Ghana

Ama Diaka

‘Read With Curiosity, Not Conclusion’ Ama Asantewa Diaka’s First Draft

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With her latest short story collection, Ghanaian poet and author of Someone Birthed Them Broken, Ama Asantewa Diaka, set out to document the lives of contemporary youth in Ghana: ‘I wanted to create something that future youths could look back on—something they could hold up against their own lives and say, “This is where we came from. This is what it was like.”’ Read More...
First DraftGhanaInterviewsJune/July 2025
Brimah

The Yorubas of Ghana

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The historic migration of the Yoruba people from Ile-Ife has shaped Ghana’s Yoruba community through trade, faith and family ties. At the heart of this connection is Chief Brimah, an Ilorin merchant, whose leadership and entrepreneurial spirit forged enduring bonds with the Ga people and deeply influenced Accra’s Zongo communities. Read More...
February/March 2025Ghanavol9-no1
Ayesha Harruna Attah

‘Write What You’ve Always Wanted to Write’ Ayesha Harruna Attah’s First Draft

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Ghanaian writer and author of The Hundred Wells of Salaga, Ayesha Harruna Attah, says she was inspired to write her latest novel during the COVID-19 pandemic: ‘The inspiration for Zainab Takes New York came from being stuck indoors during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the uncertainty of those first months of the pandemic, I thought to myself: write what you’ve always wanted to write—and that turned out to be a romantic comedy.’ Read More...
First DraftGhanaInterviewsOctober/November 2024
DK Nnuro

‘I Had to Treat My Debut Novel Like a Job’ DK Nnuro’s First Draft

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Ghanaian novelist and author of What Napoleon Could Not Do, DK Nnuro, says his debut novel was inspired by his experiences: ‘Since relocating to the US from Ghana, I have had one foot firmly placed among Black immigrants—Ghanaian immigrants, specifically—and another among Black Americans. It was natural that I would explore the tensions between the two in a novel.’ Read More...
First DraftGhanaInterviewsOctober/November 2023
Ama Ata Aidoo

The Indelible Life of Ama Ata Aidoo A Personal Reflection

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Growing up in Ghana in the 1980s, there were certain writers you didn’t escape. Ama Ata Aidoo, who passed away in May 2023, was one such writer, Nii Ayikwei Parkes writes. Hers is a timeless legacy of a writer who triumphed over the double battle of high-level literary creation and persistent erasure, and became one of the world’s leading thinkers and writers. Read More...
August/September 2023GhanaReadingvol7-no3