“Ghanaians read; Ghanaians don’t ‘leisure-read’. This is according to Oswald Okaitei, a poet; literary advocate and the Executive Director of Read Ghana Read Consult.
According to him, it is in light of this his outfit, Read Ghana Read Consult (RGRC), focuses its literary activities on exploring the fun aspect of reading—in attempt to promote leisure reading.
On Friday, 10 November 2023, of such activities towards promoting leisure reading, especially in an inner city comes off at Jamestown. It would be the first ever Street Reading Carnival in Accra and possibly Ghana and is dubbed “Chale, let’s read!”.
“Chale, let’s read! 2023” is a special literary/reading festival in Accra produced by Read Ghana Read Consult in partnership with the Spanish Embassy in Accra, AECID (Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation), UNESCO Ghana and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly as part of the 2023 UNESCO Accra World Book Capital.
Scheduled to take place at Jamestown, the event is designed to host about 20 different activities at five (5) different sub venues—on the street in front of the Ga Mashi Development Authority (GAMADA), GAMADA premises, the Jamestown Community Theatre, the DUNK Basketball court and the DUNK Library— from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. It will feature personalities as the Deputy Minister of Education (as Special Guest of Honour), the Spanish Ambassador to Ghana, the Mayor of Accra, the Country Representative of UNESCO Ghana and other diplomats. Ghanaian art and media icons including Amandzeba, David Dontoh, Linda Ampah, Abeiku Santana, Prof. Lade Wosornu and Gifty Anti will also participate in this historical literary festival as Guest readers and/or panelists.
In a conversation with Oswald, the producer of this literary initiative, he stated that in order to meet the objective of the event, well crafted sessions such as Book Party, Reading Concert, Read & Play Video game, Blast a balloon & read along, Accra Reads in the Street with the Mayor, Spain read with Accra, Read & Bounce etc are the activities designed to be hosted;towards exploring the fun aspects of reading—leisure reading. There will also be exhibition of literary materials.
One interesting addition to “Chale, let’s read! 2023” is a Reading Concert with the Mishɛɛ Band; it will host readings, performances and dancing by participants. Participation in this promising-to-be-fun reading event is free.
Supporters of “Chale, let’s read! 2023” include the Ghana Association of Writers, Yumvita Ghana, Happy 98.9 fm, Osu Children’s Library Fund, Play House.kom, Graphic Showbiz, Ghanaweb, Junior Graphic, Insight newspaper, Kantanka Tv, Kiddie E-sports, Citi fm, Citi Tv, ATV, Writers Project and the Ghana Publishers Association.
