‘Provide libraries in rural areas to promote reading habits’

Daniel Owusu-Koranteng, the winner of the Creative Non-Fiction Category (Kofi Awoonor) Award at the 5th Ghana Association of Writers (GAW) Literary Awards, has called on the government to invest in libraries, particularly for rural communities to promote reading habit among the youth.

“We need to make reading habit among the youth a top priority in our national development agenda so that they can contribute to national development based on knowledge acquired through reading,” he stated.

He was speaking at the ceremony when his Autobiography titled “Paying My Debt” won the Award at the event held on December 16.

Referencing his own experience, Mr Owusu-Koranteng said he developed his reading habits from his father who loved reading and later patronised the town library at Nkawkaw which boosted his love for reading.

He called on parents to make conscious effort to support and encourage their children to develop reading habits at the early stage of their development. 

The book gives an in-depth account of the life of Daniel Owusu-Koranteng including his family history as a member of the Asona Royal Family of Akropong Akuapem, and his roots in Obom which was a military settlement of the Akyem Warriors that settled in Obom, to defeat the Akwamu warriors in the battles which led to the establishment of the Akuapem state. 

It further recounts the death of his father Rev. Jacob Asiedu Koranteng, a Reverend Minister of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana when he was about nine years and the effect the death of his father had on him and his siblings which compelled his mother, the late Mrs Dora Koranteng Asiedu, to move the family to Nkawkaw to struggle to educate her children.

Mr Owusu-Koranteng who is a trade unionist, agriculturist, environmentalist, ADR practitioner, mining activist, professional paralegal, writer and poet has many publications to his credit. 

In addition to his award winning book “Paying My Debt” , he has published “The Wanderer’s Poems“ which is an anthology of twenty five poems . 

Mr Owusu-Koranteng expressed gratitude to GAW for the award and stated that the award would be a source of encouragement for him to promote reading among the youth to help expand their knowledge base and to avoid spending their time on unproductive and destructive influence of social media.

BY TIMES REPORTER