60 years after African writers conference in Makerere, eggheads converge on Ibadan

Sixty years after the maiden edition of the African Literature and Writers Conference held at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA), Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL) and Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) are set to hold a Writers International Conference at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

The conference, which opens officially today, ends on Sunday. Renowned expert on African Literature, Prof. Bernth Lindfors, and an award-winning Egyptian journalist and poet, Ashraf Aboul-Yazid, will deliver keynote addresses on the theme of the conference.

Panel discussions will follow after presentations by lead paper presenters such as Prof. Femi Osofisan (Nigeria), Virginia Phiri (Zimbabwe), Prof. Sarah Agbor (Cameroun), among others. A plenary session on the issues raised will then lead to the release of a communiqué.

In addition, PAWA will hold its General Assembly, the first in 30 years. The Assembly, which is the largest gathering of the association, will be used to address issues pertaining to PAWA, including election of the Association’s ruling body, the Council.

According to a statement by Dr Wale Okediran, Secretary General, PAWA, Accra, Ghana, “the conference, which will be conducted in a hybrid format (physical and virtual), is expected to host writers, academicians and diplomats from about 40 African countries.”

Okediran said: “PAWA National Writers Associations from Ghana, Congo Kinshasa, Togo, Nigeria, Gabon, Cameroun, Zambia, Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Namibia, Ethiopia, Morocco, Rwanda, Sudan, Egypt, Tunisia, Liberia, Mauritania, South Africa, Tanzania, Chad, Botswana, Burundi, Benin, Somaliland, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Niger, Equatorial Guinea, Djibouti, Burkina Faso, Uganda, Gambia, Mozambique, Angola and Algeria have confirmed their participation.”

Other distinguished writers, scholars and statesmen from Africa and the diaspora will also participate. The historic event will examine the progress of African literature since Makerere. Even though African literature has come of age in literary productivity and achievements in all genres, the conference is expected, among other things, to define and forge a meaningful path for its future.

The conference will also consider the role of African writers in a Pan African agenda for cultural development, peace and security, against the backdrop of a continent in the grips of insurgencies, wars and coups. In a global age beset by wars, insecurity, human displacement, coups and insurgency, the conference could not have come at a better time.

“The conference, which is in line with Article 9 of PAWA’s aims and objectives – to promote peace and understanding in Africa and the world through literature -will be conducted in Arabic, English, French, Portuguese and Swahili, which are the five working languages of PAWA.

“The event will lead to the publication of proceedings of the conference and the release of a communiqué and blueprint of actions that are expected to address the problems to be discussed. These documents will, thereafter, be shared through advocacy visits by PAWA members in their respective countries to political, community, religious and civil society leaders,” said Okediran.