Ama Ata Aidoo is undoubtedly one of Africa's finest contemporary literary figures. For the past 40 years her writing has been at the vanguard of post-conquest interrogative and reconstructionary exposition in Africa, following in the footsteps of those female visionaries of an earlier literary generation – Flora Nwapa, Mariama Bâ and Grace Ogot. Born in Abeadzi Kyiakor in Ghana's central region, Aidoo attended Wesley Girls School, Cape Coast, and the University of Ghana at Legon from where she graduated in 1964. This was the same year that she wrote her first play,

Dilemma of a Ghost

, which was performed at the university by the Student's Theatre. Later that year the play was produced in Lagos and Ibadan (Nigeria) to great popular acclaim. In 1965

Dilemma

was published by Longmans.

1025 words

Citation: Nzegwu, Femi. "Ama Ata Aidoo". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 June 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5012, accessed 19 March 2024.]

5012 Ama Ata Aidoo 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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