Ghanaian poet wins Japan-Russia contest

Mr. Adjei Agyei-Baah, a poet and a lecturer in Strategic Management from Ghana, has emerged one of the winners of the prestigious Third Japan-Russia Haiku contest, organized annually by Akita International University, Japan.

His haiku (poem), wins the English Haiku Category, selected out of 1,130 haikus from 46 nations, making him the ultimate recipient of the Akita Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Award.

The event was held in the celebration of the city’s 29th National Cultural Festival in Akita, Japan 2014.

Adjei, earlier this year, had his poem, “For the Mountains”, selected by the BBC to represent Ghana in their Poetry Postcard Project for the just ended Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow, Scotland, June, 2014.

He was scheduled to attend the ceremony in Akita, Japan on Saturday, October 25, where he was to receive a Certificate and Akita Cultural Folk Craft at Akita International University.

Adjei, with other four winners, would be given a round-trip airplane ticket between Haneda Airport and Akita Airport to enable them to explore other interesting sites in Akita.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency over the weekend, Adjei said he was proud to have won for his country this award and looked ahead to achieving greater laurels in his poetry career, in the quest to promote Ghanaian and African poetry.

The award winner said he had been pursuing the dream of promoting Ghanaian and African poetry with the support of Poetry Foundation Ghana.

The contest was organized by Akita International Haiku Association, the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Akita Prefecture and the Akita Prefectural Executive Committee of the 29th National Cultural Festival.