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Pa Gya, literary festival in Accra
The three-day event featured activities such as reading, panel discussions, performances, book launches and sales, literary prize awards and many more.
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Over the last decade, an ever-increasing number of destinations worldwide have invested in cultural events such as literary festivals, given the remarkable growth of the cultural tourism product. The tendency of tourists to seek new and unique cultural experiences also accounts for this shift.
For us in tourism, an arts event is a tourist attraction in itself. This is because cultural events create a variety of impacts on the local economy and communities of hosting places. The impacts generated can be of short or long term, positive or negative. A literary festival impacts the destination in economic terms while leaving a legacy of benefits which remain longer than the event itself.
Sponsored and mainly hosted by the Goethe-Institut, Pa Gya engaged all literary forms such as fiction, poetry, spoken word, comic and graphic novels, creative non-fiction such as travel writing and literary blogging. For the first time, this year, there was a session on how media houses create literary content.
When it first began, the festival was quite modest in scope and participation. But from what patrons experienced this time round, Pa Gya has grown to the stature of Ake festival Nigeria. It now features art talks, art and literary exhibitions, film screenings and many more. Also participating were writers, publishers and booksellers, all eager to network and sell their books.
Indeed, literary performers, academics, editors, illustrators, librarians, literary agents, bloggers and many other literary practitioners from various parts of the world also found a welcoming space to showcase their works and fraternise during the festival.
If residents and local stakeholders perceive benefits from an event, they become supportive of hosting and even sponsoring in the future. Literary festivals are events that incorporate a literary culture into their theme; they celebrate literary culture and integrate it into their organisation. Arts festivals and cultural events have always been associated with urban life and form a vibrant ingredient of cultural policies.
Hosting cultural events and festivals has become a strategic element in the tourism development of destinations to attract visitors and encourage investment, improve the image and boost the local economy. Events may be a form of tourism offer of a destination in which the content of the events is associated with the resources of the place where it is held.
The national tourism organisation in Ghana can pick a leaf from the trend. In Italy, for instance, literary and book festivals represent a well-tested and innovative formula approved by publishing houses, book lovers and the public in general. The Italian scenario of these types of events varies in terms of theme, style, location and buying and selling opportunities. They offer the opportunity for an author to engage in direct contact with the public and are diverse in their histories and origins.
Many festivals are hosted in small villages as well as in suggestive locations; as they mark out the places where they are hosted. A case in point is Taobuk-Taormina Book Festival, an international literary festival hosted in the city of Taormina, one of the most famous tourist destinations in Sicily, the biggest island in the Mediterranean Sea and the largest region of Italy.
Writers, poets, literary performers, academics, editors, illustrators, librarians, literary agents, bloggers and many other literary practitioners from Ghana, Africa, the Black Diaspora and all over the world find a welcoming space to showcase their works and fraternise during the festival. In 2021, we featured guests from 17 countries across the world and hosted audiences both online and in-person.
Over the past six editions, Pa Gya has brought the literary community in Ghana together and provided platforms for networking and initiatives.
This year, it welcomed a wide array of guests, including Kwaw Ansah, Molara Wood, Dr Ọbádélé Bakari Kambon, Dr Patricia Jabbeh Wesley, Philippe Sands and Vamba Sherif. Others were Prof. Ato Quayson, Dr Eghosa Imasuen, Efe Paul Azino, Dr Wale Okediran, Kwaku-Sakyi-Addo, Amandzeba Nat Brew and Ryan Van Winkle.
The rest were Kofi Akpabli, Pelu Awefoso, Michelle Alipao Chikaonda, Agur Schiff, Mohammed Ahmed Polo, Alba Kunadu S. Amoo-Gottfried, Dr Asangba Reginald Taluah, Ama Asantewa Diaka, Aseye Tamakloe, Empi Baryeh, Ivor Agyeman-Duah and Katleho Kano Shoro.
Pa Gya is organised by the Writers Project of Ghana. Some of the sponsors for this year are Embassy of The Netherlands, Foundation for Contemporary Art, Delegation of the European Union, Anglogold Ashanti and DAkpabli Publishers.
This piece draws attention to literary festivals as a tourism opportunity for a destination. It highlights the important role festivals play within the local communities of the hosting place, including the facilitation of social cohesion and place image. It is based on the perceptions expressed by the different categories of local stakeholders involved in an international literary festival.