The Secretary General of the Pan African Writer’s Association Dr. Wale Okediran has indicated that the art of poetry is losing its audience due to time consuming activities that are present in today’s world.
Dr. Okediran revealed that there has been a drastic change between the post-colonial era and now regarding poetry and reading due to the emergence of the internet, social media and all other things that had not been invented back then. “There’s a lot of distraction in the audience. In the days of the old poets, people were reading but now internet and social media is taking the time of the youth; those distractions that were not there before are here now.” he highlighted.
In an interview on etv. Ghana’s Fact Sheet with host Samuel Eshun,he hinted that the youth of today have lost interest in reading, not to speak of poetry which he termed as a drop in the reading culture of Africa. “The reading culture is going down. People prefer to turn on the internet and watch videos on the internet all day than to read.” he expounded.
By: Kobina Badu Baidoo
