The Pan-African Writers Association (PAWA) in partnership with the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) will host the maiden congress of the World Organisation of Writers (WOW) in Abuja, Nigeria.
The congress scheduled to hold April 4 to 6, 2024 will convene writers from across the globe in the city of Abuja, at the ANA Writers Village located in the hills of Mpape.
Formerly known as Afro, Euro-Asia Organisation, it was renamed WOW in 2023 following requests from writers who are not of Afro, Europe or Asian descent to join the group.
WOW’s objectives which include the deployment of writers in the achievement of global peace and serves as a platform for writers to address international conflicts, centers around its motto: We Are People of the Same Planet.
Speaking with LEADERSHIP of the event, PAWA Secretary General, Hon Dr Wale Okediran, said Nigeria got to host the event prior to his receiving the organization’s Most Outstanding Writer for the year 2023 award, despite not being a member.
“One of the benefits of winning the award is that the winner gets to host the organisation’s next meeting.
“We are collaborating with WOW to host its first ever congress in Abuja, Nigeria. PAWA was given the mandate to host that congress. It was my decision to cede that hosting right to the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Nigeria, because having looked round the entire African countries, I didn’t see a country that has the kind of facilities that ANA has, and the number of writers that Nigeria has. That is why I thought it appropriate to site that conference in Nigeria,” said Okediran.
Okediran, a former House of Representatives member, prolific author and founder of the Ebedi Writers Residency in Ibadan, took over the leadership at PAWA in 2020, post the death of his predecessor Atukwei Okai, who was the association’s Secretary General for 28 years.
An umbrella organization for all African Writers Associations, PAWA initiated in 1989 by former Organization of African Union (now African Union) as an organ that tends to African literature and culture, comprises the 52 national writers’ associations on the African continent. It has its headquarters in Ghana.
