OSÙ Literary Prize: Professor Jean Emmanuel PONDI, member of the jury, gives his objective vision of the OSÙ literary prize from Éclosion and CERDOTOLA editions in partnership with the CNPS.
In an interview in here is the content, he invites young people to apply for the next edition scheduled for February 2024 and his vision of things.
According to Professor Jean Emmanuel PONDI, the OSÙ literary prize is an initiative not only to be encouraged but to be supported in a concrete way. Very often we say that we are satisfied but we do not express this satisfaction in a concrete way. There are too few awards in Africa and most Africans are subcontractors in the sense that they hope to have recognition from outside. It is time that we have our own like the OSÙ prize, it is time that we give the same value if not more values than the prices that are outside. This is why I think we must give them time, value and even financial support as much as possible. Young Cameroonians are very talented, but need a platform where this talent is expressed and seen, recognized and consumed.
The problem of all writers, of all producers of thought in Africa, is that they are not faced with a receptive audience. We have been put in our heads that we are a continent of orality, which is half true because there is a lot of civilization that is ingrained in the writings. When you take the Ethiopians and many others after the 4th century BC. All this shows that we are not only in orality. I believe that you have to have a love of letters, a love of writing, I believe it's a virus that you have to have, that you catch when you're young between 6 and 10 years old, and it's a imitation of parents because children are clones of parents because by observing parents reading, they also develop the habit. To return to the OSÙ prize, it must be faced with an audience which is itself increasingly educated in favor of reading. And I believe that our children can be talented, our young people can be talented but if they have a receptive audience in front of them who is open to the written word, it will be difficult to disseminate this knowledge through writing and that is what exactly needs to be done?
Clément Noumsi
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