Well-known Ghanaian poet and author, Ama Ata Aidoo has been reported died after a brief illness.
The prolific author passed away on Wednesday, May 31, 2023. She was 81 years old.
“With deep sorrow but in the hope of the resurrection, the family of PROF. AMA ATA AIDOO informs the general public that our beloved relative and writer passed away in the early hours of this morning, Wednesday 31st May 2023, after a brief illness.”
“Funeral arrangements would be made available in due course.” “At this difficult time, the Family requests privacy,” Family head Kwamena Essandoh Aidoo said in a brief statement.
Prof. Ata Aidoo has influenced generations of African women writers by publishing award-winning novels, plays, short stories, children’s books, and poetry.
In addition to her influence, the author was the subject of Yaba Badoe’s excellent 2014 documentary film, The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo.
Essays in Honour of Ama Ata Aidoo at 70: A Reader in African Cultural Studies, edited by Anne V. Adams, lauded her achievements.
Christina Ama Ata Aidoo was born on March 23, 1942, in Abeadzi Kyiakor, near Saltpond, in the Central Region of Ghana.
According to some sources (including Megan Behrent, Brown University, and Africa Who’s Who), she was born on March 31, 1940.She had a twin brother, Kwame Ata.
She was raised in a Fante royal household as the daughter of Abeadzi Kyiakor chief Nana Yaw Fama and Maame Abasema. She grew up during a period of resurgent British neocolonialism in her homeland.
Her grandfather was murdered by neocolonialists, which drew her father’s attention to the importance of educating the village’s children and families about the era’s history and events.
This prompted him to establish the village’s first school and influenced Aidoo to enrol at Wesley Girls’ High School, where she first decided she wanted to be a writer.
Aidoo attended Wesley Girls’ Senior High School in Cape Coast from 1961 to 1964.
Following high school, she enrolled at the University of Ghana, Legon, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and wrote her first play, The Dilemma of a Ghost, in 1964.
The following year, Longman published the play, making Aidoo the first published African woman dramatist.
