Unhealthy reading habits to blame for lack of documentation of arts - Prof Anyidoho

Renowned poet and author Professor Kofi Anyidoho has blamed the lack of documentation of the arts on the unhealthy reading habits of Ghanaians.

As the world celebrates World Book Day, Prof Anyidoho admits that though the nation has not done well in documenting its arts; music, dances, etc for posterity, there is no healthy market for reading.

“No, we haven’t done well, but documentation is one thing. The other thing is that as a nation, we don’t read,” he said.

According to the Head of Documentation of The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (), more talented authors will only be motivated to write if the public was ready to consume their work.

He said, “if we had a healthy respect for the little that has been documented, that would give encouragement to more people to try to write more.”

Professor Anyidoho insists contrary to the notion that very little work is available on Ghana’s art, some brilliant research works by students have been carried out.

According to him, "no publisher will bring them out when they know that there is no reading public for it, that’s something we should keep in mind.”