Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee of SL PEN

SELI hosts and chairs the Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee of Sierra Leone PEN, and has just developed this brochure which expresses the committee's vision of what it would like to accomplish.

Are these your interests, too? Contact SL PEN at the numbers given in the brochure and let them know about your support. And do join SELI in its annual celebration of International Mother Language Day every February 21st at 14F Clarke St., Tengbeh Town!

Content Conferences are at the Heart of it All

Content conferences are where voices are drawn out. Middle school authors are reading their work aloud for feedback from their peers and from teacher Abu B.S. Marah in this Young Writers content conference at Ahmadiyya Muslim Agricultural Secondary School, Kabala in Sierra Leone. It's the first month of a new year for the SELI Young Writers club at AMASS, and half the group are newcomers just arrived from primary school.

The students are either getting feedback on first or second drafts, so they can move on to better revision or editing. All the clubs have new editing corners this year, with SELI's donation of two new dictionaries. It's rough this year with no grants to support the Seli River Writing Project,but we are carrying on!

Young Voices 2.1

Find out what all the SLWP Young Writers clubs are doing by reading the latest edition of Young Voices here:

There is a need for writers!

SELI is pleased to be a member of this steering committee, otherwise known as the Opportunity Schools Project, and Books Sierra Leone, of which CODE Canada is one of the implementers. Learn more about this project here: http://www.codecan.org/blog/?p=126.

International Mother Language Day 2011

On Sunday, February 20th, 2011 at 4:00 pm, SELI celebrated International Mother Language Day 2011. Anyone who wants to stretch his or her writing life and support those Sierra Leonean languages that are not being taught in schools is welcome to come and write! This is the 12th year of this UNESCO day, which actually falls on the 21st of February each year. It was established to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism, particularly encouraging the development of literatures in endangered languages.

This year most of the participants wrote poems, and we all sat in one group to read our work aloud. Can you read this poem by Annie Moses that was written and read on that day? SELI's celebration is part of its larger Heritage Writers program. Participants spend the first 45 minutes writing a poem, story, or nonfiction narrative in their primary language. They then gather in language groups to read their work aloud for appreciative feedback and comments. Tutors from the Writing Tutors Registry are always present in case any participant would like to make an arrangement for lessons to improve their writing skills in their language.

The students on the cover of the book, Fostering Young Writers in Sierra Leone, which you see here, are writing on International Mother Language Day.

Voices from the Village

The Young Writers in the Seli River Writing Project (SRWP) are writing from both urban and rural areas. Since they are writing personal experiences, their environments greatly affect their topics. Check out the voices from the village, at http://www.seli.co/seli-forum/voices-from-the-village

The map shows the watershed area of the Seli River, which gave its name to the SRWP.

We're hosting the TLRC!

SELI hosted the first meeting of SL PEN's Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee, or TLRC, on Tuesday, March 29th. Keep your eyes on this space and expect big things of this committee! The next meeting will be on April 12th.