Ghana Association of Writers mourns Bill Okyere Marshall

The Ghana Association of Writers (GAW) is mourning the passing of Mr. Bill Marshall, its former Vice President, which occurred on June 2, 2021 in Accra.

The National Executive Committee and the entire membership of the GAW expressed their deepest condolences to the wife, children and the entire Marshall family for the loss of the great Ghanaian dramatist, novelist and columnist.

Madam Doris Adabasu Kuwornu, the Vice President, GAW, in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the late Mr Marshall served as Deputy General Secretary, General Secretary and Vice President of the Association under the late Professor Atukwei Okai.

“We wish to respectfully invite the public to an evening of remembrance of poetry, music, dance, and presentation of tributes, reminisces and anecdotes in memory of the late Bill Okyere Marshall on Thursday, June 24, 2021, at 1700 hour at the Pan Africa Writers Association House in Accra,” it said.

The statement said he mentored and encouraged many writers to join and build a vibrant association of writers.

It said writers and readers in Ghana would forever remember his contributions to an exciting literary space with his works such as: Child from the North (play, 1972, won the Hollywood festival of world television; best new comer’s award), The Son of Umbele (play, 1973, staged at the School of Performing, Legon and won the Ghana National Book Award in 1979), Bukom (the first novel, 1979, won the Ghana National Book Award for the young writer in 1979) and the Permit for Survival (novel, 1981).

The rest are the Crows and Other Plays (collection of plays, 1998), the Oyster Man (play, 2000), Stranger to Innocence (play, 2003), Shadow of an Eagle (play, 2003), Uncle Blanko’s Chair (2007), Asana (a play in three acts, 2013) and the BrotherMan (novel).

The late Marshall would be sent home to the ancestors on June 26, 2021, at Larteh Akuapem.

“We wish him a safe journey home, while those of us he left behind in this wilderness continue to remember him for his good works, and for having ever walked here,” the statement said.