Renowned Ghanaian Author Ama Ata Aidoo Dead
The family of former Ghanaian writer and Education Minister, Christina Ama Ata Aido, has announced her demise.
In a press statement, the family of the novelist, poet and playwright said she died this morning.
She died at 81.
The statement from the head of the Nsona family in Abora Nkwanta, Ebusuapanyin Kwamena Essandoh Aidoo, said she died after a short illness.
Her funeral arrangement will be announced to the public later but the family has requested privacy in the meantime.
Ama Ata Aidoo attended Wesley Girls’ Senior High School from 1961 to 1964 and enrolled at the University of Ghana, Legon, where she obtained the degree of Bachelor of Arts in English. She proceeded to Stanford University where she obtained a fellowship in creative writing. (https://brownshvac.net/)
In 1969, she returned to Ghana to teach English at the University of Ghana. She later became a lecturer in English at the University of Cape Coast, where she eventually rose to the position of professor.
She was appointed the Minister of Education by late and former President Jerry John Rawlings in 1982 and resigned after 18 months after reportedly realising that she would be unable to achieve her aim of making education in Ghana free.
Her first play The Dilemma of a Ghost was written in 1964. It was published by Longman the following year, making Aidoo the first published African woman dramatist.
