When Colombia invaded our literary space
The 26-year-old celebrated Colombian poet, who was in Ghana at the invitation of the Ambassador of Colombia, Mrs Claudia Turbay Quintero, also read English translations of her poems at the event dubbed ‘A Literary Encounter With Maria Gomez Lara, ’ hosted by the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA).
Advertisement
The President of the Ghana Association of Writers (GAW), Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng, had earlier described the gathering as “an electrifying evening, a joyous celebration of poetry,” and that was what it turned out to be.
The erudite and bubbly writer is studying for a PhD at Harvard University in the United States. She read seven pieces from her two collections of poems that touched on a wide variety of subjects, including her admiration for older poets, conflict and the arrival of an hurricane.
She then passed the baton on to the Ghanaian poets present, saying: “I want to have a conversation with you to also hear your thoughts, your feelings.”
A number of young poets rose to the challenge and read their works, which were well appreciated.
They included Klokor Okai, Michael Somuah, Nana Efua Rockson and Shakira Akiyemi. Older poets Fred Agbobli and Prof. Atukwei Okai also read some of their poems.
At the beginning of the evening’s affair, Prof. Okai, who is the PAWA Secretary-General, praised Ambassador Quintero for her efforts at bringing the peoples of Colombia and Ghana together through culture and said the country had been blessed with her presence.
“She organised for a Colombian writer to come and participate in the PAWA conference on Chinua Achebe late last year,” Prof. Okai stated.
In reaction to Prof. Okai, Maria Lara said she believed in the power of the arts as not just something for entertainment but as something basic for the upliftment of the human spirit.
“Art makes you put yourself in the position of the other, makes you feel for the other and that is what the world needs most. So what Ambassador Quintero is doing in bringing artists together is a fundamental task and I thank her very much for that,” said Maria Lara who was accompanied on the trip to Ghana by her mother, Patricia Lara, also a well-known writer and journalist in Colombia.
The Colombian Ambassador said she was ready to host a monthly interaction between the diplomatic corps and Ghanaian writers in her house, adding that a Colombian writer and historian would visit Ghana in November.
Some GAW executive members were present at the literary event and they all seemed pleased with the growing cultural alliance between Ghana and the Colombia.
