Pioneers and post-colonialism
J.E. Casely Hayford and W.E.B. Du Bois are certainly precursors, but not only because they grew up in the 19th century. The former was born in 1866 on the Gold Coast, where he died in 1930; the latter was born in Massachusetts in 1868, but breathed his last in Ghana in 1963. Both political activists for black rights, they left their mark on history through their writings: Casely Hayfort became one of the first Africans to publish a novel in English with Ethiopia Unbound in 1911, while Du Bois's essays can still be found in our language, notably in La Découverte (Les Âmes du peuple noir, Les Noirs de Philadelphie : une étude sociale). They paved the way for Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972), the strongman of Ghanaian independence, who also used his pen like a foil (published by Présence africaine: L'Afrique doit s'unir, Autobiographie, Le néo-colonialisme : dernier stade de l'impérialisme).
While the political scene was calming down, the future of literature was being played out on stage in the wake of independence in 1957, thanks to Efua Sutherland and Joe de Graft. In addition to sharing the same year of birth (1924), both feature prominently in Le Théâtre anglophone du Nigeria, du Ghana et de la Sierra Leone : évolution des formes, des origines à la fin du XXe siècle, edited by Eliane Utudjian Saint-André and published by Karthala. It has to be said that their influence was fundamental: Efua Sutherland not only launched a literary magazine in 1957, Okyeame, but also founded the Society of Ghanaian Writers, and initiated the writing workshops that became the Ghana Drama Studio, with Joe de Graft as its first director. Efua Sutherland went on to support the American writer Maya Angelou(Lettre à ma fille published by Noir sur Blanc, Et pourtant je m'élève published by Points, Rassemblez-vous en mon nom published by Livre de Poche, etc.) during her stay in Ghana, before setting up Afram Publications in 1973. As for Joe de Graft, he taught until his death in 1978, but also wrote a number of important texts, including Mambo, an adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth that he so admired, and Muntu (1977), which was included in the school curriculum as soon as it was published. Education is of paramount importance in Ghana, which has one of the highest literacy rates in sub-Saharan Africa, and it is through his children's books that we are able to discover Amu Djoleto's work in French, even if his poetry(Amid the Swelling Act) has not yet been translated. Editions Isabelle Sauvage, on the other hand, have taken care to provide a fine bilingual edition, accompanied by a CD, of the poems of another outstanding writer, Kofi Awoonor (1935-2013). He was able to combine tradition and modernity, but unfortunately succumbed to a jihadist attack while completing his collection The Promise of Hope. The transition - between colonialism and independence, ancestral values and corruption - that Ghana was undergoing at the time also inspired the work of Cameron Duodu, who portrayed a young man fleeing his native village for the capital in The Gab Boys, published in London in 1967. Ayi Kwei Armah's vision was hardly more optimistic, if we are to believe L'Âge d'or n'est pas pour demain (Présence Africaine), which denounced neo-colonialism as early as 1968. Finally, the poet Atukwei Okai (1941-2018) also advocated pan-Africanism, making himself the guardian of the oral tradition, which he nevertheless adapted to his times. His performances were noticed and led him to perform at the Poetry International Festival in London in 1975.
Towards international recognition
While focusing on the problems of post-colonial Africa, Ghanaian writers became universal enough in their approach and themes to attract the attention of the international literary scene. Ama Ata Aidoo, for example, went on to study and teach women's emancipation. After numerous stays abroad, she became Minister of Education in her country, while at the same time devoting herself to composing a body of poetic and novelistic work, such as Changes: A Love Story , available from Editions Zoé. In it, the author questions her favorite theme, as she portrays a divorced woman confronted with a polygamous marriage proposal. Kojo Laing (1946-2017) travels through language, mixing - for the first time - African idioms and English (sometimes slang), even going so far as to create her own neologisms. His first two novels - Search Sweet Country (1986) and Woman of the Airplanes (1988) - received rave reviews, and he was twice awarded the National Poetry Prize Valco Award in 1976 and 1993.
Amma Darko (b. 1956, Koforidua) has been publishing in Germany since 1991(Beyond the horizon, reprinted by Actes Sud under the out-of-print title Par-delà l' horizon in 1997), but it was not until 2003 that one of her novels(Faceless) was published for the first time in Ghana. Although she describes herself as a storyteller who draws her inspiration from everyday life, her work is nonetheless uncompromising, particularly when it comes to the condition of women. For example, Beyond the Horizon follows the footsteps of a Ghanaian woman who becomes a prostitute in Europe. Nii Ayikwei Parkes is also at the crossroads of the two worlds, having been born in the UK in 1974, raised in his parents' country, and gone on to study creative writing in Manchester. It was here that he first came to prominence, performing spoken word as part of the Black Writer's Group of Commonword and winning Ghana's Grand National Poetry Prize in 2007. His verses have been picked up by two French publishers: Isabelle Sauvage(La Moitié d'un citron vert) and Joca Seria(Ce que je sais: 13 poèmes désinvoltes). Her first novel - Tail of the Blue Bord (2009), Prix Mahognay - is published by Zulma under the title Notre quelque part. His entire body of work has been translated by the admirable Sika Fakambi, whose work has won her the Prix Baudelaire and Prix Laure-Bataillon. Last but not least, Ayesha Harruna Attah, who also sails between continents but delves into the history of her native country in her novels, including Les Cent puits de Salaga, published by Gaïa in 2019.
