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IN his book I Speak of Ghana， Nana Awere Damoah enumerates 50 things that will indicate you are in Ghana. While all of them are droll they do also contain a small kernel of hard truth.
For instance， “You know you are in Ghana when street lights are visible decorations by day and invisible shadows by night. You know you are in Ghana when a 60-year-old man is introduced as the Chairman of the Asikuma Youth Association. You know you are in Ghana when drivers do a U-turn in the middle of a T-junction. You know you are in Ghana when a census enumeration officer asks you， ’Your wife， is she married？’”
There’s a 51st way that is not mentioned in the chemical engineer’s book. You know you are in Ghana when what looks like a rollicking Christmas party is actually a book reading session and the book people are quoting there happens to be I Speak of Ghana.
Pop culture with popcorn
Welcome to a new phenomenon in Ghana - the rise of public reading as an activity as entertaining and popular as pop music. And meet the Ghanaian duo who have made this possible， Damoah and his reading partner Kofi Akpabli， a media consultant and travel writer.
Damoah describes how the partnership came about. Akpabli lives in a village near Accra and he moved to Lagos， Nigeria， in 2012 to work as a technical manager there. They were in the same primary school， though Akpabli was two grades ahead and they did not really connect. But in 2010 Akpabli became a celebrity after winning a CNN African journalism award and the two met at a party in Accra， where they found they had much in common.
It was also the year when Damoah gave his first book reading at a literary event supported by the Goethe Institut-Ghana and he was wondering how to continue the public readings.
A year later， when the two had their first collaboration in the form of a joint book signing in an Accra bookshop， emboldened by the 11 books they had published between them， they decided to collaborate on the reading as well.
The first joint reading， from their own books， was held in January 2015 under the aegis of the Writers Project of Ghana， an NGO promoting literary culture.“We called it a reading marathon，” Damoah said. “We read and interacted with people from 10 a.m. till 5 p.m.…It was novel and well-received. People just walked in and out of the three sessions.”
Delighted with how it turned out， the pair set themselves two targets： to do regular public book readings and hold them outside Accra as well. In 2016， the initiative， now called the DAkpabli Readathon after their own names， has become well known. From literary gatherings， they are being held in places where ordinary people go - restaurants， clubs and bookstores. The audience has widened from litterateurs to students， government officials， the odd minister， and even young children. Amazingly， sponsors are also coming in， like with pop performances， with restaurants and hotels offering themselves as venues， fashion brands dressing the two， and soft drink companies eager to be the official drink for the sessions. All this is partly due to the pair’s skillful use of social media. DAkpabli Readathon has a Facebook page where they keep readers posted on future programs and interact with them regularly， sharing jokes， photos and dreams. The sessions are also being livestreamed.
It’s not just two men reading. In between the readings， there is music and interaction with the audience， who are encouraged to ask questions and share their thoughts. Popcorn flows freely just like in the cinemas and there are mouthwatering discussions about Ghana’s beloved dishes - Jollof rice， groundnut soup served with fufu （made from boiled and pounded plantain or cassava）， kenkey （sourdough dumplings） and gari （a Nigerian fufu recipe）.
An emotional appeal
The food discussions especially touch an emotional chord. Maame Akua T. Yawson， a fourth-year architecture student， says the talk about fufu transported her back to her childhood when on Sundays she and her brother would watch their parents ritually pounding the fufu for the ceremonial Sunday lunch.
“I longed for one Sunday， just one Sunday back at home for one last bowl of soft fufu with thick soup！”she said.
The other reason for the readathon’s success is Ghana’s high literacy level and sense of national pride. According to UNESCO statistics， while adult literacy is estimated to be 75 percent， youth literacy stands at 80 percent.
Author Gabriel Karikari， who dropped in to listen to a Saturday session， says it was not just a book-reading for him but “a night of inspiration.”
“I thought about how ’Nigerian’ Nigerians are and how all of us around Africa recognize these African giants. Have we not all read Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka？” he said. “Some people have been serious about preserving their identity. Our only way of preserving and propagating Ghana will be through our writing. I don’t mean Ghanaian authors just writing， but Ghanaian writers writing with a deliberate Ghanaian flavor， a bit like our Jollof.”
Akpabli echoes these sentiments， saying Ghanaian writers need to be publicized. “As society is pushing for the consumption of made-in-Ghana goods， we should not forget about made-in-Ghana books，” he said.
So they have introduced the concept of the guest author， inviting other authors to connect with readers through the readathon. One of their guest authors， Ruby Yayra Goka， is a dentist. She started by writing for young adults and two of her five books， The Mystery of the Haunted House and The Lost Royal Treasure， won the third and second prizes in the 2010 and 2011 Burt Award for African Literature competition respectively， meant for authors from Tanzania， Ethiopia， Ghana and Kenya.
“It’s a really wonderful initiative，” Goka said about the readathon. “It gives authors the chance to meet their readers and get feedback. The added benefit is traveling outside the capital.”
Goka is keeping her fingers crossed that the readathons would some day become week-long events. “I also want everyone on board，” she added. “Not just corporate institutions but publishers as well as ordinary， everyday people who love reading.”
The readathons are also attracting non-Ghanaians. Francis Wachira， a Kenyan student studying business administration at Ashesi University near Accra， said reading， though not everyone’s favorite hobby， is a source of knowledge and helps an individual think more broadly.
“This campaign is to make reading a pleasurable activity not just in Ghana but on the entire continent. It is meant to oppose the [saying] that ’the only way to hide something from an African is to put it in a book’，”Wachira said.
For instance， “You know you are in Ghana when street lights are visible decorations by day and invisible shadows by night. You know you are in Ghana when a 60-year-old man is introduced as the Chairman of the Asikuma Youth Association. You know you are in Ghana when drivers do a U-turn in the middle of a T-junction. You know you are in Ghana when a census enumeration officer asks you， ’Your wife， is she married？’”
There’s a 51st way that is not mentioned in the chemical engineer’s book. You know you are in Ghana when what looks like a rollicking Christmas party is actually a book reading session and the book people are quoting there happens to be I Speak of Ghana.
Pop culture with popcorn
Welcome to a new phenomenon in Ghana - the rise of public reading as an activity as entertaining and popular as pop music. And meet the Ghanaian duo who have made this possible， Damoah and his reading partner Kofi Akpabli， a media consultant and travel writer.
Damoah describes how the partnership came about. Akpabli lives in a village near Accra and he moved to Lagos， Nigeria， in 2012 to work as a technical manager there. They were in the same primary school， though Akpabli was two grades ahead and they did not really connect. But in 2010 Akpabli became a celebrity after winning a CNN African journalism award and the two met at a party in Accra， where they found they had much in common.
It was also the year when Damoah gave his first book reading at a literary event supported by the Goethe Institut-Ghana and he was wondering how to continue the public readings.
A year later， when the two had their first collaboration in the form of a joint book signing in an Accra bookshop， emboldened by the 11 books they had published between them， they decided to collaborate on the reading as well.
The first joint reading， from their own books， was held in January 2015 under the aegis of the Writers Project of Ghana， an NGO promoting literary culture.“We called it a reading marathon，” Damoah said. “We read and interacted with people from 10 a.m. till 5 p.m.…It was novel and well-received. People just walked in and out of the three sessions.”
Delighted with how it turned out， the pair set themselves two targets： to do regular public book readings and hold them outside Accra as well. In 2016， the initiative， now called the DAkpabli Readathon after their own names， has become well known. From literary gatherings， they are being held in places where ordinary people go - restaurants， clubs and bookstores. The audience has widened from litterateurs to students， government officials， the odd minister， and even young children. Amazingly， sponsors are also coming in， like with pop performances， with restaurants and hotels offering themselves as venues， fashion brands dressing the two， and soft drink companies eager to be the official drink for the sessions. All this is partly due to the pair’s skillful use of social media. DAkpabli Readathon has a Facebook page where they keep readers posted on future programs and interact with them regularly， sharing jokes， photos and dreams. The sessions are also being livestreamed.
It’s not just two men reading. In between the readings， there is music and interaction with the audience， who are encouraged to ask questions and share their thoughts. Popcorn flows freely just like in the cinemas and there are mouthwatering discussions about Ghana’s beloved dishes - Jollof rice， groundnut soup served with fufu （made from boiled and pounded plantain or cassava）， kenkey （sourdough dumplings） and gari （a Nigerian fufu recipe）.
An emotional appeal
The food discussions especially touch an emotional chord. Maame Akua T. Yawson， a fourth-year architecture student， says the talk about fufu transported her back to her childhood when on Sundays she and her brother would watch their parents ritually pounding the fufu for the ceremonial Sunday lunch.
“I longed for one Sunday， just one Sunday back at home for one last bowl of soft fufu with thick soup！”she said.
The other reason for the readathon’s success is Ghana’s high literacy level and sense of national pride. According to UNESCO statistics， while adult literacy is estimated to be 75 percent， youth literacy stands at 80 percent.
Author Gabriel Karikari， who dropped in to listen to a Saturday session， says it was not just a book-reading for him but “a night of inspiration.”
“I thought about how ’Nigerian’ Nigerians are and how all of us around Africa recognize these African giants. Have we not all read Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka？” he said. “Some people have been serious about preserving their identity. Our only way of preserving and propagating Ghana will be through our writing. I don’t mean Ghanaian authors just writing， but Ghanaian writers writing with a deliberate Ghanaian flavor， a bit like our Jollof.”
Akpabli echoes these sentiments， saying Ghanaian writers need to be publicized. “As society is pushing for the consumption of made-in-Ghana goods， we should not forget about made-in-Ghana books，” he said.
So they have introduced the concept of the guest author， inviting other authors to connect with readers through the readathon. One of their guest authors， Ruby Yayra Goka， is a dentist. She started by writing for young adults and two of her five books， The Mystery of the Haunted House and The Lost Royal Treasure， won the third and second prizes in the 2010 and 2011 Burt Award for African Literature competition respectively， meant for authors from Tanzania， Ethiopia， Ghana and Kenya.
“It’s a really wonderful initiative，” Goka said about the readathon. “It gives authors the chance to meet their readers and get feedback. The added benefit is traveling outside the capital.”
Goka is keeping her fingers crossed that the readathons would some day become week-long events. “I also want everyone on board，” she added. “Not just corporate institutions but publishers as well as ordinary， everyday people who love reading.”
The readathons are also attracting non-Ghanaians. Francis Wachira， a Kenyan student studying business administration at Ashesi University near Accra， said reading， though not everyone’s favorite hobby， is a source of knowledge and helps an individual think more broadly.
“This campaign is to make reading a pleasurable activity not just in Ghana but on the entire continent. It is meant to oppose the [saying] that ’the only way to hide something from an African is to put it in a book’，”Wachira said.