A delegation of the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA) led by its President, Professor Bill Ndi, yesterday paid a visit to the legendary Ghanaian writer, Ayi Kwei Armah, at his Popenguine Estate in Senegal.
A statement from PAWA explained that the visit, which came on the heels of the just concluded International African Writers Day organised by the Senegalese Writers Association, was to acquaint the 86-year-old writer best known for his novels, especially The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, of the current progress of the continental writers body.
In his remarks, Armah thanked and praised PAWA for the visit, as well as lauded its effort at “remembering” a “dismembered continent.”
When teased about waiting for “the beautyful ones to be born,” he joked that it might take up to a hundred years.
Armah has continued writing and publishing at his oceanfront Popenguine Estate, seat of Per Ankh Publishing House.
This outfit was born of a collaboration with Ayi Kwei Armah, Sembene Ousmane and Lamine Gueye.
He also hosts a writers’ residency programme, as well as writing workshops at his other estate, Le Bourgainvillier.
He is currently working tirelessly with a group of other writers on translating into many modern languages ancient Egyptian narratives and poems of the pre-pharoanic and pharoanic eras.
