She is one of the most popular writers on the continent and has inspired a generation of young authors, artists and feminists.
Ama Ata Aidoo, the famous Ghanaian writer whose classic The Dilemma of Ghosts and Changes has been taught to children in West African schools for decades, has died aged 81 .
The death of the playwright and poet known for her feminist ideals was announced Wednesday in a short statement by her family.
The cause of death was an undisclosed illness.
“The family…with deep sadness but with renewed hope, inform the public that our beloved relative and writer passed away at dawn this Wednesday, May 31, 2023. , after a short illness,” reads the statement signed by the reader. Kwamena Essandoh Aidoo, representative of the family.
Born in 1942 in a village in central Ghana, Aidoo began writing at the age of 15. She studied literature at the University of Ghana, where she taught for many years.
Her first work, the play The Dilemma of a Ghost, was published in 1965, making her the first African woman to publish a play. She went on to become one of the most popular writers on the continent, inspiring a generation of young authors, artists and feminists.
Aidoo, who served as Ghana’s minister of education from 1982 to 1983, won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for best book on change, a story about an educated woman overcoming her the complexity of a polygamous marriage.
