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Professor Ama Ata Aidoo (born March 23, 1942) is a Ghanaian author and playwright who was born Christina Ama Aidoo in Saltpond. She grew up in a Fante royal household and was sent by her father to the Wesley Girls' High School in Cape Coast from 1961 to 1964. It was the headmistress of Wesley Girls who bought her her first typewriter. After leaving high school, she enrolled at the University of Ghana in Legon and received her bachelor of arts in English as well as writing her first play, The Dilemma of a Ghost, in 1964. The play was published by Longman the following year.

She worked in the United States of America where she held a fellowship in creative writing at Stanford University. She also served as a research fellow at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, and as a Lecturer at the University of Cape Coast.

Aidoo's works of fiction particularly deal with the tension between Western and African world views. Many of her protagonists are women who defy the stereotypical women's roles of their time.

She is also an accomplished poet and has written several children's books. Her novel, Changes, won the 1992 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book (Africa), and Aidoo held the position of Lecturer in English at the University of Cape Coast, where through hard work, commitment and dedication to her academic and research duties, she eventually rose to the position of Professor.

Aside from her literary career, Aidoo was appointed Minister of Education under the Rawlings government in 1982. She resigned after 18 months. She has also spent a great deal of time teaching and living abroad for months at a time. She has resided in America, Britain, Germany, and Zimbabwe. Currently she is a Visiting Professor in the Africana Studies Department at Brown University.

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ama Ata Aidoo", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0