Award-winning Ghanaian author Ama Ata Aidoo dies aged 81

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.”

Most of Prof. Aidoo’s works usually explored themes related to the inevitable but sometimes uneasy coexistence between Western influences and the traditional African value system. Aidoo was also a pan-African feminist.

Regarded among the foremost African writers of the 20th and 21st centuries, Prof. Aidoo won the coveted Commonwealth Writers Prize of 1992. She also served as Ghana’s Minister for Education under President Jerry Rawlings’ reign. 

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.