Malawi schools urged to have writers clubs

 The Writers Block, a grouping of ardent writers in Malawi, has urged schools to have writers’ clubs and encourage students to write as a way of promoting a writing culture from the grass roots level.

The call was made on Saturday at Stella Maris Secondary School in Blantyre during an award ceremony of short story writing competition involving three secondary schools. The schools were Stella Maris, Chichiri and Zingwangwa.

Noel Misanjo, project coordinator of the group, said the competition attracted about 40 entries which showed that the skill is there.

“We received very interesting stories, well written and educative, but still we could observe some gaps. This is because the students are not writing frequently in their schools,” said Misanjo, adding that schools carry the responsibility of the country’s writing future.

Misanjo said the competition which was set to test the waters received an overwhelming response.

“Our dream is to run a national short story writing competition,” he said while calling on support for the initiative.

One of the trustees of the group, Emmanuel Luciano, advised students to concentrate on improving their writing skills daily.

“They say writers mirror the society. Success, they say is not achieved by never falling, but rising every time we fall and writing needs hard-work,” he said.