A seasoned poet, Professor Lade Wosornu,has called for the use of more diverse local languages in the writing of poetry by Ghanaian poetry writers.
This, he said, would help to ensure the survival of thelocal language and also enhance better understanding of the artistic work.
He made this remarks when he spoke to the Ghanaian Times on Monday at apoetry meeting organised by the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) with support from the United Nations Educational, Science and Culture Organisation (UNESCO), Value for Life-Ghana and the Ghana Reads Initiative.
Organised to commemorate the UNESCO 2022 World Poetry Day, the meeting offered students of GIJ who had an interest in poetry, the platform to interact and learn from the seasoned poet/writer.
Prof. Wosornu explained that although the country had made tremendous strides in promoting poetry writing by having a variety of budding young talents in the field and also having it studied at all educational levels, there was the need to do more which included the writing of poems in “our own mother tongue.”
“We are making progress as a country when it comes to poetry writing and it comes in two fold. One has to do with the variety of poems written, persons coming into poetry and the range of ages that are coming into poetry. Also poems are being read at schools for WAEC Exams,” Prof Wosornu said.
“Going forward, the single most important thing we must do is to start writing in our own mother tongue,” he added.
At the meeting, Prof. Wosornu was impressed by the spoken word poetry performance of some students of the GIJ and encouraged them to continue working hard to discover their full potential and never give up.
He also shared copies of a book containing a collection of his poems which had been translated into 15 different Ghanaian languages including Nzema, Akuapem Twi, Asante Twi, Mfantse, Dangme, Dagbani, Ewe, Dagaare, Ga, Gonja, Kasem, Kusaal, Sisaali, Likpakpaani, and Gurene.
Present at the meeting was the Country Representative for UNESCO, Ghana, MrAbdourahamanne Diallo, who pledged UNESCO’s support for multilingualism, linguistic and cultural diversity in Ghana and Africa as well as MrsNana YaaYeboah, an author, motivational speaker and a poetry writer.
BY BENJAMIN ARCTON-TETTEY
