REWARD FOR WRITERS

REWARD FOR WRITERS

Malawian Writers from left, Matilda Phiri, Luckier Chikopa, Alfred Msadala and James Ng'ombe at Mibawa Television in Malawi,

By Matilda Phiri.

I would like to concur with the late D.D Phiri's article on "Rewards for Writers," which appeared in the Daily Times on November 7, 2018. May his soul rest in peace forever! The late DD Phiri talked about how writers are wonderful members of society who protect history, culture, and status. Without writers who recorded the teachings of Israel's prophets, including Jesus, the Christian religion as we know it today would have suffered greatly. He added that it is past time for businesses and sponsors to pay closer attention to both the nation's fiction and nonfiction writers.

Even though they continually let us down, our football and netball friends have a large number of sponsors who show up to support them every day. They also receive support from the Sports Council, but writers do not receive such support from the Arts Council or from many businesses. However, writers have never let the country down. They publish articles daily in newspapers, scholarly works, and books about culture in order to preserve our history and culture and let others know who we are. The folktale books that the millennium generation is passing down, which our children study in school, are all the result of writers. Is this just a small item? Because writers are responsible for making the world go round every day, it is past time that they received the support they need to realize their dreams. We want to see businesses support writing contests in the same way that First Capital Bank did before they stopped. Again, we need you. Every year, we miss the short story competition. Individually, Pemphero Mphande encourages writing in Malawi by holding short story contests with cash prizes of one million kwacha. 

Since self-publishing is very expensive and the majority of authors don't succeed at it, we would like to see many sponsors assist authors in publishing their books. Many excellent manuscripts that could be used as textbooks in our schools are only suffering from webs in the writers' homes, despite the fact that they could advance this nation's educational system. The sponsors have a lot of options for helping writers, including funding book publishing, poetry readings, and training workshops for writers.

In order to promote their works, authors also want the government to purchase books written by Malawian authors and place them in the nation's libraries and schools, similar to what the government of Uganda does. This encourages a writing culture, which in turn encourages a reading culture. In order for all artists in Malawi to have their own Arts Council and receive funding from the government, the authors want the NAHEC bill to be passed in parliament.

In addition, the government can recognize writers by establishing three arts academies in three different parts of Malawi for young people who wish to advance their artistic abilities in areas such as acting, singing, dancing, and writing. For those who are prepared to use them after learning the art, arts schools should even have large studios for both music and film productions. Any young person who is passionate about art should enroll in those institutions. Youths may register in waves if there are lots of them. We can accomplish this, and the government can advance as a result. The power of art to promote and draw large numbers of tourists to our nation is legendary. Think of Nigerian Nollywood. The economy of this country is growing in part due to art. Even American Hollywood has contributed to its globalization. Let's color our dreams and act to make them a reality. As a team, we can. As a nation, there is nothing we cannot accomplish. Long live Malawi!