World Literacy Day

World Literacy Day was on the 8th of September. To celebrate World Literacy Day at ARIS, we held an assembly with the MYP Students in Year 7, 8 and 9 to support an author among us in Year 9, Alankrita who wrote “The Two Kingdoms” and launch the book. We also invited the Barnes & Noble and individually published author, Mr. Daniel Akrofi.

Mr. Daniel Akrofi, under his writing pseudonym, Coffi O. Lore has authored multiple Fiction books – “Hibiscus Fusion”, “Suga’s Muse”, “Kor Kor Kor” and “The Talk” to name a couple. The first book that made an impression on him and made him a reader was, “Mysteries of Nancy Drew”, while the “Spiderman” series sparked the writer in him. Subsequently, as he started writing, he discovered his dialogue from African writers like Chinua Achebe.

It is said and believed that “Good Reading makes Good Writing.” Mr. Akrofi attesting to that spoke to students about his own experiences as a young reader their age, and why should we read. He spoke about how when we are growing up, we are influenced to look at books as “Girly” books or books for Boys. He cited the example of “The Babysitter’s Club”, and the stigma of it being a book meant for girls.

Society is more invested in what exactly we are reading and writing, rather than encouraging us to read and write. He asked – Why is drama more critical than comedy? Why is reading Shakespeare more of a literary feat than reading Stephen King? Is Harry Potter considered as literature? Who are we to decide which genre to take more seriously than the others?

Mr. Akrofi asserts that vital is the bond between a writer and his/her reader. The wanting to read feeds the exhilaration and draws a reader or a writer or both back to a parallel reality that a book creates. Wanting to keep reading and keep writing is how the habits are formed.

Thus, children must be allowed to read different genres of books, and be encouraged to explore to grow their taste and inclination for reading. Different authors and different literary works excite and exhilarate us to keep reading or writing. We must read and write to our hearts content, and discover ourselves through what we write and read.

He advised that good books are all subjective. We must start where our heart is and find freedom in the things that we read and write.

The students went on to ask a few questions. What’s Mr. Akrofi’s favourite genre? “Fantasy and Sci-Fi”, which explains his excitement for Alankrita’s “The Two Kingdoms”; What books does he recommend? “The Magicians by Lev Grossman and anything Neil Gaiman”; What’s your favorite book you wrote? “Hibiscus Fusion”, which we think is a great book for young readers interested in Entrepreneurship, and he also mentioned an unpublished manuscript “Of Monsters and Creepers.”

Our MYP Student, Miss. Alankrita Chavan was also called up to speak about her book and her writing process. Her book “The Two Kingdoms and the Boy with the Golden Blood” is the first of a trilogy, she said. It’s a fantasy, which was inspired by the “Harry Potter” and “The Chronicles of Narnia”.

It’s a beautifully written book! She officially launched her book and announced that now her book is for sale, at GHC 15. All the money raised would be donated to an Underprivileged school, in our surrounding community, to their library to encourage reading and writing among other students as well. After all, literacy is one of the most important, if not the most important skill that we have, and we must hone that by retaining our hunger for reading and writing!

Let Alankrita serve as an inspiration to all our young and budding readers and writers!

To buy her book, please approach Ms. Barbara Bilgre, MYP and CAS Coordinator at the ARIS Secondary Campus.