Renowned Ghanaian author, poet, educator, and playwright, Prof. Ama Ata Aidoo, passed away in the wee hours of Wednesday at the age of 81, her family announced in a statement. Born in Abeadzi Kyiako, Ghana, Prof. Aidoo was a celebrated African author who mainly specialized in comparative and post-colonial literature.
“The Family of PROF. AMA ATA AIDOO with deep sorrow but in the hope of the resurrection, 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 short illness,” the deceased author’s family said in the statement obtained by CitiNewsroom.
“Funeral arrangements would be announced in due course. The Family requests privacy at this difficult moment.”
The majority of Prof. Aidoo’s writings have focused on issues surrounding the inevitable but occasionally tense coexistence of Western influences with traditional African values. Additionally a pan-African feminist, Aidoo.
Prof. Aidoo, who is regarded as one of the greatest African authors of the 20th and 21st centuries, received the prestigious Commonwealth Writers Prize in 1992. Under President Jerry Rawlings, she also served as Ghana’s Minister of Education.
Prof. Aidoo authored a number of influential works, including “Our Sister Killjoy”, “Changes”, and “Someone Talking to Sometime.” Her first written play, “The Dilemma of a Ghost (1964)”, was published by Longman in 1965. This made her the first published African female dramatist
