Ghana for World Poetry Slam Championship

Theresa Kufuor, a 23-year-old poet known in literary circles as Twita Lite, will leave Accra on Tuesday, October 10 to represent Ghana at the 2nd World Poetry Slam Championship (WPSC 2023) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Twita Lite who describes herself as “a word smith, spoken word and creative artist,” is the reigning Ehalakasa Slam Champion of Ghana. She will compete at WPSC 2023 from October 12 to October 15 against 39 other poetry champions from around the world. The WPSC is put together by the World Poetry Slam Organization (WPSO) of which Ghana’s Ehalakasa Movement, which started in 2007, is a founding member.

Widely regarded as the World Cup of Poetry, the initial WPSC event was held in 2022 in Brussels, Belgium. South African poet, Xabiso Vili, emerged winner at WPSC 2022. Sir Black, co-founder of the Ehalakasa Movement was in Brussels last year for the championship. He’s hoping Ghana would do well enough to make it a back-to-back win for Africa.

“I have been doing poetry since 2018 and life experiences are my inspiration,” says Twita Lite. She will travel to Rio together with Ehalakasa’s Managing Director/SlamMaster also known as Iyamatuahene.

He will be in Brazil as the head of Ghana’s delegation to WPSO’s 2023 Annual General Meeting. According to Sir Black, Ghana Ambassador in Brazil, Prof Abena Busia who is also a writer, has been of immense help to the Ehalakasa Movement in terms of WPSC 2023 and is looking forward to receiving the delegation from the spoken word outfit.

A WPSO statement indicated that apart from the championship itself, there will be a satellite programme of diverse activities, including music performances, panel discussions and film shows, in collaboration with Rio-based artists and organisations to make the 2023 poetry showdown an unforgettable experience for all participants.