Kofi Awoonor
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Kofi Awoonor (born George Kofi Nyidevu Awoonor-Williams; 13 March 1935 – 21 September 2013) was a
Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
ian poet and author whose work combined the poetic traditions of his native Ewe people and contemporary and religious symbolism to depict Africa during decolonization. He started writing under the name George Awoonor-Williams, and was also published as Kofi Nyidevu Awoonor. He taught African literature at the
University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the Br ...
. Professor Awoonor was among those who were killed in the September 2013 attack at Westgate shopping mall in
Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...
,
Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...
, where he was a participant at the Storymoja Hay Festival.


Biography

George Kofi Nyidevu Awoonor-Williams was born in Wheta,"Kofi Awoonor: Remembering a Ghanaian poet"
BBC News – Africa, 23 September 2013. in the
Volta region Volta Region (or Volta) is one of Ghana's sixteen administrative regions, with Ho designated as its capital. It is located west of Republic of Togo and to the east of Lake Volta. Divided into 25 administrative districts, the region is multi-et ...
of what was then the
Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...
, present-day Ghana. He was the eldest of 10 children in the family. He was a paternal descendant of the Awoonor-Williams family of
Sierra Leone Creole The Sierra Leone Creole people ( kri, Krio people) are an ethnic group of Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone Creole people are lineal descendant, descendants of freed African-American, Afro-Caribbean, and Sierra Leone Liberated African, Liberated Af ...
descent. He was educated at
Achimota School Achimota School ( /ɑːtʃimoʊtɑː/ ), formerly Prince of Wales College and School at Achimota, later Achimota College, now nicknamed Motown, is a co-educational boarding school located at Achimota in Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana. The school wa ...
and then proceeded to the University of Ghana, graduating in 1960. While at university he wrote his first poetry book, ''Rediscovery'', published in 1964. Like the rest of his work, ''Rediscovery'' is rooted in African oral poetry. His early works were inspired by the singing and verse of his native
Ewe people The Ewe people (; ee, Eʋeawó, lit. "Ewe people"; or ''Mono Kple Volta Tɔ́sisiwo Dome'', lit. "Ewe nation","Eʋenyigba" Eweland;) are a Gbe-speaking ethnic group. The largest population of Ewe people is in Ghana (6.0 million), and the second ...
, and he later published translations of the work of three Ewe dirge singers (''Guardians of the Sacred Word: Ewe Poetry'', 1973). Awoonor managed the Ghana Film Corporation and helped to found the Ghana Playhouse, going on to have a significant role in developing theatre and drama in the country. He was also an editor of the literary journal ''
Okyeame ''Okyeame'' was a literary magazine founded by the Ghana Society of Writers in the post-Independence era, which saw the rapid rise of a new generation of thinkers, writers and poets in the country. The first issue of ''Okyeame'' appeared in 1960,Ja ...
'' and an associate editor of ''
Transition Magazine ''Transition Magazine'' was established in 1961 by Rajat Neogy as ''Transition Magazine: An International Review''. It was published from 1961 to 1976 in various countries on the African continent, and since 1991 in the United States. In recent y ...
''. He studied literature at
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...
(M.A., 1970), and while in England wrote several radio plays for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, and began using the name Kofi Awoonor. He spent the early 1970s in the United States, studying and teaching at
Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system's ...
(then called SUNY at Stony Brook) where he obtained his Phd in 1972. While in the United States he wrote '' This Earth, My Brother'' and ''Night of My Blood'', both books published in 1971. Awoonor returned to Ghana in 1975 as head of the English department at the
University of Cape Coast The University of Cape Coast is a public collegiate university located in the historic town of Cape Coast. The campus has a rare seafront and sits on a hill overlooking the wide Atlantic Ocean. It operates on two campuses: the Southern Campus (O ...
. Within months he was arrested for helping a soldier accused of trying to overthrow the military government and was imprisoned without trial; Awoonor was later released when his sentence was remitted in October 1976. ''The House by the Sea'' (1978) is about his time in jail. After imprisonment he became politically active. He continued to write mostly non-fiction. Awoonor was Ghana's ambassador to Brazil from 1984 to 1988, before serving as his country's ambassador to Cuba. From 1990 to 1994 Awoonor was Ghana's
Permanent Representative to the United Nations A permanent representative to the United Nations (sometimes called a "UN ambassador")"History of Ambassadors", United States Mission to the United Nations, March 2011, webpagUSUN-a. is the head of a country's diplomatic mission to the United Nati ...
, where he headed the committee against
apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
. He was also a former Chairman of the
Council of State A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head o ...
, the main advisory body to the president of Ghana, serving in that position from 2009 to January 2013.


Death

On 21 September 2013, Awoonor was among those killed in an attack at the Westgate shopping mall in
Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...
. He was in Kenya as a participant in the Storymoja Hay Festival, a four-day celebration of writing, thinking and storytelling, at which he was due to perform on the evening of his death. His nephew
Nii Parkes Nii Ayikwei Parkes (; born 1 April 1974), born in the United Kingdom to parents from Ghana, where he was raised, is a performance poet, writer, publisher and sociocultural commentator. He is one of 39 writers aged under 40 from sub-Saharan Africa ...
, who was attending the same literary festival, has written about meeting him for the first time that day.Nii Parkes
"My hero: Kofi Awoonor by Nii Parkes"
''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 28 September 2013. The Ghanaian government confirmed Awoonor's death the next day. His son Afetsi Awoonor, who had accompanied him, was also shot, but was later discharged from hospital. Awoonor's remains were flown from Nairobi to
Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...
, Ghana, on 25 September 2013. His body was
cremated Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre i ...
and buried at a particular spot in his hometown at Wheta in the
Volta Region Volta Region (or Volta) is one of Ghana's sixteen administrative regions, with Ho designated as its capital. It is located west of Republic of Togo and to the east of Lake Volta. Divided into 25 administrative districts, the region is multi-et ...
. Also there was no crying or mourning at his funeral all according to his will before death.


Works

;Poetry *''Rediscovery and Other Poems'' (Mbari Publications, 1964) *''Night of My Blood'' (Doubleday, 1971) – poems that explore Awoonor's roots, and the impact of foreign rule in Africa *''The House By the Sea'' (Greenfield Review Press, 1978) *''The Promise of Hope: New and Selected Poems'' (Amalion / University of Nebraska Press, 2014) ;Novels *''This Earth, My Brother'' (Doubleday, 1971) – a cross between a novel and a poem *''Comes the Voyager at Last'' (Africa World Press, 1992) ;Non-fiction * ''The Breast of the Earth: A Survey of the History, Culture, and Literature of Africa South of the Sahara'' (Anchor Press, 1975; ) * ''Ghana: A Political History from Pre-European to Modern Times'' (Sedco, 1990) * ''The African Predicament: Collected Essays'' (Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2006; )


Understanding and interpreting his works

It is said that Awoonor wrote a great number of his poems as if he was envisioning his own demise. But he is a peculiar and unique writer, one who strives, almost too hard, to bring his ancestry and culture into his poems, sometimes even borrowing words from the local Ewe dialect. Being such a strong and avid practitioner of the traditional religion meant that he was of a relict species. Especially for one so highly educated, it was an even rarer phenomenon. That awareness, not only that he was a relict specimen as an individual, but that the entire culture was suffering entropy, may have come through his poems in a manner that would suggest at first that he was writing about his mortal end. Besides the personal and cultural lament, Awoonor also shrewdly decried what he would have considered the decadent spectre of Western influences (religions, social organisation and economic philosophy) on the history and fortunes of African people in general. He would lambast the thoughtless exuberance with which Africans themselves embraced such things, and gradually engineered what he would have considered a self-degradation that went far beyond a loss of cultural identity. He would often construct his writings to look at these things through the lens of his own Ewe culture.


Further reading

* Robert Fraser, ''West African Poetry: A Critical History'', Cambridge University Press (1986), *
Kwame Anthony Appiah Kwame Akroma-Ampim Kusi Anthony Appiah ( ; born 8 May 1954) is a philosopher, cultural theorist, and novelist whose interests include political and moral theory, the philosophy of language and mind, and African intellectual history. Appiah wa ...
and
Henry Louis Gates Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African Am ...
(eds), ''Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience'', Basic Civitas Books (1999), – p. 153. * Lauret E. Savoy, Eldridge M. Moores and Judith E. Moores (eds), ''Bedrock: Writers on the Wonders of Geology,'' ( Trinity University Press, 2006).


References

Kofi Awoonor


External links


Report on the death of Kofi Awoonor
22 September 2013.
Paula Kahumbu of Princeton University and director of the Story Moja Hay Festival relates her time with Awoonor the Friday evening before his death


University of KwaZulu-Natal.

''Sun'' newspaper (Nigeria), 18 June 2006.
Poem: Songs of Sorrow by Kofi Awoonor
* Francis Kwarteng
"A Tribute to Prof. Kofi Awoonor"
''VibeGhana'', 23 September 2013. {{DEFAULTSORT:Awoonor, Kofi 1935 births 2013 deaths 20th-century Ghanaian poets 20th-century male writers 20th-century novelists 21st-century Ghanaian poets 21st-century male writers Alumni of Achimota School Alumni of University College London Ambassadors of Ghana to Brazil Ambassadors of Ghana to Cuba Awoonor-Renner family Deaths by firearm in Kenya Ewe people Ghanaian male poets Ghanaian murder victims Ghanaian non-fiction writers Ghanaian novelists Ghanaian people murdered abroad Male non-fiction writers Members of the Council of State (Ghana) People murdered in Kenya Permanent Representatives of Ghana to the United Nations Poet-diplomats University of Cape Coast faculty University of Ghana alumni University of Ghana faculty