Italian Embassy marks 23rd Italian language week celebration

 The 23rd edition of the Italian language week celebration (Set­timana Dela Lingua Italiana Nel Mondo) ended in Accra last week with the rich cultures of Ghana and Italy in full display throughout the published works and arts.

The week-long event was organised by the Italian Embassy in Accra in collaboration with the Italian Business Association of Ghana (IBAG), Ghana Italian Women Association (GIWA) and Piccola Bibilotcca Italiana.

The event brought together seasoned authors and publishers from their two countries to celebrate the cultural exchanges.

The host, the Italian Ambassador to Ghana and Togo, Ms Daniela d’Orlandi, was joined by other dignitaries includ­ing a representative from the Ghana Library Board (GLB), Mr Hayford Siaw, to mark the day.

It was commemorated with eight different activities including lectures and reading sessions.

A reading session for children dubbed ‘READ Aloud; Rodari’s Tales,’ at Piccolo Biblioteca Italiana in Accra, kicked the celebrations into motion and was followed by an October 22 workshop dubbed, ‘Let’s colour the world with books’ also for children between the ages of nine to 18 years.

Other events included open discus­sions on several topics and lectures expertly delivered by notable speak­ers including Prof. Pierluigi Valsecchi, Prof. Matteo Grilli, Giola Guerzoni and Andrea Ceccarelli.

In an address, Ms d’Orlandi com­mended the participants for their respective roles in the event to cel­ebrate the cultures of the two coun­tries through their works.

A speaker from Italy, Giola Guer­zoni, challenged publishers to delve more into the area of fiction with good story lines.

Andrea Ceccarelli, an Editor, ex­pressed his joy to be in Ghana to be part of the celebration and hoped that publishers will make themselves more visible to be reached from out­side Ghana and help raise awareness about Ghana’s publishing sector.

 By Margaret Barden