Pen-Sl International Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Pen-Sl International Celebrates 10th Anniversary

The local chapter of PEN International, PEN Sierra Leone, over the weekend celebrated its 10th anniversary at the British Council, Tower Hill in Freetown.

Secretary General of Writers Association, Nathaniel A. Pearce, said the PEN Center was selected on 20th September, 2002 to be a member of PEN International and was established in May 2003. He said they are registered with the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children's Affairs as a voluntary organization.

Mr. Pearce noted that in the first two years, they were engaged in recruiting members and introducing the Center to Sierra Leonean writers, adding that they have organized a series of literary evening programmes involving poetry and short story readings to attract members.

He explained that since its inception, PEN Sierra Leone has implemented projects that included an international writing exchange program for students with funds from Brooks School and an annual PEN writers' workshop which was funded by the U.S. Embassy and PEN School Clubs.

"We are currently building wall shelves in our PEN School Clubs in the regions across the country, supplying supplementary reading materials to these schools and will be conducting regional essay writing competitions for our club members as a way to promote reading and writing," he said.

Delivering his keynote address on the topic: 'The State of Writing and Democracy in Sierra Leone', former president of SLAJ, Umaru Fofana, said democracy needs writers who would help sustain the development of the country.

He declared a national reading campaign on behalf of PEN S/L, stating that libraries are not filled with books written by Sierra Leoneans and that writers are not writing books because people most times are not interested in reading Sierra Leonean books.

He observed that the culture of reading has died in Sierra Leone and that writers have the right to write but prefer not to, noting that the pen is mightier than the sword in fighting for democracy.

"Writers should strengthen the state of their country's democracy. We should use the ballpoint of the pen to write against corruption and other malpractices in the country," he said. Mr. Fofana cautioned writers to maintain social values in what they portray to the public and not only consider the commercial aspect.

In his tribute to legendary writer, the late Chinua Achebe, Editor of PEN S/L, Arthur Smith, said the late man was a world-class writer that influenced people and positioned African writings on top of the world.

According to Smith, the literary world has lost a great hero thus urging writers to be influenced by the life of the late hero.