Workshops at Pa Gya!
Since inception in October 2017, Pa Gya! A Literary Festival in Accra has dedicated its first day to workshops. Facilitated by experienced literary practitioners from diverse backgrounds, the workshops have helped participants improve their craft and provided various networking and publishing opportunities.
The workshops at Pa Gya! are free to attend and are carefully crafted to meet the needs of participants at all levels in their craft. While some require a certain level of experience, others are also open to persons who are beginning on their writing journey. The workshops run between two and four hours.
This year, the festival features more than twelve workshops which run variously on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We invite you to go through the list of workshops below and apply for any of them.
The deadline for applying is 9th October, 2022.
1. Editing Workshop
Society for Book and Magazine Editors of Nigeria (SBMEN) Editing Workshop
Facilitator: Anwuli Ojogwu
Date: Friday, 14th October, 2022
Time: 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Venue: Goethe-Institut Ghana
About the Workshop: This workshop is intended for early and emerging writers, editors and content creators. It will train participants in the fundamental techniques of editing and improving stories. The course will help participants gain understanding of the core building blocks of fiction, and work on identifying strengths and weaknesses of manuscript texts.
Participants should:
Interested persons should send in their name and a short bio and introduction to say why they want to take this workshop. The workshop can admit only 10 participants. Send in your details to pagyafestival@gmail.com with EDITING WORKSHOP as the subject.
The workshop is open to only 10 participants.
2. Writing For Healing
Facilitator: Araba Ofori Acquah
Date: Friday, 14th October 2022
Time: 12:30 PM - 2:45 PM
Venue: Foundation for Contemporary Art – Ghana
About the Workshop: Writing is an incredible tool for creating wellbeing and personal growth. Whether you consider yourself a writer or not, this workshop will show you how you can tap into the healing power of writing and make it part of your self-care routine. This workshop will introduce writers and non-writers alike to using the craft as a tool for wellbeing, and will cover:
The Workshop can only admit 20 participants and is open to all. Interested persons should send in their name and a short bio and introduction to tell why they want to take this workshop. Send in your details to pagyafestival@gmail.com with WRITING FOR HEALING as the subject.
3. Writing in Ghanaian Pidgin
Facilitator: Fui Can Tamakloe
Date: Friday, 14th October 2022
Time: 12:30 PM to 2:30 PM
Venue: Goethe-Institut
About the Workshop: Storytellers for write stories wey demma readers fit relate. De language wey we de writers go use be one way we fit pass top make readers feel wona stories. For Ghana inside, more people dey speak den barb Ghana Pidgin than English language.
De workshop go show participants how dem fit write stories for Ghana Pidgin. Participants wey come de workshop for pass writing exercise wey dey engage demma senses top take understand why we for write for Ghana Pidgin inside. Dem go learn tips den tricks wey fit help dem write for Ghana Pidgin.
Target Participant Group: Age 18+. Participants wey come dis workshop for dey write stories already. Dem for get work wey dey show sey dem know write. Participants for know Ghana Pidgin talk.
Send in your details to pagyafestival@gmail.com with GHANAIAN PIDGIN as the subject. The workshop is open to only 10 participants.
4. Crafting Complex Characters
Facilitator: Maame Blue
Date: Friday, 14th October 2022
Time: 12:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Venue: Goethe-Institut Ghana
About the Workshop: Inspired by Maame Blue’s debut novel Bad Love which won a Betty Trask Award in 2021, this workshop will cover character self-perception and will focus on contemporary texts as examples, with writing exercises included.
Applicants must have experience in writing and already have a work in progress, being either short story, creative nonfiction piece or work in progress novel. Applicants must write for Adults or Young Adults. Send in a mail of interest to pagyafestival@gmail.com with your name and a short bio. No writing sample is required for this workshop. The subject of your mail should read as CCC WORKSHOP.
5. The Blogging Business
Facilitator: Dagny Zenovia
Date: Friday,14th October 2022
Time: 12:30 PM - 3:00 PM
Venue: Goethe-Institut Ghana
About the Workshop: Blogging takes writing to the next level when it comes to branding and business.This workshop will teach you how to leverage blogging to make an impact on your chosen topic, industry, or goal. Each attendee will receive a mini-digital marketing strategy guide by me, based on the information submitted at registration. This is a hands-on workshop that will involve interaction and participation instead of lecturing. This workshop is suitable for beginner and intermediate bloggers. To apply to participate, please submit answers to these questions:
By attending this workshop, you will learn the following skills:
Whether you are focused on writing short stories, developing a non-profit, expanding your business, or starting your NFT service, the blogging business is for you. Whether you are struggling with pitching your poetry, branding yourself as an expert, or finding a community that will pay for your brilliance, the blogging business is for you.
Interested persons should send a mail to pagyafestival@gmail.com with BLOGGING WORKSHOP as the subject of their mail. In addition, please submit information on their topic or industry of choice, experience so far with blogging, and goals.
6. Living & Eating Your Art: Branding, Brand Positioning & Pricing
Facilitator: Poetry Association of Ghana (PAG)
Date: 14th October 2022
Time: 12:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Venue: Goethe-Institut Ghana
About the Workshop: Brought to you by the Poetry Association of Ghana, the goal of this 4-hour workshop is to have participants walk away with practical tools to work with in pursuit of a professional artist life. This workshop is open to poets and spoken word artists but not limited to these genres of writing. The workshop also focuses on alternative ways of using your craft, apart from writing and performing. A few other touchpoints for this workshop include:
Interested participants should send a mail of interest to pagyafestival@gmail.com. The subject of your mail should read LIVING & EATING YOUR ART.
7. Fiction Workshop
Facilitator: Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
Date: Friday, 14th October 2022
Time: 11:00 AM
Venue: New York University (NYU) Gardens, Labone
About the Workshop: In collaboration with New York University (NYU) Accra, Jennifer Makumbi, award-winning Ugandan author of Kintu will lead a special workshop on writing fiction. This is a highly competitive workshop. Selected participants are required to attend the special reading event at NYU- Accra in Labone. Interested participants should send in their name, bio and a sample writing to the email pagyafestival@gmail.com. The email subject should read JENNIFER MAKUMBI.
8. The Story of Self
Facilitator: Epifania Amoo-Adare
Date: Saturday, 15th October, 2022
Time: 4.20 PM - 5.20 PM
Venue: Goethe-Institut Ghana
About the Workshop: What is our individual and/or collective Story of Self? Who are we, as human beings, as a society, as a culture? And how does our sense of Self affect the way we write about ourselves and the world that we live in?
In this discussion-in-the-round session, we will reflect on the following significant considerations: Who am I? And who are we together? What does it mean to be alive in this specific moment in history and in this geographic location? With these questions, we will tease out intersectional identity issues to do with language, gender, spirituality, sexuality, nationality, philosophy of life, and much more. We will also touch on the quality of our relationships with each other and the environment, plus how we share these perceptions in our storytelling.
These discussions will also be galvanised by short literary readings from Henneh Kyereh Kwaku, Linford Kennedy Amankwaa (Ko-Jo Cue), Alba Kunadu Amoo-Gottfried, Anthony Fui Can-Tamakloe, Nii Gbontwi Anyetei, Amy Shimshon-Santo, and Epifania Akosua Amoo-Adare (A.B. Godfreed). We also ask that other participants come with an object that represents them. Through this critical engagement, we will drink deeply from our own wells, while sharing what might even be described as our very essence; thus, engaging in an important writerly conversation that will hopefully continue beyond the session at Pa Gya! A Literary Festival 2022. This workshop is open to all. Interested persons should send a mail of interest to pagyafestival@gmail.com with the Subject title as STORY OF SELF.
9. Untold Black: African History Bios with the Accra Writing Experiment
Facilitator: Gbontwi Anyetei.
Date: Sunday, 16th October 2022
Time: 5:30 PM to 6.30 PM
Venue: Goethe-Institut Ghana
About the Workshop: Put together by the Accra Writing Experiment, "Untold Black" is our latest exciting programme which invites participants to reconstruct historical stories through movie scripts, teleplays, podcasts, animation or even a certain kind of documentaries etc. A great story is a great story.
It's an increasing trend. Regardless of your timeline there's always a "Did you know?" story from ancient or recent history. Tweets we can hardly believe. Tiktoks that blow our minds about musicians we love or people from our hometown we've never heard of. The same thought is never far from our minds. "Someone should make this a film."
This session of 'The Accra Writing Experiment: Untold Black' is here for you if you've ever asked this question.
The Accra Writing Experiment (AWx) always asks of creative and curious minds: if not you then who. If not now, when?
AWx is a creative initiative that has been running for nine years bringing writers together in themed and timed exercises and opportunities for dynamic real-time feedback.
Interested persons should send a mail to pagyafestival@gmail.com. The subject of your mail should be UNTOLD BLACK AWx.
10. Poetry Workshop with Prof. Patricia Jabbeh Wesley
Facilitator: Prof. Patricia Jabbeh Wesley
Date: Friday, 14th October 2022
Time: 12.30 PM to 4.30 PM
Venue: Goethe-Institut Ghana
About the Workshop: The workshop is geared towards equipping poets with the skills they need to write effectively, to know what they need in order to have a strong voice, the importance of imagery, the power of how tone defines a poet’s sensibility, and finally, how to explore the motifs that make us African poets no matter where we live.
Half of the time in the workshop will cover teaching and exploring the poetics that make us African, teaching, and discussion. The other half will cover a short writing experience and a workshop of what is written by participants.
Interested persons should send a mail to pagyafestival@gmail.com with their name as short bio and a paragraph that shows their experience in poetry writing. The subject should read: CRAFT POETRY.
11. Poetry and Music Workshop
Facilitator: Hondred Percent
Date: Saturday, 15th October 2022
Time: 1.30 PM to 3.30 PM
Venue: Foundation for Contemporary Art - Ghana
About the Workshop: Hondred Percent takes participants through Garageband on the IPhone, and demonstrates the unique manner in which he fuses Music with his Poetry. Through this workshop, the Poet Rapper will attempt to create music in real time, to work with a chosen poem. This will be done on an iPhone and will be projected for the audience to view and gain a better understanding of what is possible, through this medium. The workshop can only take 10 participants. Interested persons should send a mail to pagyafestival@gmail.com with the subject POETRY AND MUSIC.