TV personality, poet and writer, Apiorkor Seyram Ashong-Abbey, has her anthology of poems, The Matriarch’s Verse, nominated in the 5th Ghana Association of Writers (GAW) Literary Awards 2021.
The anthology was launched in 2019 and has a collection of poems put together by Apiorkor.
It contains poems like ‘The Honey Pot,’ ‘Love Saved me’ and ‘Sister Bleeds.’
The Matriarch’s Verse is in the same poetry category in the awards with Kofi Acquah’s ‘The sound of the Tsetse Drum’ and Reinfred Dziedzorm Addo’s ‘The Dedicadas: A chapbook.’
Some other categories in the GAW Literary Awards 2021 are Novel, which has Felix K. Boahene’s ‘Obiba Opare’s Travels’, Godfred Edusei Derkyi’s ‘Kwansema’s Choice’ and Gheysika Adombire Agambila’s ‘The Shrinking Bowl’ as nominees.
There is also the Short Story category, with Genevieve Delali Antonio’s ‘She Rescues and Other Stories’ and Eunice Mensah’s ‘The Other Side of Home’ as the nominees.
Check out the full list of nominations below:
Novel – Obiba Opare’s Travels (Felix K. Boahene), Kwansema’s Choice (Godfred Edusei Derkyi), The Shrinking Bowl (Gheysika Adombire Agambila)
Short Story – She Rescues and Other Stories (Genevieve Delali Antonio), The Other Side of Home (Eunice Mensah)
Poetry – The Matriarch’s Verse (Apiorkor Seyram Ashong-Abbey), The Sound of the Tsetse Drum (Kofi Acquah), The Dedicadas: A Chapbook (Reinfred Dziedzorm Addo)
Children’s Storybook – The Contest and Other Spiderman Tales (Adolika Nenah Sowah), A Mother Says No (Daniel Takyi Boasiako), Trotro Trio Book 1: A Blast To the Past (Ruby Yayra Goka)
Creative Non-Fiction – Plenty Talk Dey 4 Ghana (Radio Eye, edited by Kofi Akpabli), Paying My Debt (Daniel Owusu Koranteng), They Call Me Archie – Amazing Journey (Dr Rosina Acheampong), Africa: A Continent on Bended Knee (Femi Akomolafe)
Spoken Word (Video/Audio) – Where I come From (Nana Fredua-Agyeman Jnr), Hawn and Hen (Pobee Mwintombo)
Ghanaian Language Special Award – Me Kristosom Abrabo Ho Anwense (Ernest Perbi-Asare), Nu Nyui Ade Ke (Gifty Akosua Baka)
Science and Mathematics Special Writers – Adventures of Hurricane and Tornado – Episode 1 – Building a Boat (Godfred Adusei Derkyi), Unravelling the Essentials of Health and Wealth (Dr Kojo Cobba Essel)
About the GAW Literary Awards
The Ghana Association of Writers (GAW) Literary Awards was instituted in 1987.
It was conceived to be organised annually to honour outstanding literary achievements by Ghanaian writers, especially members of the Association. However, the awards event had been dormant since its last organisation due to political, social and financial circumstances. The 2021 event marks the fourth year, following the revival of the awards.
The purpose envisioned by the originators of the awards remains unchanged. Except that the categories of awards have been expanded to include many more literary interests, and to cover additional categories of genre.
It is the hope of GAW that the awards will bolster corporate bodies and foundations to support GAW to hold this event.