Kofi Awoonor

Kofi Awoonor (born March 13 1935 in Wheta) is a Ghanaian poet and author, whose work combines the poetic traditions of his native Ewe people and contemporary and religious symbolism to depict Africa during decolonization.

Awoonor was born in Ghana, West Africa, when it was still the British Gold Coast colony. He went to university in there, and went on to teach African literature at the University of Ghana. While at the University of Ghana he wrote his first poetry book; "Rediscovery". Like the rest of his work, "Rediscovery" was based on African oral poetry. In Ghana he managed the Ghana Film Corporation and founded the Ghana Play House. He then studied literature at the University of London, and while in England wrote several radio plays for the BBC. He spent the early 1970s in the United States, studying and teaching at universities. While in the USA he wrote "This Earth", "My Brother", and "My Blood". Awoonor returned to Ghana in 1975 as head of the English department at the University of Cape Coast. Within months he was arrested for helping a soldier accused of tying to overthrow the military government and was imprisoned without trial. After ten months he was found guilty and released. "The house by the Sea" is about his time in jail. After imprisonment Awoonor became politically active, and has written mostly nonfiction.cite book |title= Who Wrote What When? |year= 1999 |publisher= Simon & Schuster |location= London |isbn= 0-684-85822-3 |pages=41] From 1990 to 1994 Awoonor was Ghana's Ambassador to the United Nations where he headed the committee against apartheid.cite web |url= http://www.nu.ac.za/cca/images/tow/TOW2004/Kofi.htm |title= Kofi Awoonor |accessdate=2007-09-09 |work= University of KwaZulu-Natal]

Works

;Poetry
*"Rediscovery and Other Poems" (1964)
*"Night of My Blood" (1971) - poems that explore Awooner's roots, and the impact of foreign rule in Africa
*"The House By the Sea" (1978)

;Novels
*"This Earth, My Brother" (1971) - a cross between a novel and a poem
*"Comes the Voyager at Last" (1992)

;Non-fiction
* "The Breast of the Earth: A Survey of the History, Culture, and Literature of Africa South of the Sahara" (1975) Anchor Press, ISBN 0385070535
* "Ghana: A Political History from Pre-European to Modern Times" (1990)

Further reading

* Robert Fraser, "West African Poetry: A Critical History", Cambridge University Press (1986), ISBN 052131223X
* Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, "Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience", Basic Civitas Books (1999), ISBN 0465000711 - p.153

References

External links

* [http://www.nu.ac.za/cca/images/tow/TOW2004/Kofi.htm Bio details, University of KwaZulu-Natal]
* [http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/literari/2006/jun/18/literari-18-06-2006-001.htm Interview, Sun newspaper (Nigeria), June 18, 2006]

Persondata
NAME = Awoonor, Kofi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Poet
DATE OF BIRTH = March 13, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH = Ghana
DATE OF DEATH =
PLACE OF DEATH =