Renowned Ghanaian poet and author, Ama Ata Aidoo, passed away on Wednesday, May 31, 2023, at the age of 81, after a brief illness.
Her family confirmed the news of her passing in a statement issued on the same day.
“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.”
According to the family head, Kwamena Essandoh Aidoo, the family should be given the needed privacy during this difficult time of the passing of their beloved.
Funeral arrangements would be announced in due course.
Born on March 23, 1942, in Abeadzi Kyiakor, near Saltpond, in the Central Region of Ghana, the former education minister was raised in a Fante royal household.
Her father, Nana Yaw Fama, chief of Abeadzi Kyiakor, opened the first school in their village to educate children and families on the history and events of the era during which resurgent British neocolonialism took place in their township.
This was after her grandfather was murdered by neocolonialists, which brought her father’s attention to the importance of educating the children and families of the village on the history of that era.
This inspired Aidoo to attend Wesley Girls’ High School in Cape Coast, where she first decided she wanted to be a writer.
Ama Ata Aidoo was a prolific writer who published award-winning novels, plays, short stories, children’s books, and poetry that influenced generations of African women writers.
Her accomplishments were celebrated in Essays in Honour of Ama Ata Aidoo at 70: A Reader in African Cultural Studies, edited by Anne V. Adams.
Her first play, The Dilemma of a Ghost, produced in 1964 was published by Longman the following year, making Aidoo the first published African woman dramatist.
Aidoo’s influence on African literature was further highlighted in the 2014 documentary film, The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo, directed by Yaba Badoe.
Her first novel Our Sister Killjoy, was published in 1977 and remains one of her most popular works. It is notable for portraying a dissenting perspective on sexuality in Africa and especially LGBT in Africa.
The passing of this literary icon is a great loss to the African literary community, and she will be deeply missed.
Source: ATLFMNEWS
