Fifth Ghana International Book Fair

Accra, Oct. 27, GNA - The Fifth Ghana International Book Fair to create a market place for books is scheduled to take place at the National Theatre in Accra from November 9 to November 14.

The bi-annual fair, which would be under the theme: "Strengthening The Book Chain For International Cooperation", is also to help inculcate in the public, particularly the youth, the habit and culture of reading, Mr Woeli Dekutsey, Director of the Fair, announced at a press briefing in Accra on Wednesday.

About 46 local and 10 foreign participants made up of book sellers, printers, publishers, librarians and other related organizations from Africa, Asia and Europe would take part in the fair.

Activities would include seminars, workshops, conferences and symposia with publishers, printers and booksellers to find ways of expanding the industry.

A national reading competition for primary and junior secondary schools would be organized to determine the extent to which children read and enjoyed books.

He said African Publishers Network would organize a buyers-sellers meeting, a matchmaking exercise to bring exhibitors together with booksellers and distributors to explore areas of cooperation. The Royal Netherlands Embassy would sponsor a workshop in book design because Ghanaian and African published books were often criticized as substandard in design and production, he said. Mr Dekutsey said Book Aid International in collaboration with Ghana Book Publishers Association would run an international workshop on development of the book chain to address problems of getting key players in the industry to work together to ensure better distribution of books within and outside Africa.