Kofi Awoonor

Il mondo della letteratura piange la perdita del poeta ghanese ormai ai confini della leggenda

Kofi Awoonor (13 March 1935 – 21 September 2013) was a Ghanaian 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. Professor Awoonor was among those who were killed in theSeptember 2013 attack at Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya.^[2][3][4]

Biography

Awoonor was born in Ghana when it was still called the Gold Coast. He was educated at Achimota School and then proceeded to the University of Ghana. He taught African literature at the University of Ghana. While at the University of Ghana he wrote his first poetry book, Rediscovery, published in 1964. Like the rest of his work, Rediscovery is based on African oral poetry. In Ghana, he managed the Ghana Film Corporation and founded the Ghana Play House. His early works were inspired by the singing and verse of his native Ewe people.

He then studied literature at the University of London, and while in England he wrote several radio plays for the BBC. He spent the early 1970s in the United States, studying and teaching at universities. While in the USA he wrote This Earth,My Brother, and My Blood. Awoonor returned to Ghana in 1975 as head of the English department at the University of Cape Coast. Within months he was arrested for helping a soldier accused of trying to overthrow the military government and was imprisoned without trial and was later released. The house by the Sea is about his time in jail. After imprisonment Awoonor became politically active and has written mostly nonfiction.

 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, where he headed the committee against apartheid.^[8] He was also a former Chairman of the Council of State.

Death

On 21 September 2013, Awoonor was among those killed in an attack at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi. 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. The Ghanaian government confirmed his death the next day. His son was also shot, but was later discharged from hospital.

Il suo sorriso

ha inondato il mio animo

come le piogge torrenziali dell'Africa.

Refrigerio

per un nuovo risveglio

della mia natura

di uomo e poeta.

G. Ruocco