Visually-impaired student thrills audience at public reading event

The e-Ananse Library came alive last Saturday after a visually impaired student did a public reading of the braille extract of ‘The Magic World of Big Adam’, a newly launched novel for pupils and students, written by the author of ‘Passing the BECE – A Step-by-Step Approach,’ Farouk Abdul-Rahman.

The colourful book launch, held in Osu, saw the gathering of individuals and institutions with interest in reading and writing.

Master Edwin Ofosu, a first-year visually-impaired student of Akuapeman Senior High School put up an impressive first-time public reading of the much-awaited thriller to the admiration of the audience.

His participation in the launch is part of the steps the writer is taking to engage more visually-impaired people in the culture of reading.

Chairperson for the event and Executive Director of the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations, Ms. Rita Kusi Kyeremaa said,

“The initiative to make the novel accessible to persons with disabilities in braille, easy read and audio versions, among others, will ensure that persons with disabilities can enjoy this exciting novel. I encourage corporate organisations and individuals to support this initiative of promoting access to The Magic World of Big Adam through the Read to Growproject we are launching today.”

Speaking at the event, Keynote speaker and Deputy General Secretary of the Ghana Association of Writers (GAW), Mr. Kofi Marrah, added that, "On this Occasion, I would like to say GAW is proud to be associated with this book for our students.

While we support writers like F.A. Rahman to write for our society’s development, the association is working under difficult conditions to achieve its objectives.

Some of its constraints include the lack of financial support from the state where literature books by Ghanaian authors are rarely bought and supplied to schools and perennial community libraries, as well as publishing and marketing difficulties.

He added that “Steps taken by GAW to address some of these difficulties include submitting a proposal to the Creative Arts Council of Ghana for support for writers, initiating the formation of a Coalition of Book Industry Stakeholders, planning to establish the Writers Enterprise Fund, and a GAW e-book Platform to publish e-books along the lines of Amazon. These steps we believe will go a long way to sustain and grow the book industry.”

Mr. Rahman reemphasized his resolve to help in the literary development of school-goers in the country through his Read to Grow project.

He became intrigued with the ‘Read to Grow’ project after acknowledging the positive impact reading has had on his life and concluding that reading continuously is the best way for the youth to develop their minds and contribute meaningfully to society.