Writers Association of The Gambia at Writers’ Congress in Libya

The Writers’ Association of The Gambia (WAG) is currently participating in the Arab African Writers’ Congress holding at the University of Garyouni, in Benghazi, Libya. At the invitation of the Libyan Writers' Association through the Pan African Writers Association based in Ghana, WAG is among Arab and African writers and intellectuals deliberating from October 24-25, 2010, on the theme: Activation, Cohesion, Union and Progress.

The representative of WAG, General Secretary Mr. Cherno Omar Barry, will address the congress on: The effects of the Arab culture in the Senegambia Region: Arab, Islam and the Senegambian Cultures under the sub-theme: Arab Culture in Africa, Between Westernisation and the Challenge of Renewal.

Mr. Barry will deliberate on the contemporary Muslim child’s difficulties in accommodating the learning of the Quran and attending formal school and will give a brief background of the arrival and introduction of Islamic and Western education and the conflicting struggle to accommodate the two in the life of the Gambian child.

The congress which is being attended by several other national writers’ associations in Africa and the Arab world is taking place under the auspices of the World Centre for the Study and Research of the Green Book, the General Forum of the Afro-Arab NGOs (FONGAF), with the cooperation of the University of Garyouni and the Libyan Ministry of Culture.

Through Mr. Barry’s participation, WAG expects to build solid contacts for cooperation with other writers’ associations attending. Mr Cherno Omar Barry left Banjul on Wednesday October 20 and is expected back on Friday October 29, 2010.