund’s certified structural adjustment programmes, which largely prepared the way for the early transformation of Osu from a largely residential neighbourhood into a dynamic shopping, business and recreational area.

He revealed through Oxford Street, the penetrating commercialism, which clearly co-exists with blatant economic inequalities thereby making this famous road, a microcosm of historical and urban processes that have turned Accra into the variegated and contradictory metropolis it has become.

Pa Gya! also hosted workshops on Spoken Word / Poetry (Tanya Evanson - Canada), Young Adult Fiction (Yaba Badoe – UK / Ghana), Non Fiction & Memoirs (Sabata Mpho Mokae & Pelu Awofeso - South Africa / Nigeria), Writing Conscience into Fiction (Chuma Nwokolo) and Poetry (Phillippa Yaa De Villiers – South Africa) were held concurrently in various spaces of the Institut.

Reading / discussions involved Oliver Van Beemen (A Multinational Unleashed), Maria Kwami (Secrets of the Bending Grove), Ositadima Amakaze (The Last Carver), The Waiting (Dr Martin Egblewogbe), Ayesha Harunna Atta (Les Cent Puis de Salaga), Empi Baryeh (Expecting Ty’s Baby) and Yaba Badoe (Wolf Light and A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars).

Spoken word performers and poets, who captivated literature lovers include Kathleho Kano Shoro / Mmakgoshi Anita Tau (Botswana), Nana Asaase / Kwame Nwom (Ghana), Tanya Evanson (Canada), Phillippa Yaa De Villiers / Nametso (South Africa) and Mariska Araba Taylor / Eliplim Akorli (Ghana).

Goethe-Institut Ghana sponsored Pa Gya Literary Festival 2019.