PNG’s writers still await appointment with prime minister

By CAROLINE EVARI - PNG Attitude

PORT MORESBY – It’s National Book Week this week with the theme, ‘Upgrade your Knowledge (IQ) – Read!’.

Meanwhile, the delivery of the PNG writers’ petition to the Papua New Guinea government is still pending.

“One of the major pillars of building a knowledge society is by reading books, being literate, and having greater access to library and information services, and lifelong learning,” stated director-general of the PNG National Library and Archives, Kaksi Kakaito.

Apart from building knowledge in society, books carry stories of culture and traditions and stories of our people.

These stories tell others about who we really are, about our beautiful country and about our struggles and the reasons why.

They are stories that give us an identity and that future generations can resonate with.

Last month, PNG writers and their supporters came together to petition prime minister James Marape, asking the government to give special attention to PNG literature by supporting and encouraging writers and developing a home-grown literature.

Building a home-grown literature is all about writing and publishing more PNG-authored books and having them distributed throughout the country.

The delegation that is being formed to present this petition comprises writers Daniel Kumbon from Enga, Francis Nii from Simbu, and Caroline Evari and Betty Wakia from Port Moresby.

Despite our goal to present the petition during this week to coincide with National Book Week, Francis Nii has been faced with the dilemma of financing his trip to Port Moresby.

Today we wrote to the prime minister’s office requesting for an appointment to meet with him and hand him the petition on behalf of the PNG writers whilst National Book Week celebrations continue in the country.

Go to this link for more: https://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/2019/08/pngs-writers-still-await-appointment-with-the-prime-minister.html#more