Aidoo, Ama Ata [key] (Christina Ama Ata Aidoo), 1942–, Ghanaian author, poet, and playwright, grad. Univ. of Ghana (B.A., 1964). Combining traditional African storytelling with Western genres, she writes of the contemporary roles of African women and the negative impact of Western influences on African culture. Her first play, The Dilemma of a Ghost, was published in 1965. Her short stories, collected in No Sweetness Here (1970) and The Girl Who Can (1997), and her novel, Our Sister Killjoy (1977), expand on these themes, many of which mirror Aidoo's own experiences. Her other works include the play Anowa (1980), the poems of Someone Talking to Sometime (1985), Birds (1987), and Angry Letter in January (1992); a collection of children's stories (1986); and the novel Changes: A Love Story (1991), which explores a contemporary African marriage.
See V. O. Odamtten, The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo (1994), A. U. Azodo and G. Wilentz, ed., Emerging Perspectives on Ama Ata Aidoo (1997).
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