The Book Fair is not about putting books on display. It is about what happens when people connect with books, and the lasting impact we want to create,

At the launch of the 23rd Ghana International Book Fair (GIBF) in Accra on 20 August, Executive Director Yvonne Bossman declared that Ghana’s future rests on the knowledge invested in its young people. She urged the nation to treat reading as a foundational pillar of development, shared across families, schools, libraries, publishers, authors, businesses and the media.

From Revival to Ecosystem Hub

Instituted in the mid-1990s to revive a book industry crippled by the economic crises of the late 1970s and 1980s, the fair held its first edition in 1996 under the Trade Fair Authority. It ran biennially until 2008, when the Ghana Publishers Association assumed lead organisation and made it annual.

Over three decades it has matured from a books-and-publishing showcase into a comprehensive cultural and professional platform.

Bossman noted that the fair now convenes publishers, writers, printers, booksellers, librarians, educators and international partners from the UK, US, Canada, India, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Egypt. Participants trade, exchange ideas and forge stronger links across the book value chain.

Youth-Centred Innovations

This year’s edition, themed “Transforming Ghana’s Future Through Books,” runs 27–30 August 2026 at the National Theatre. Programme highlights include exhibitions, workshops, forums and networking.

New features place young readers at the centre: the inaugural Ghana Star Reader competition, testing fluency and comprehension in English and Ghanaian languages, and Reading with Champions, in which figures from business, government, sport and the arts – including actress Martha Ankomah – read with children. A book float in central Accra on 21 August preceded the main event.

The View From The (Gambian) Beach

“The Book Fair is not about putting books on display. It is about what happens when people connect with books, and the lasting impact we want to create,” Bossman said.

For publishing professionals, the message is clear: sustained investment in reading culture strengthens the entire ecosystem – from authorship and production to distribution and literacy. The 23rd GIBF continues a thirty-year mission to embed books at the heart of Ghanaian progress.

But let me end this post by repeating this part from above: “The inaugural Ghana Star Reader competition, testing fluency and comprehension in English and Ghanaian languages, and Reading with Champions, in which figures from business, government, sport and the arts – including actress Martha Ankomah – read with children.”

We so need this sort of thing here in The Gambia!

This post first appeared in the TNPS LinkedIn newsfeed.