Christina Ama Ata Aidoo

Christina Ama Ata Aidoo is an acclaimed Ghanaian writer, educator, and politician. Her work in multiple genres confronts themes of both African women’s struggle for agency and tensions between Africa and the West. Over some thirty years, Aidoo has published nearly a dozen pieces, including the well-known No Sweetness Here (1970), Our Sister Killjoy (1977) and Changes (1991). The latter was awarded the 1992 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book (Africa). Aidoo served an 18-month term as Ghana’s Minister of Education from 1982-1983. She has also taught at a number of institutions of higher learning throughout Africa and the United States. In June of 2000, Aidoo founded MBAASEM, an NGO whose mission is to “relieve the burden of looking for a place to write, at least for a few women, through the provision of an enabling environment and technical support.” The organization also offers awareness resources around issues of domestic violence and HIV/AIDS. She is currently a Visiting Professor of African Literature at Brown University.