Khadi Mansaray
By Mustapha Sesay
A Sierra Leonean writer based in the United Kingdom has unveiled a publishing house to pressmen at the Harry Yansaneh Hall, SLAJ Headquarters in Freetown.
Khadi Mansaray, founder of Sondiata Global Media, said the publishing outlet would mainly cater for Sierra Leoneans who had the passion for writing poems, short stories and other art of writing.
She said she studied mathematics and worked as a chartered accountant in the UK, but had to start writing because of the passion she had long had for it. She said writing made her a journalist and she had been able to strike a balance between numbers and words.
She urged Sierra Leoneans to develop interest in writing because the publishing house was interested in Sierra Leoneans telling their own stories in their own ways and they would publish them.
Mansaray also noted that they would be looking for "excellent" works to publish, adding that “we don’t encourage mediocrity that is why we would go for the best manuscripts”. She said the venture was business oriented and therefore all of the printing would be done in the UK because doing so in Sierra Leone was expensive.
She told the press that proceeds from the sale of each publication would go towards charity organisations, noting that they had already published a book titled: “Women, Men and Country” which would be on sale very soon.
She said that through their foundation they were able to give scholarships to 63 women, among them 23 teenage mothers, who had returned to school.
(C) Politico 23/01/14
