Make reading regular habit - Prof. Sutherland-Addy charges students

The Board Chairperson of Afram Publications, Professor Esi Sutherland-Addy, has charged students across the country to make reading a habit in order to develop themselves for the future.

“I encourage you all to read not because there are textbooks, but to read for fun and understanding.

Work your way out to be able to read and have fun and enjoy reading,” she said.

However, the academic, author, educationist and human rights activist stated that youngsters of today had interest in images more than texts, adding that “this is something you need to work your way out of so that you will be able to read and at the same time enjoy reading”.

Afram Publications

Prof. Sutherland-Addy said this yesterday at the unveiling of the 50th anniversary logo of Afram Publications in Accra.

The golden jubilee is on  the theme: “50 Years of Indigenous Publishing”.

The launch was held alongside the Afram Publications’ third inter-schools debate for four senior high schools in Accra.

They are the Accra Girls SHS, Accra Wesley Girls SHS, the Presbyterian SHS, Osu, and the St John’s Grammar School.

Dubbed, “GPA-Afram Inter-school Debate”, the event was held under the auspices of the ongoing Ghana International Book Fair.

Stories

“We must publish our own books, we must tell our own stories out there so that the world will get to respect us and get to know us and we will get to know ourselves,” Prof. Sutherland-Addy stressed.

She stated that the Co-founder of Afram Publications, Efua Sutherland, worked with others, including the late Prof. Kwabena Nketia and American Professor, Willis Bell, to birth Afram Publications.

She called on all young people to be focused, passionate and determined in setting their goals.

“If you really believe in something, you can do it and you must be determined and passionate about what you do,” Prof. Sutherland-Addy added.

She further encouraged them to be passionate about writing and publishing so that they can make a career from that. 

Change

“Your story is important and we want to see you out there being a part of the global world which is changing rapidly”, she stated.

The Vice-President of the Ghana Publishers Association (GPA), Edward Yaw Udzu, said the association was the only collective voice of book publishers in the country which served as a rallying point for all book publishers.

He said it provided them a forum where publishers came together to deliberate on various issues affecting the industry.

Mr Udzu told the students, especially the contestants, that one did not win a debate by suppressing a discussion but with a better argument.

“Do what you can with what you have, where you are, for everybody is a genius,” he said.

He urged the students to always remember that a life spent making mistakes was more honourable and useful than a life spent doing nothing.