Source: newsthemegh.com
Ama Ata Aidoo, a writer from Ghana, is said to have passed away. She was 81 years old.
The leader of the Nsona Family of Abora Nkwanta issued the following statement:
A number of generations of African women writers have been influenced by Prof. Ata Aidoo, who has published award-winning novels, plays, short stories, children’s books, and poetry.
The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo, a superb 2014 documentary film directed by Yaba Badoe, featured the author as additional evidence of her impact.
Essays in Honour of Ama Ata Aidoo at 70: A Reader in African Cultural Studies, edited by Anne V. Adams, highlights her accomplishments.
On March 23, 1942, Christina Ama Ata Aidoo was born in Ghana’s Central Region in Abeadzi Kyiakor, close to Saltpond.
She was raised in a Fante royal home as the daughter of Maame Abasema and Nana Yaw Fama, the chief of Abeadzi Kyiakor.
She grew up during a period of resurgent British neocolonialism in her native country.
From 1961 to 1964, Aidoo attended Wesley Girls’ Senior High School in Cape Coast. She studied in the University of Ghana, Legon, after graduating from high school, where she earned a bachelor’s degree 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 playwright.