Ghana’s literary conscience
Ama Ata Aidoo
The playwright and novelist who made African women’s voices impossible to ignore.
Born Christina Ama Ata Aidoo in 1942 in Abeadzi Kyiakor, Central Region, she published her first play, The Dilemma of a Ghost, in 1964 — among the first works by an African woman playwright to reach the world stage. Anowa (1970) cemented her as a dramatist of power, tradition and gender.
Her novel Changes: A Love Story won the 1992 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, while short-story collections like No Sweetness Here dissected post-independence disillusion with wit and fury. She wrote, always, about African women refusing the scripts handed to them.
Briefly education minister in 1982 — resigning after 18 months on principle — she spent decades teaching and founding the Mbaasem Foundation for women writers. She died in May 2023, mourned across the literary world as one of Africa’s greatest voices.
Key facts
- Born 1942, Abeadzi Kyiakor; died May 2023.
- The Dilemma of a Ghost (1964) among first African women’s plays staged globally.
- Changes: A Love Story won the 1992 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize.
- Education minister 1982–83; resigned on principle.
- Founded the Mbaasem Foundation for African women writers.
Put the story in context: explore the History of Ghana to see the eras Ama Ata Aidoo helped shape.
Ama Ata Aidoo FAQs
What did Ama Ata Aidoo write?
Plays (The Dilemma of a Ghost, Anowa), novels (Our Sister Killjoy, the prize-winning Changes: A Love Story) and the classic stories of No Sweetness Here.
Did Ama Ata Aidoo win international prizes?
Yes — Changes: A Love Story won the 1992 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book (Africa).
When did Ama Ata Aidoo die?
31 May 2023, after a period of illness. Tributes poured in from across world literature.
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