Ghanaian playwright, Mr James Ebo Whyte, popularly known as Uncle Ebo, has urged publishers to craft a creative way to attract the interests of children when it comes to reading.
He suggested that members of the Association should be well trained, especially concerning book illustrations and other aspects to raise the Ghanaian child’s interest in reading.
“The Ghanaian artists of my days could not draw children, children became miniature adult. They were adult features but smaller in size and this was a dilemma for us,” he stressed.
Speaking at the Ghana Publishers Association’s 46th Annual General Meeting in Accra Thursday on the theme, “The State of the Publishing Industry: Reflections and the Way Forward, ” Mr Whyte further lamented on the unwillingness of the Ghanaian child to read.
He recalled how parents who attended his shows, handed over their smartphones to their kids to watch cartoons instead of reading.
Mr Whyte, therefore, tasked the association to come out with interesting books by taking a look into the trend of audiobooks.
“Writers and members must channel their message via audiobooks. Book clubs are also another way of getting people involved in reading. The association should get in touch with other book clubs and support them,” he suggested.
By attracting Ghanaians to have much interest in reading, he suggested that the Association should come up with “a mini Amazon” where people could just visit the page of the Association and shop for their choice of books.
Mr Whyte also tasked the Association not to let its publications and outputs only reflect who “we are as Ghanaians but also make us proud”.
On the issue of textbooks, the playwright advised publishers not to be heavily dependent upon government’s orders for textbooks, but rather come out with other alternatives so that its members would not ran out of business.
“We cannot continue to depend upon successive governments that really don’t care about our kids and families,” he said
BY YUNUSAH ESSANDOH & ATIAMAH CHARITY
