Library Weekly

On 23 March 1942, Ghanaian author, poet, playwright and academic Ama Ata Aidoo was born in Saltpond, Gold Coast (now Ghana). In 1982-83, she served as Ghana’s minister of education. Aidoo established the Mbaasem Foundation to promote and support the work of African women writers.

Ama Ata Aidoo attended Wesley Girls' Senior High School in Cape Coast, from 1961 to 1964. After high school, she enrolled at the University of Ghana, Legon where she obtained the degree of Bachelor of Arts in English and also wrote her first play, 'The Dilemma of a Ghost', in 1964. The play was published by Longman the following year, making Aidoo the first published African woman dramatist.

Since then, Aidoo has written other plays, novels, short stories and poetry as well as numerous essays on African literature and the status of women in African society. One of her best known novels is ‘Our Sister Killjoy, or, Reflections from a Black-eyed Squint’ (1977). She has won many literary awards, including the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book (Africa) for her second novel, ‘Changes: a Love Story’ (1991).

In addition to her literary career, Aidoo was appointed Minister of Education under the Provisional National Defence Council in 1982, but resigned after 18 months. She then moved to Zimbabwe to become a full-time writer. She has also lived and worked in the US, the UK and Germany. 

(Source: Wikipedia & Ama Ata Aidoo at 70)

Selected publications

Ama Ata Aidoo in converstation with Esi Sutherland-Addy (2017)
In: Obsidian, vol. 44, no. 2, Radio, a Platform for Creative Writing: Ghanaian Literature & Broadcast Culture, pp. 124-134, 2018
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26754714

The art of Ama Ata Aidoo / Yaba Badoe; Ama Ata Aidoo. - [Accra] : Fadoa Films, 2014
Trailer

Diplomatic pounds & other stories / Ama Ata Aidoo. - Banbury : Ayebia Clarke, 2012

Essays in honour of Ama Ata Aidoo at 70 : a reader in African cultural studies / Ama Ata Aidoo; Anne V. Adams. - Banbury : Ayebia, 2012

Emerging perspectives on Ama Ata Aidoo / Ada Uzoamaka Azodo; Gay Wilentz. - Trenton, N.J. [etc.] : Africa World Press, 1999

Changes : a love story / Ama Ata Aidoo. - London : The Women's Press, 1991

Our sister Killjoy, or, Reflections from a black-eyed squint / Ama Ata Aidoo. - London : Longman, 1977

Anowa : [a play] / Ama Ata Aidoo. - Harlow : Longmans, 1970

The dilemma of a ghost : [a play] / Ama Ata Aidoo. - Accra [etc.] : Longman, 1965

An Audience with Ama Ata Aidoo at the Royal African Society's annual literature festival, 2014

Timeline of Ghanaian dramatists and playwrights via DBpedia and Wikidata