The Pa Gya Literacy Festival was created by the Writers Project of Ghana to bring together writers, poets, publishers under one roof to share their writing to the public. This year it took place over 3 days at the Goethe Institute in Accra. http://writersprojectghana.com/

Pa Gye means ‘to ignite (as a flint), but also could mean lift up – depending on the pronunciation.
From checking out the brochure you could tell that hard work was put into organising such dynamic event. It was a full day with: Poetry corner, book launch and readings, panel discussion, performance, conversations, books to purchase and publishers to meet.

WORKSHOP
I had the opportunity to run a workshop with Kirsty Osei-Bempong of MissBeeeWrites on blogging between 12:30-4pm. The purpose of the workshop was to help bloggers grow and market, keep active and grow readership of their blogs.

I firstly did a presentation called ‘Journey of a Website’. Which entailed since 2009 up until today on how I changed and utilised my website content in parallel with blogging stories. This made it possible to attract a wider customer base to take advantages services & products I was offering.

The main points highlighted:
*importance of keeping it simple, not too ambitious, seek early advice and feedback.
*choose categories wisely especially if you concentrate on different themes
*contrast website with colours that match your business cards
*use of appropriate images and less text to tell the story for wider audience.
*don’t stress on number of comments/likes as does not measure number of people read blog.
*you never know who is reading
*don’t just work on your site – let your site work for you.

My second presentation was about Making Money Whilst Blogging
I have never actually thought about the different methods that could be used especially from the comfort of your home – until I did my research. I presented 7 Monetize methods. However, it does really depend on your marketing strategy, time and effort to encourage customer trafficking to your website – plus take advantage of your services – before you can reap the rewards.

To Note:
*it is not a get rich scheme
*beware of scams – do your own research
*check eligibility – invest in time and effort beforehand
*decide which method to utilize
*have a good ongoing marketing strategy
*keep website up to date
*use your expertise and professionalism
*traffic customers to reap the rewards

There were new and professional bloggers in the workshop and I was happy for the positive feedback and all the tweets about the presentations.
image courtesy of @Krazibruce

NETWORKING
It was a hot day and I couldn’t wait to get outside from the air-conditioned room. So after a successful workshop, we packed our belongings quickly to join others in the outside courtyard. We conversed whilst chipping some nice spicy RedRed with pineapple and ginger juice to quench the thirst.
It was amazing to see so many interested and inspired young people. Also empowered to be amongst so much talent in the creative literacy circle. I met people from Uganda, Nigeria, USA and UK. It was nice to meet, Pelu Awofeso and also the co-founders of Afrikult – Zaahida and Marcelle who ran a Writing and Publishing workshop called: Women’s use of the pen.

The opening ceremony was a full house and witnessed for 2 hours a enlightening & empowerment conversation and performance from Kofi Anyidoho and Nana Asaasi. 

It was a fun filled packed day of word , sound and power – with nice vibes, great food, wonderful people and conversations, networking and of course literacy information and creative talent.
Thanks once again to all the participants in the workshop and writers project for putting on a excellent event. Hope to attend all 3 days next year

bless Sister E