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Last Sunday I  attended an evening event with the Ghana Association of Writers, my third so far. Ghana Association of Writers (GAW) Sunday is  a Literary and Cultural Event by the GAW held every first Sunday of the month at PAWA House, Roman Ridge, Accra. The evening apparently took off at 4.00 pm prompt for we were quite late when we got there at 4.45 pm. Things were in full motion by then.

In attendance was Easy After School Haven Band, a band of kids ranging from two years to teens who treated us to a lively rendition of Mariam Makeba’s ‘Patapa’. I was impressed to see this little boy behind the drums playing away as if his life depended on it. Another girl about six years old played the guitar to perfection. It was a beautiful sight and we the grown ups could not help dance to the up beat rhythm. The audience was also treated to poetry recitals by pupils from the Maamobi Prisons Primary and Junior High School. As part of GAW’s outreach programme,  the youth is given the opportunity to showcase their talents at this monthly event.

The highlight of the evening was a book signing by David Kumi, a twelve-year-old Ghanaian boy living in Atlanta, Georgia. When David was about four years old, his grandmother (who was present at the event) taught him how to read and write. These skills obviously motivated him to start penning his own words! By the time David was six years he was writing short stories which led to his first published book, Daniel’s Tales. In 2011, he wrote his second book, Tor and Other Stories. His third book,  Cats Cave (the first in the Cats Cave series) was published this year. Such an inspiration for our young ones coming up 🙂 I got an autographed copy for my two younger boys, of course 🙂

And finally, I got the opportunity to read my works. Yes, I read some of my haiku to the audience and I could hear the ‘oohs’, ‘ahhs’, and ‘hmms’ as I read. There was loud applause, but I can tell you that my two youngest boys applauded the loudest 🙂