Prof. Ama Atta Aidoo was a Ghanaian playwright whose demise on May 31, 2023, hit many Ghanaians, especially people in academia and the art industry who encountered her one way or the other.
The renowned author, playwright, poet, and educationist was reported dead in the early hours of Wednesday after a brief illness.
Here are some facts about the late professor.
1. Her writing career began at age 15
The late Ama Ata Aidoo commenced and projected her writing craft at the age of 15.
Her passion for writing started at a tender age, where she discovered her prowess and molded the foundation to become exceptional and impactful with her craft.
Ama Atta Aidoo wrote hugely influential plays, novels and poetry that explored the role of women, and the impact of Western influences on women in Africa. She also drew attention to the African oral tradition.
2. She is a past student of Wesley Girls Senior High
Born and bred in a Fante household, the late Ama Atta Aidoo enrolled in Wesley Girl's Senior High School at Cape Coast from 1961 to 1964.
She was said to have been taken there by her father who was then an advocate of Western education.
3. Most of her plays were perceived as attacks on Western culture
The late Mrs. Aidoo has written fiction, much of which deals with the tension between Western and African worldviews, and the relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed.
Some critics have complained about what had been described as her repeated attacks on the West.
Notable of some of her books are; “The Dilemma of a Ghost. Harlow, UK: Longman, 1965. Anowa. Harlow, UK: Longman, 1970. No Sweetness Here: A Collection of Short Stories, Birds and Other Poems. Harare, Zimbabwe: College Press, 1988. The girl who can and other stories. Legon, Accra: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 1997”.
4. She was a lecturer and a visiting professor in Kenya and the US
The late Ama Atta Aidoo was a lecturer who taught at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, for over ten years.
She was also a visiting professor in Kenya, Eastern Africa and the United States.
5. She was Ghana’s Education minister in 1982
She was appointed as Ghana’s Minister of Education in 1982 but lasted only 18 months, resigning in disappointment when she saw that she would not be able to make education freely accessible to everyone.
She then founded the Mbaasem Foundation in 2000 to support and promote the work of African woman writers.
6. She has won several awards
The astute playwright has won many literary prizes, including the 1992 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book (Africa) for her novel Changes.
The late Ama Atta Aidoo was an astute prolific writer, poet and an educationist