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ON THE OCCASION OF THE CELEBRATION OF THE 21ST INTERNATIONAL AFRICAN WRITERS DAY, THE PAN AFRICAN WRITERS ASSOCIATION

(PAWA)

PA WA
Presents AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE THEME:

CELEBRATING THE LIFE AND WORKS OF CHINUA ACHEBE; THE COMING OF AGE OF AFRICAN LITERATURE?
DATE: NOVEMBER 5TH 8TH , 2013 VENUE: LA PALM ROYAL BEACH HOTEL, ACCRA, GHANA.

Chinua Achebe
1930 2013

BACKGROUND

hinua Achebe (1930 2013) is acknowledged all over the world as the most influential African writer of his generation. His writings, including the novel Things Fall Apart, introduced readers throughout the world to the creative use of language and form, as well as to factual inside accounts of modern African life and history. Through his literary contributions and championing of a big and bold vision for Nigeria and Africa, Achebe helped reshape the perception of African history, culture and place in world affairs. For these and other reasons, the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA), the continental body of African writers is dedicating its November 2013 Conference to the celebration of the life and works of this great African writer and humanist. The Conference will bring together connoisseurs of Achebes works in particular and of African literature in general from across the world. In a truly celebratory manner, the Conference will not only critically explore the impact of Chinua Achebe on African literature but also, through this, the impact of African literature on world literature and vice versa. To be attended by more than 300 participants from within and outside Africa, the Conference will be the biggest and most important literary event in recent times in Africa to explore the state of African literature against the background of the huge shadow cast by the life and works of this giant who, as each one of us must eventually do, answered the call to the beginning on 21st March 2013 after 82 years of giving and committing to Africa and the world.

THEME OF THE CONFERENCE


The theme of the Conference is, Celebrating the life and works of Chinua Achebe: The Coming of Age of African Literature?

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PARTICIPANTS
Given the significance of the Conference, leading writers and experts from within and outside Africa are expected to participate at the historic conference. The writers will include Nobel Prize winners in Literature and a number of other highly prized African writers. It is also expected that a large number of younger writers, language artists, and people interested in the literary arts and culture generally will attend the Conference. Altogether, 10 participants from the Diaspora, 40 participants outside Ghana from Africa and 50 writers and language arts experts from Ghana are being specially invited by PAWA to the Conference. In addition to these specially invited guests, it is expected that another 200 writers and guests from within and outside Africa will, at their own expense, also attend and participate at the Conference. A total of 300 people are thus expected at the Conference.

THEMES & SUB THEMES


Intending paper presenters and lead speakers are encouraged to explore any aspect of the main theme, including the following sub-themes: African Literature before Achebes Things Fall Apart African Literature after Achebes Things Fall Apart: The Decades After Confronting racism and hegemony in world literature: Extending Achebes critique of Conrads Heart of Darkness The Poetry of Chinua Achebe Achebes Essays: The Common Threads Gender in Achebes Fiction Achebes There Was A Country: The Insights and Risks of Identity Politics for a Literary Icon Beyond and Within the Writers Imagination: Politics and Political Commitment of the African writer Achebe and the elusive Nobel Prize for Literature: Fathoming the Nobel in the works of African Nobel laureates in Literature Chinua Achebe and the Short Story Orature as Origin in the works of Chinua Achebe Tradition in the works of Chinua Achebe New Directions in African Literature African Literature and Pan Africanism Governance and Responsibility in African literature The African Writer and the struggle for African Renaissance

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BENEFITS OF THE CONFERENCE


For participants, writers, African and world literature, the Conference will lead to the following benefits/outcomes among others: Establish the legacy of Chinua Achebe as a Nigerian, African and world writer Inspire current and future generations of African writers to build upon or take Achebes legacy as a point of departure Provide insights into the writers world of inner and external motivation and thus contribute to understanding the psychology of creativity Showcase the achievements and contributions of African literature to the world Demonstrate themes, forms and styles of narrative in African literature and how these affect and are affected by the African experience as made and in the process of being made Highlight and evaluate new concerns in African literature both to the African audience and the world

DATE
November 5-8, 2013

WHERE?
LA PALM ROYAL BEACH HOTEL, Accra, Ghana

STRUCTURE OF DISCUSSIONS AT THE CONFERENCE


The Conference will open with a Key Note Address and thereafter, prominent world writers will give lead papers on major issues. The Lead Papers will form part of a number of Panel Discussions. Each Panel Discussion will explore a common or related theme and feature writers and language arts experts on the theme. Given the range of issues to be discussed, there will be parallel Panel Discussions at the Conference.

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PROGRAMME
DAY ONE Tuesday, 5th November, 2013 06.00am 05.00pm Arrival of Guests / Participants 05.00pm 07.00 pm Personal Leisure Time 07.00pm 10.00 pm Festival of Life DAY TWO Wednesday, 6th November, 2013 08.00 09.00 am Registration 09.00 11.00 am Opening Ceremonies 11.00 11-30 am Tea/Coffee Break 11.30 12. 30 pm PANEL 1 12.30 01.00 pm Questions and Answers in the Plenary 01.00 02.00 pm Lunch Break 02.00 03.30 pm PANEL 2 03.30 04.00 pm Questions and Answers in the Plenary 04.00 06.00 pm PARALLEL PANELS 06.00 08.00 pm Individual leisure time 08.00 10.00 pm Cultural evening with Group Dinner DAY THREE Thursday, 7th November, 2013 09.00 11.00 am Business Meeting 11.00 11.30 am Tea Break 11.30 01.00 pm Business Meeting continued 01.00 02.00 pm Lunch Break 03.00 06.00 pm Tour of Accra and Environs 06.00 10.00 pm Individual Leisure and Dinner Time DAY FOUR Friday, 8th November 2013 Breakfast and departure of participants

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FURTHER INFORMATION
Further information on the conference will be provided as necessary. However, intending participants can also visit PAWAs website at

panafricanwritersassociation.org.gh

PAWA Secretariat
Location: PAWA House, Roman Ridge, Roman Road, Accra, Ghana. Address: P. O. Box CT456, Cantonments, Accra, Ghana. Tel: 233 (0) 302 773062, Fax: 233 (0) 302 773042, Email: pawahouse@gmail.com

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Brief on PAWA
PAN AFRICAN WRITERS ASSOCIATION (PAWA)
everal decades ago and well before the independence of African countries, writers and other intellectuals of our continent made several undertakings in vain to organise themselves into a Pan African Writers Union, ever since the First Congress of Black Writers and Artists held in Paris in 1956. Since then this subject has been raised and deliberated on in different fora at various places such as Rome, Algiers, Dakar, Lagos, Luanda, Tashkent, Cologne, Alma Atta, Pyongyang and recently in Brazzavile (Congo). In 1986, an Extraordinary Assembly of 61 African Writers representing 46 African Writers Unions and Associations met and decided that Africa needed a longoverdue Continental Literary Organisation and therefore set up an International Preparatory Committee (IPC) and mandated it with the dual mission of organising the symposium International Literary Symposium Against Apartheid in Brazzaville, Congo in 1987, and to realise the old dream of the Writers Union as a dynamic association of Writers of Africa. In working towards the formation of PAWA, the IPC sensitised African Writers Unions and Associations as well as African and non-African governments, called

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on the then Chairman of the OAU, the OAU Secretary-General and attended the Ouagadougou Conference of African Ministers of Culture in April, 1988, at which the OAU pledged support for the creation of PAWA. Other African leaders included the Presidents of Cote dIvoire, Ghana, Sierra Leone and the Congo. An IPC delegation met Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, then Egyptian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, and the Minister of Culture, Mr. Farouk Hosni, while others went to Algeria, Libya, Ethiopia, Guinea, Gambia, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Tunisia. With OAU and UNESCOs support, the Constituent Congress of PAWA was held at the Kwame Nkrumah Conference Centre, Accra from 7th 11th November, 1989 under the theme: African Unity; A Liberation of the Mind. Representatives from over 36 countries formally signed the Declaration and Constitution that led to the establishment of PAWA; - Convinced that literature is the testimony of the peoples creativity and that it has a determining influence on national conscience development for the political and socio-economic liberation of the continent; - Anxious to contribute to the revalorization of African cultural identity, putting a spurt on Panafricanism and the struggle against all forms of racial discrimination. - Conscious, thus, of the necessary co-operation African Writers and the world in order to break the language barriers and to promote the different cultures on the continent by developing them. - Conscious of the necessary defence of the legitimate rights, especially, the right to freedom and promotion of writers by an independent and autonomous organisation, the melting pot of dialogues and cultures, and - committed to promote world peace through literature. The Conference of African Ministers of Education and Culture, meeting in Coutonou, Benin, in 1991, made a resolution to the effect that an International African Writers Day be celebrated in all African countries and in the International community each year, on 7th November, the birthday of PAWA. This will afford the African people a moment of pause within which to reflect on the contribution of African Writers to the development of the continent. The Pan African Writers Association (PAWA), a leading Pan African Cultural Institution accorded full Diplomatic Status by the Government of Ghana in 1992, is made up of the 52 National Writers Associations on the continent, and seeks to contribute its quota to moral, cultural and intellectual renaissance in

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Africa. Indeed, it is to play the role of being an important voice of the African, while seeking to restore to our people, confidence in themselves as African and reinforcing the vision for a Common African Home. Since its formation, PAWA has either participated in or organised many worthwhile initiatives, conferences, seminars and the like. The Association has also launched a number of interesting initiatives. The aims and objectives of the Association shall be as follows: 1. To provide a forum for all writers of Africa and those of African origin: 2. To encourage the establishment and recognition of only one national writers association in each African country: 3. To seek and vigorously defend freedom of expression for all Africans and the material and spiritual interests of African writers and their association; 4. To promote literacy and to eradicate illiteracy in Africa: 5. To encourage the inclusion of African literary works in the curriculum of educational institutions: 6. To promote African languages and the translation of African literature into African languages: 7. To promote research into recording and retrieving lost or undiscovered African heritage whether on the Continent, in the diaspora or in museums and libraries of the world: 8. To stimulate co-operation between PAWA and Writers organizations of the world: 9. To promote peace and understanding in Africa and the world through literature: 10. To establish a continental African Publishing house: 11. To provide wider avenues for the publishing of African literature: 12. To establish an effective distribution network: 13. To establish a Pan African Journal: 14. To ensure the protection of the works of African writers through the appropriate copyright laws and agencies: 15. To institute continental literary awards: 16. To organise programmes to promote Pan African literary excellence.

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A cock belongs to one house, but when it crows, it is heard by the whole village - Chinua Achebe

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