TIME TO PATRONISE GAMBIAN AUTHORS

This is only meant to remind my fellow Gambians that, it is high time we start patronizing our authors and writers. I was conductinga brief research on Gambian writers and to many utmost surprise,we have so many of them out there. Like me, many young and old Gambians hardly heard of this skillful men and women. I don'thave any data to back-up my assumptions but I have been around many discussion forums to know about our authors.It is the duty of our newspapers to publicize the work of our country's authors. This can be in the form of a partnership or other arranged methods but the hard work of this people shouldn't left dormant in some bookshop or printing press. The Gambia we all know has come a long way from the days of colonialism, we have many graduates in different schools of learning. If some of our brothers and sisters pick up a pen to write; they at-least expected us to read what they write about. I am not a writer, i don't have the skills for it, all i can do is try to buy the books authored and read them.I found a list of some our renowned Gambian writers on this web site. Truly, i never heard of them of being writers or authors. Check them out here. http://gambianliterature.blogspot.com/ I will list them here so that others can have a glue of what i mean when i said, there are many of them out there.Baba Galeh Jallow, authored about four books: his most recent one his 'Mandela's other children' , another of his book is 'Angry Laughter' and also an in-dept take on African politics 'The anatomy of powercracy'. Dr Tijan Sallah. Tijan is also another brilliant writer. His recent book is 'Dream Kingdom' and another of his book is 'Essay on second Independence'.Sheriff Samsideen Sarr. Sam ,we all know him. He is about 57 years of age. He is a veteran in the writing field. His earlier book written in 1984 is the famous ' Meet me in Conakry'. and Also the recent book titled ' Coup De'tat by the Gambia National Army'. Foday Baldeh. He is a 60 years old and for that a veteran in the writing field. His book is title 'A fate of an African President' The book talks about the 1981 coup plot and his suffering during his detention in prison. That should be a good read.Sally Singhateh. A young writer. Her book is titled.'Christies's Crisis'. Essa Bokary Sey. A former ambassador. his book written in Hungary is titled 'The Boat of Thought'.Lang Fafa Dampha PhD. His book is title 'African Aliens'. A good analysis of what African encounter in foreign lands.Bala Saho. His book is titled 'Road to My Village'.Other writers and authors worth mentioning here are, Fatoumata Jawara daughter of former president DK Jawara. Her book is titled 'Behind the Scenes of the WTO'. The book is hugely praised by scores of university professors. an in-dept look at corruption in the WTO.Due to time and space i will list other authors who sacrifice immensely for the literary progress of our motherland.Dr Lenrie Peters, Gabriel Roberts, Ebou Dibba, Hussain Ceesay, Musa Jallow, Suwaibou Conateh, Essa Colley, Musa Jallow and many more others.We are endowed with Good writers, it is the duty of the reading public to buy the books and read them. Libraries build strong intellectual power base. And God knows we need a good and intelligent society. Our institutions requires open minded individual who can be innovative and think progressively. With willing writers and a willing reading public, our nation can achieve what ever we wish. Knowledge is power.Most of the books are very cheap as compared the many foreign writer's books we read. In U.S and England the books can receive in two working days. I hope that we as a nation will cherish the authors of our small beautiful nation. I thank all the authors our there. You have sacrifice a lot for our country, may God bless you all.I also thank the on-line papers in advance for publishing this small contribution of mine.