Aidoo, Ama Ata 'Christina'

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Aidoo, Ama Ata 'Christina'

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Section: Poets in the News
Poet Name: Aidoo, Ama Ata 'Christina'
Poet in Index of Poets: Aidoo, Ama Ata
Given Name: Ama Ata
Last Name: Aidoo
Date of Birth: 23 March 1942
Biography: Ama Ata Aidoo was born in 1942 in Abeadzi Kyiakor, Ghana. A poet, novelist and playwright, Aidoo attended the Wesley Girls High School and the University of Ghana where she received her bachelor's degree in 1964. As an undergraduate student, she was invited to the University of Ibidan’s African Writers Workshop, where she met and was influenced by the writers Langston Hughes, Chinua Achebe, Ezekiel Mphahlele, Wole Sokinka, and Christopher Okigbo. Her play The Dilemma of a Ghost was published in 1965 to critical acclaim. She is the author of several novels, plays and collections of poetry including, No Sweetness Here (Longman, 1970), Anowa (Longman, 1970), Our Sister Killjoy, Or, Reflections from a Black-Eyed Squint (Longman, 1977), Birds and Other Stories (1987), Changes (Heinemann, 1991), An Angry Letter in January and Other Poems (Dangaroo Press, 1992), The Girl Who Can and Other Stories (1997), Diplomatic Pounds and Other Stories (Ayebia Clark Publishing, 2012), and After the Ceremonies: New and Selected Poems (University of Nebraska Press, 2017). In 1974 she became a fellow in Creative Writing at Stanford University where she also worked as a consulting professor at the Phelps-Stokes fund’s Ethnic Studies Program. She has taught at many colleges including the University of Ghana, Cape Coast University, Hamilton College, Brown, Xavier University, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Oberlin, Hamilton, and Brandeis. She was also the minister of education for Ghana under the Jerry Rawlings administration.
Education: University College of Ghana
Biography Sources: <http://writersprojectghana.com/ama_ata_aidoo/>, <https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ama-Ata-Aidoo>, Owomoyela, Oyekan. The Columbia Guide to West African Literature in English Since 1945, Columbia University Press, 2008.
News Items: Elite Performances; Father and son; Folklore Modern Style; Radio 3: The Sunday Play; Radio 4: 11:45 A View From Abroad; Ghana Sackings; Refusing to learn; A Guide to Twentieth-Century Women Novelists; Second Crop; In Conversation; ACCA; Africa Centre: African Literature, What Shall We Read?; Letter from Harare; Listings: Fiction; Literature: In Brief; Little attention paid to youth culture; Ain't I a woman; Love, charity, and fantasy; Miracle at the margin; And Story; Anowa: The Gate Theatre; Attempting the Pen; The Primacy of the Performer; The Times Diary: A Ghanaian Playwright; The Times Diary: Speak up about Soyinka; New writers emerge after the 'big sleep'; Orpheus in Africa; TLS Listings: Fiction 1987; TLS Listings: Fiction 1988; Channel 4: Book Choice Special; Too close for comfort; Close Company: Stories of mothers and daughters; Commonwealth writing from Africa; Paperbacks: Changes; Voices of Empire; AFRICA CENTRE; Letter from... Harare
Works: The Dilemma of a Ghost; Anoma; No Sweetness Here; Changes: A Love Story; Our Sister Killjoy
Close Relationships: Ugbabe, Kanchana; Mansfield, Colette; Modisane, William 'Bloke'; Said, Edward; Sutherland, Efua; Austen, Jane; Themba, Daniel Canodoce 'Can'; Bakare, Muhtar; Vladislavić, Ivan; Bowles, Jane; Pym, Barbara; Munro, Alice ' -Alice Ann Laidlaw '; Hanson, J. W.; Charley, Dele; Acquaye, Saka; Drabble, Margaret; Cook, David; Nicol, Davidson; Amu, Ephraim; Okeke, P. U.; Harewood, David; Matthews, James; Osae, T. A.; Malé, Belkis Cuza; Finch, Anne; Moore, Gerald; Ransome-Kuti, Fella; Ward, Humphrey; Emecheta, Buchi; Momplé, Lília; Elias-Rilwan, Joy; Sow-Fall, Aminata; Hurston, Zora Neale; Hardwick, Elizabeth; Ajayi, J. F. A.; Etherton, Michael; Young, Marguerite 'Vivian'; Rossetti, Christina; Ogunmola, Kola; Towers, Frances; Shollar, Barbara; Staunton, Irene; Moore, A.; Vera, Yvonne; Beier, Ulli; Head, Bessie; Tadjo, Véronique; Jaggi, Maya; Vassanji, Moyez G. 'M. G.'; Nicol, Abioseh; Nkosi, Lewis; Anikulapo, Jahman; Tahir, Ibrahim; Wells, John; Kariara, Jonathan; Park, Christine; Ribeiro, Alvaro; Gardam, Jane; Johnson, Albert F.; Ngalabak, Helon Habila; Rifaat, Alifa; Atwood, Margaret; Perrick, Penny; Rutherford, Malcolm; Wilson, Harriet; Kente, Gibson; Ikejiani, O.; Laye, Camara; Jordan, June; Lessing, Doris; Mugabe, Robert Gabriel; Spender, Dale; Martineau, Harriet; Leighton, Angela; Stein, Gertrude; Marx, Karl; Hooks, Bell; Adams, Albert; Hutchinson, Alfred; Ondaatje, Michael; Motsisi, Casey; Couto, António Emílio Leite 'Mia'; Sithole, Ndabaningi; Jie, Zhang; Djebar, Assia; Kibera, Leonard; al-Malai'ka, Nazik; Abrahams, Peter; Levertov, Denise; Carter, Angela; Kavan, Anna; Honwana, Luis Bernardo; Atta, Sefi; Wharton, Edith; Smith, Stevie; Tsvangirai, Morgan; Matshikiza, Todd; Moore, C.; Ogunde, Hubert; Armatrading, Tony; Wannenburgh, Alfred 'Alf'; Rotimi, Ola; Heaton, Caroline; Winterson, Jeanette; Chew, Shirley; Dangarembga, Tsitsi; Akalay, Lofti; Bloom, Valerie; Maimane, Arthur; Andoh, Adjoa; Khunga, Cuthbert; Mansfield, Katherine; Mhlope, Nokugcina Elsie 'Gcina'; Mahfouz, Naguib; Kantai, Parselelo; Walder, Dennis; Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft; von Ebner-Eschenbach, Marie; Banham, Martin; Aristotle,; Mphahlele, Ezekiel 'Es'kia'; Caine, Michael; Brontë, Charlotte; Boyd, William; Ladipo, Duro; Sontag, Susan; Zeleza, Paul Tiyambe; Churchill, Caryl; Armah, Ayi Kwei; Brodber, Erna; Larson, Charles R.; Silko, Leslie Marmon; Idowu, E. Bolaji; Conteth, Fatmata; Axworthy, Geoffrey; el-Saadawi, Nawal; Levy, Andrea; Amelgatcher, Adelaide; Warner, Marina; Gellhorn, Martha; Williams, Gaston Bart; Lawrence, David Herbert 'D. H.'; Appiah (Cripps), Enid Margaret 'Peggy'; Davis, Angela; de Sousa, Teixeira; Wordsworth, Dorothy Mae Ann; Hansen, Johnny; Mehta, Dina; Parker, Dorothy; Sahgal, Nayantara; Boahen, Adu 'Albert'; Spark, Muriel; Kilalea, Rory 'Murungu'; Trollope, Frances Milton 'Franny'; wa Thiong'o, Ngugi 'James'; Larkin, Philip; Goodwin, Jo-Ann; Bakr, Salwa; Truth, Sojourner; Alexander, Meena; Collins, Merle; Prager, Emily; Weldon, Fay; Fell, Alison; Dickinson, Emily; Aboulela, Leila; Wheeler, Kathleen; Dei-Anang, Michael; Mungoshi, Charles; Cather, Willa; Farah, Nuruddin; Suleri, Sara; Rubadiri, David; Browning, Elizabeth Barrett; Nwapa, Flora; Rutherford, Anna; Todd, Janet; Soueif, Ahdaf; MacNeice, Louis; Wandor, Michelene; Shirlaw, Isobel; Hunt, David Wathen Stather; Amadi, Elechi; Bennett-Coverley, Louise 'Miss Lou'; Duodu, Cameron; Chernaik, Judith; Gray, Stephen; Drury, Annmarie; Austin, Ato; Carrington, Leonora; Zirimu, Elvania Namukwaya; Tutuola, Amos; Ekwensi, Cyprian; Breeze, Jean 'Binda'; Akpan, Ntieyong Udo; Phillips, Lawrence; Richardson, Dorothy; Arkin, Marian; Evans, Mary Ann 'George Eliot'; Fabunmi, Lawrence Apalara 'L. A.'; Morrison, Toni; Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi; Kofie, Vincent Akwete; Busby, Margaret; Woolf, Virginia; Bebey, Francis; Namjoshi, Suniti; Gowon, Yakubu; Dadson, U. C.; Anowi, J. W.; de Graft, Joseph Coleman 'J. C.'; Behn, Aphra; Chinodya, Shimmer; Agary, Kaine; Deshpande, Shashi; Christensen, Inger; Jones, Bomani Babatunde; Jones, Eldred Durosimi; Quin, Ann; Moxon, James; Emck, Katy; Waberi, Abdourahman; Saro-Wiwa, Ken; Clark, John Pepper 'J. P.'; Mungoshi, David; Agualusa, José Eduardo; Brew, Osborne Henry Kwesi; Awoonor-Williams, George Kofi Nyidevu 'Kofi Awoonor'; Okai, Atukwei 'John'; Okara, Gabriel; Achebe, Chinua 'Albert Chinualumogu'; Okri, Ben; Soyinka , Wole 'Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde'; Hove, Chenjerai; Cope, Robert Knox 'Jack'; Rive, Richard; Senghor, Léopold Sédar; Okigbo, Christopher; Hussein, Ebrahim
Place of Birth: Ghana, Saltpond
Spatial Coverage: Saltpond
Region: West Africa
Commentaries: Ama Ata Aidoo in The Times between 1967 and 1997; A Commentary on the Representation of Ama Ata Aidoo’s Poetic Career within The Sunday Times, The Times Literary Supplement, and Financial Times
Type: Poets in the News