Wanlov the Kubolor
The 2020 edition of PaGya Literary Festival will open on Friday, October 16 at the Goethe-Institut in Accra with both live and virtual programmes.
These include a conversation between Prof. Kofi Anyidoho of the University of Ghana and Prof. Dannabang Kuwabong from the University of Puerto Rico, who will dilate on the topic: ‘Preservation of Local Ghanaian Languages Through Literature’.
German poet Jan Wagner will read from his poems and participate in an online discussion on ‘Translating Poetry’ with Ghanaian poet Nii Ayikwei Parkes, which will herald a poetry fiesta at the end of the festival.
Other activities include presentations, book readings, workshops, publisher interactions, panel discussions and book launches and others that will be held largely through video link-ups and live streaming.
Other presenters, facilitators and discussants include Ayesha Harruna Attah, Richard Ali, Prof. Lade Wosornu, Prof. Ato Quayson and several others who will join virtually from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe, South Africa, United Kingdom and the United States.
The festival will also feature a conversation between musician Wanlov the Kubolor and the internationally acclaimed artist Ibrahim Mahama on ‘Pushing the Boundaries in Contemporary Art’. Also, a translator and essayist, Wagner, published the international poetry box ‘The Outside of the Eleme’ together with Thomas Girst from 1995 to 2003.
This offset print was a loose-leaf collection presented in a box, whereby the reader was invited to archive the sheets contained in the box on his own authority. Currently a senior lecturer at the University of Ghana, Prof. Anyidoho is the author of a number of books, plays and poems, including ‘A Harvest of Our Dreams’, ‘Earth Child’, ‘Ancestral Logic & Caribbean Blues’ and ‘Praise Song for the Land’.
A professor of Caribbean Literature at the University of Puerto Rico, Kuwabong, is the author of a collection of poetry titled ‘Visions of Venom’, ‘Echoes form Dusty Rivers’, ‘Caribbean Blues & Loves Genealogy’ and ‘Voices from Kibuli Country’.
Goethe-Institut Ghana is sponsoring the festival which ends on Sunday, October 18, 2020.