← back to Poets home
A Survey of African Poetry in the London Times, Sunday Times, Financial Times, the Times Literary Supplement 1865-1985
Awoonor-Williams, George Kofi Nyidevu 'Kofi Awoonor'
Biography
Ghana
Birth date: 1935-03-13
Birth location:
Wheta,
Ghana
Death date: 2013-09-21
Kofi Awoonor was born in 1935 in Wheta, Ghana. A critically acclaimed poet and a stateman, Awoonor is the author of the 1971 poetry collection titled Night of my Blood. Other collections include: Ride Me, Memory (1973), The House by the Sea (1978), Until the Morning After (1987), The Promise of Hope: New and Selected Poems 1964-2013 (2014), and a novel titled This Earth, My Brother (1971). Awoonor attended the University of Ghana, Legon. He was awarded prizes such as Gurrey prize (1959), Commonwealth poetry award (1989), Ghana Association of Writers distinguished authors award (1991) and ECRAG national award for poetry in 1992 and 1994 respectively. He was killed in 2013 during the attack on West Mall Gate, Kenya.
Education
- University College of Ghana
- University College London
- SUNY at Stony Brook
News Items (15)
- Scorning the Sonnet (1983-09-16) | Poet
- Ironies of exile: Post-colonial homelessness and the anticlimax of return (1994-04-01) | Poet
- The editor lied (1991-01-18) | Poet
- News in Brief: Verdict date on Ghanaian poet (1976-10-09) | Poet
- Ghana refuses visa for trial observer (1976-08-25) | Poet
- A is for Art (1972-03-24) | Poet
- Ghana military grant pardon to jailed poet (1976-10-28) | Poet
- Through the Drum (1972-12-29) | Poet
- Heinemann (1969-10-02) | Poet
- Father and son (1973-08-31) | Poet
- Letter from Harare (2000-11-03) | Poet
- Eng. Lit. Expands (1969-12-04) | Poet
- Books of the 1960s-2 (1965-09-16) | Mentioned Poet
- Obituary (2013-09-29) | Mentioned Poet
- Dillons the Book Store (1989-05-14) | Mentioned Poet
Related Works (25)
- Understanding African Poetry: A study of Ten Poets (1982) (Poet)
- The Rift: The exile experience of South Africans (1994) (Mentioned Poet)
- The Heinemann Book of African Poetry in English (1990) (Poet)
- This Earth, My Brother... An Allegorical Tale of Africa (1971) (Poet)
- This Earth, My Brother... An Allegorical Tale of Africa (1971) (Work Author)
- An Introduction to the African Novel (1972) (Mentioned Poet)
- The Emergence of African Fiction (1972) (Mentioned Poet)
- African Writers Talking: A collection of interviews (1972) (Mentioned Poet)
- Satellites (1967) (Poet)
- Letters to Martha and other poems (1969) (Poet)
- Labyrinths and Paths of Thunder (1971) (Poet)
- Nocturnes (1971) (Poet)
- Selected Poems (1970) (Poet)
- Rediscovery and Other Poems (1964) (Poet)
- Rediscovery and Other Poems (1964) (Work Author)
- Night of My Blood (1971) (Poet)
- Night of My Blood (1971) (Work Author)
- Ride Me, Memory (1973) (Poet)
- Ride Me, Memory (1973) (Work Author)
- The House by the Sea (1978) (Poet)
- The House by the Sea (1978) (Work Author)
- The Latin American and Caribbean Notebook (1992) (Poet)
- The Latin American and Caribbean Notebook (1992) (Work Author)
- Until the Morning After: Collected Poems, 1963 1985 (1987) (Poet)
- Until the Morning After: Collected Poems, 1963 1985 (1987) (Work Author)
Close Relationships (132)
Relationships are drawn from direct familial relationships and shared events, news items, works, and educations.
- Brutus, Dennis Vincent (9)
- Okigbo, Christopher (16)
- Peters, Lenrie (9)
- Clark, John Pepper 'J. P.' (4)
- Liyong, Taban Lo (2)
- Soyinka , Wole 'Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde' (13)
- Okara, Gabriel (7)
- P'Bitek, Okot (4)
- Kunene, Mazisi 'Raymond' (4)
- U Tam'si, Tchicaya (8)
- Marechera, Dambudzo (2)
- Breytenbach, Breyten (2)
- Laing, Kojo 'Bernard' (2)
- Mapanje, Jack 'John Alfred Clement' (3)
- Chipasula, Frank Mkalawile (2)
- Ofeimun, Odia (2)
- Achebe, Chinua 'Albert Chinualumogu' (12)
- Senghor, Léopold Sédar (6)
- Brew, Osborne Henry Kwesi (1)
- Aidoo, Ama Ata 'Christina' (3)
- Okai, Atukwei 'John' (1)
- Timol, Umar (1)
- Hopkins, Gerard Manley (1)
- Pound, Ezra (1)
- Eliot, Thomas Stearns 'T. S.' (1)
- Thomas, Dylan (1)
- Carlin, M. M. (1)
- Yeats, William Butler 'W. B.' (2)
- Rimbaud, Arthur (1)
- Nkosi, Lewis (2)
- Farah, Nuruddin (1)
- wa Thiong'o, Ngugi 'James' (4)
- Haynes, John (1)
- Kattah, Kojo (1)
- Acheampong, Ignatius Kutu (1)
- Williams, Osmond (1)
- Kattah, Alphonse (1)
- Palmer, Eustace (1)
- Moore, Gerald (3)
- Duerden, Dennis (1)
- Pieterse, Cosmo (2)
- Ousmane, Sembène (1)
- Amadi, Elechi (1)
- Beti, Mongo (1)
- Ekwensi, Cyprian (2)
- Auerbach, Erich (1)
- Armah, Ayi Kwei (3)
- Larson, Charles R. (2)
- Oyono, Ferdinand Léopold (1)
- Reed, John (1)
- Wake, Clive (1)
- Cook, David (1)
- Adali-Mortty, Geormbeeyi (1)
- Sithole, Ndabaningi (1)
- Moore, C. (1)
- Kibera, Leonard (1)
- Mugabe, Robert Gabriel (1)
- Tsvangirai, Morgan (1)
- Hove, Chenjerai (1)
- Mungoshi, Charles (1)
- Mungoshi, David (1)
- Vera, Yvonne (1)
- Chinodya, Shimmer (1)
- Caine, Michael (1)
- Okri, Ben (1)
- Tadjo, Véronique (1)
- Boyd, William (1)
- Ribeiro, Alvaro (1)
- Aboulela, Leila (1)
- Kilalea, Rory 'Murungu' (1)
- Waberi, Abdourahman (1)
- Staunton, Irene (1)
- Dathrone, Oscar Ronald 'O. R.' (1)
- Brathwaite, Edward Kamau (1)
- Jeffares, Norman (1)
- Lamming, George (2)
- Abrahams, Peter (2)
- Williams, Denis (2)
- Harris, Theodore Wilson (2)
- Naipaul, V. S. (2)
- Delius, Anthony 'Ronald St. Martin' (1)
- Avison, Margaret (1)
- Birney, Earle (1)
- Campbell, Alistair (1)
- Curnow, Allan (1)
- Daniells, Roy (1)
- Ghose, Zulfikar (1)
- Layton, Irving (1)
- MacEwen, Gwendolen (1)
- Nwanodi, Glory (1)
- Porter, Peter (1)
- Reanly, James (1)
- Smith, Arthur James Marshall 'A. J. M.' (1)
- Souster, Raymond (1)
- Walcott, Derek (1)
- Aluko, Timothy Mofolorunso 'T. M.' (1)
- Ballantyne, David (1)
- Callaghan, Morley (1)
- Cross, Ian (1)
- Duckworth, Marilyn (1)
- Duggan, Maurice (1)
- Clutha, Nene Janet Paterson 'Janet Frame' (1)
- Gordimer, Nadine (1)
- Hearne, John Edgar Colwell (1)
- Hilliard, Noel (1)
- Hood, Hugh (1)
- Jacobson, Dan (1)
- Jhabvala, Ruth Prawer (1)
- La Guma, Alex (1)
- Laurence, Margaret (1)
- Lowry, Malcolm (1)
- Ludwig, Jack Barry (1)
- Malgonkar, Manohar (1)
- Markandaya, Kamala (1)
- Moore, Brian (1)
- Mutwa, Vusamazulu Credo (1)
- Narayan, Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer 'R. K.' (1)
- Nwankwo, Nkem (1)
- Nzekwu, Onuora (1)
- Patterson, H. Orlando (1)
- Pearson, Bill (1)
- Rajan, Balachandra (1)
- Rao, Sri K. Raja (1)
- Renault, Mary (1)
- Richler, Mordecai (1)
- Roy, Namba (1)
- Sargeson, Frank (1)
- Singh, Khushwant (1)
- Tutuola, Amos (1)
- White, Patrick (1)
- Wilson, Ethel (1)
- Baxter, James Keir 'Jim' (1)
Relevant resources
Poet in Index of Poets
Awoonor-Williams, George Kofi Nyidevu 'Kofi Awoonor'Created by the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities with funding from the Ford Foundation and the Mellon Foundation.
