The Adwinsa Children’s Book and Art Festival, organised in partnership with the Ghana Library Authority (GhLA), has been held in Accra as part of activities marking the 2025 World Children’s Day celebration.

The initiative was designed to promote a strong reading culture among Ghanaian children while nurturing creativity through books and the arts. This year’s festival featured workshops, performances, art showcases, and reading sessions designed to inspire children to read for pleasure and develop essential creative skills.

Speaking at the event on Friday, the Executive Director of the GhLA, Mr Alhassan Bentintiche Ziblim, said the festival reflects a renewed national commitment to raising confident, imaginative, and lifelong readers. He noted that the Authority had identified key interventions to make reading more accessible and appealing to children across the country.

Mr Ziblim highlighted the extension of operating hours at the National Children’s and Mobile Library facilities to support the government’s 24-hour economy agenda. He also pointed to the rapid expansion of the zero-rated Ghana Library App, which now provides free access to a wide range of e-ibooks, audiobooks, and learning materials.

To further strengthen literacy outcomes, he announced plans to stock all public libraries with GES-approved textbooks and introduce reading sessions in major Ghanaian languages. According to him, ongoing reforms to the Authority’s 55-year-old legislation were aimed at improving the regulation of libraries and strengthening professional standards to meet modern expectations.

The Member of Parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon and Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture, Mr John Dumelo, urged young people to embrace reading as a vital tool for personal growth and national development. He expressed concern that many young people were neglecting books in favour of digital content.

Mr Dumelo further hinted at plans to introduce a constituency-wide reading competition to promote literacy, academic excellence, and a renewed love for books among schoolchildren.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Adwinsa Publications, Mr Kwaku Oppong-Amponsah, urged book shops in the country to digitalise their operations. He appealed to the government to buy books, especially story books in local languages, to help enhance the operations of local publishers and provide employment.

“One of the major interventions we need from the government is for it to buy books, especially the story books, because there are a lot of story books not only in English, but in local languages. At Adwinsa, for instance, we have a lot of story books produced in over 11 local languages, but who will buy?” Mr Oppong-Amponsah stated.

By Eugene Ampiaw

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