Accra hosts World Book Capital April 24
FOR the next 12 months, the global attention of education will turn to Ghana for various reading initiatives and activities as Accra hosts this year’s World Book Capital.
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The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) chose Ghana to host the 2023 World Book Capital, an initiative that focuses on developing the book and creative arts industries.
For a whole year, UNESCO and World Book Capital Cities Network will put the spotlight on the power of books and reading as cornerstones of a more inclusive, equitable, peaceful and sustainable society.
UNESCO, and the book industry, including writers, authors, and publishers, are upbeat that the Accra World Book Capital, 2023, will reinvigorate and promote the domestic book industry; re-imagine the concept of libraries, promote literacy and instil the culture of reading in the youth.
The theme: ‘Reading to connect minds for Social Transformation’ is in line with UNESCO’s mission to ‘build the defences of peace in the minds of men and women’.
This highlights the importance of books and the culture of reading in changing minds, particularly among the youth, as well as creating new bonds of friendship through reading.
Opening ceremony
At a press briefing in Accra yesterday ahead of the official opening of the event later this month, the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo would open the year-long event at the Accra International Conference Centre on April 24, where he would host a wide array of important international personalities at the ceremony.
The event is expected to be attended by dignitaries, including members of the diplomatic community in Ghana, UNESCO representatives in the Africa Region and its Paris headquarters, directors and representatives of the United Nations agencies home and abroad, development partners, city mayors from the World Book Capital Network, and personalities from the International Publishers Association (IPA), International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), as well as the International Authors Forum (IAF).
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Background
UNESCO selected Accra in 2021 as the 2023 World Book Capital, ahead of other cities because its programmatic focus was on young people and their ability to contribute to the culture and wealth of Ghana through the power of reading.
Accra, therefore, becomes the fourth city in Africa to receive this title since 2001, making the vibrant city part of the prestigious World Book Capital Cities Network.
Lifelong learners
Dr Adutwum stressed the need for schools to inculcate the habit of reading in children at an early age to help create lifelong learners for the country.
He explained that if more children