A three-day Pan-African Literature Festival, which brought together both local and international renowned authors, writers, poets, literature-lovers, academia from England, The Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, among other countries, recently ended at the Sun Beach Hotel in Cape Point, Bakau.

The forum was meant to serve as a meeting point for the participants to brainstorm on burning issues that affect growth, promotion and preservation of the spirit of reading and writing in Africa and the world at large. It is also meant to mould and expose young prospective writers, intellectuals, etc, to the new trends in the world of literature.

The literature forum showcases exhibition of books, newsletters, magazines, etc authored by both local and international writers.

Kadija George-Ceesay, founder of SABLE Magazine based in the UK, speaking to Arts and Culture, noted that the first literature festival was held in the UK in 2005.”We decided to organise the literature festival outside London so that it can benefit African writers, that’s why we decided to come to The Gambia. We chose The Gambia, due to the beautiful location of the country,” she noted.

Mrs George-Ceesay acknowledged her association’s desired to have link with the bi-annual Roots Home-coming Festival and what they can do for the Gambian writers, depending on what they want and the type of support we can give them.

Swati Khurana, Indian born international artist based in the USA hailed the literature forum as a right step in the right direction towards developing, promoting and preserving the spirit of reading and writing in Africa and the world at large.

She expressed profound gratitude and opportunity accorded to her to participate in the forum. The Indian born artist described literature as the bedrock of any meaningful development, noting that art is a creative and noble profession which ought to be inculcated in children at their tender age.

She expressed optimism that the forum will have positive impact on both participants and outsiders. She then commended their Gambian counterparts for accepting to host the event.

Dorothea Smart and Andrea Enisuoh, writers, poets, cum journalists working for the New Magazine hailed the forum as a wonderful idea meant to re-enforce the spirit of writing and reading in Africa people and the world at large.

They jointly gave a brief overview of the association.