Life history of professor kofi awoonor full

His work combined the poetic traditions of his native Ewe people with contemporary and religious symbolism to depict Africa during decolonization. He taught African literature at the University of Ghana.

The weaver bird by kofi awoonor

Professor Awoonor was among those who were killed in the September attack at Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi , Kenya , where he was a participant at the Storymoja Hay Festival. He was the eldest of 10 children in the family. His grandmother was an Ewe dirge singer. He attended Achimota School and then proceeded to the University of Ghana, graduating in 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 , [ 3 ] and he later published translations of the work of three Ewe dirge singers Guardians of the Sacred Word: Ewe Poetry , After graduating in , Awoonor worked as a researcher for the Institute for African Studies and began participating in the pan-African campaigns of Kwame Nkrumah.

He was appointed to the Ghana Film Corporation. Within months he was arrested for helping a soldier accused of trying to overthrow the military government and was imprisoned without trial. His sentence was remitted in October Awoonor was Ghana's ambassador to Brazil from to , before serving as ambassador to Cuba. The early poetry of Awoonor borrows from the Ewe oral tradition.

On 21 September , Awoonor was among those killed in an attack at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi.