Ghanaian Author, Feminist Aidoo Dies At 81

Foremost Ghanaian author, playwright, and feminist, Ama Ata Aidoo has died at the age of 81.

Aidoo's family disclosed that the poet passed on after a brief illness in the early hours of Wednesday. 

In a statement, her family said, “Our beloved relative and writer passed away after a short illness”.

The family further requested privacy to mourn the death of the late author. 

Aidoo was one of the most renowned literary figures in Africa.

Her well-known works including The Dilemma of a Ghost, Our Sister Killjoy, and Changes, have won honours and accolades.

She resisted the "Western stereotype that the African woman is a downtrodden wretch."

In the early 1980s, Aidoo—a professor of education—served as Ghana's minister of education.

Aidoo received numerous literary honours, including the 1992 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Changes, a love story about a statistician who marries a polygamist after divorcing her first spouse.

Along with the works of other greats like Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe, her works, including plays like Anowa, have been taught in schools all over West Africa.