Nana Achampong

Last updated
Nana Sandy Achampong

MA
Nana Achampong at AUCC.jpg
Achampong at AUCC
BornNovember 26, 1964 (1964-11-26) (age 58)
Cape Coast, Ghana
OccupationAuthor, academic
Alma mater Ghana Institute of Journalism
GenrePoetry, fiction, anthology, media
Notable worksThe Ultimate Sacrifice, The Equilibrists, Sun of God, Adinkra (ī'kŏn')-cepts

Nana Sandy Achampong (born 1964) is a Ghanaian media practitioner, novelist, poet and educator. He has worked in the fields of journalism, public relations, advertising, marketing, the visual arts and literature in Ghana, the United Kingdom and the United States. [1] He is an author of books that cover the different genres of poetry, play, for children, fiction, non-fiction, Christian, media and anthology. [2] He currently teaches at the African University College of Communications (AUCC), [3] where he is also the Director of the Ama Ata Aidoo Centre for Creative Writing. [4] [5] [6]

Contents

Early life and education

Achampong attended St. Hubert's Seminary School in Santasi, Kumasi. After completion and attaining his Advanced-Levels, he then furthered his study by joining the Ghana Institute of Journalism, Accra. At the American InterContinental University, he secured a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a specialization in Project Management where he offered a Master's programme in Education, specialization in Instructional Design and Technology.

Family

Achampong was born in Cape Coast on 26 November 1964, the third of seven siblings. [7] His mother, Beatrice Faustina Forson, who died on 6 December 2018, was the Principal of a midwifery school. His father, Welbeck Kwame Acheampong, was a lawyer. He died in 1995. His mother then remarried to Mr. Joseph Amoah (who died in 2012), a publishing distributor for Caffrey Saunders, UK.

Published works

Achampong is a proponent of contemporary writing and modern journalism. He has written on various topics and varying concepts, with some of his best work also encompassing the media and journalism. He scripted, produced and directed his first feature film The Ultimate Sacrifice in the late 1990s [8] and among his most famous works are Depressed, [9] 'Embracing The Season', [10] 'God Smiled', [11] Sudan, [12] Nature Sighed. [13]

Achampong's first book of verse, The Equilibrists, was published by Othello Books in 1995. His second volume of verse, Floating, was published ten years later. He published the novel I Dream a Song [14] that was soon followed by Sun of God, a five-act play. Among his most notable books is the Adinkra (ī'kŏn')-cepts: [concept ikons of the Asante Akan of West Africa], which traces the history of the Akans of Ghana and explains some symbologies of their culture.

His book I, Immigrant, a controversial novel, was published soon afterwards. He encapsulates most of his poetical works in the ... and soft [salt], a collection of some of the best of his poetry works.

Career history

Achampong has worked in various capacities and in various institutions, mostly media-related across the world. In earlier forays into the media industry, he worked at Smash-TV, where he was appointed Director to create and produce three seasons of a seminal weekly entertainment magazine programme for Ghana national and West African regional television.

In 1999, he worked as the Executive Producer and Director for Songhai Films UK Limited, London, United Kingdom, during which time he directed his first feature film, The Ultimate Sacrifice'. [8]

He was also a Pioneer Editor of the Weekend Sun, a weekly 48-page tabloid, where he oversaw the tabloid's website and media-related content. In 2007, he worked at The Gene C. Bradford Hour as the producer/director, where he scripted and co-hosted a Radio programme on Radio One’s WOLB 1010 AM in Woodlawn, Maryland.

Achampong has worked in a capacity as Editor for ElderSpeak a weekly TV programme on Fox's Good-TV. The Afro American Newspaper in Maryland, appointed him as their Special Correspondent in 2005 after his Masters. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ama Ata Aidoo</span> Ghanaian writer, politician, and academic (1940–2023)

Ama Ata Aidoo was a Ghanaian author, poet, playwright, politician, and academic. She was Secretary for Education in Ghana from 1982 to 1983 under Jerry Rawlings's PNDC administration. Her first play, The Dilemma of a Ghost, was published in 1965, making Aidoo the first published female African dramatist. As a novelist, she won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize in 1992 with the novel Changes. In 2000, she established the Mbaasem Foundation in Accra to promote and support the work of African women writers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Ghana</span> Ghanaian public university

The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nii Parkes</span> British performance poet, writer, publisher and broadcaster (born 1974)

Nii Ayikwei Parkes, born in the United Kingdom to parents from Ghana, where he was raised, is a performance poet, writer, publisher and sociocultural commentator. He is one of 39 writers aged under 40 from sub-Saharan Africa who in April 2014 were named as part of the Hay Festival's prestigious Africa39 project. He writes for children under the name K.P. Kojo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Efua Sutherland</span> Ghanaian writer, publisher, educationalist and cultural activist (1924–1996)

Efua Theodora Sutherland was a Ghanaian playwright, director, dramatist, children's author, poet, educationalist, researcher, child advocate, and cultural activist. Her works include the plays Foriwa (1962), Edufa (1967), and The Marriage of Anansewa (1975). She founded the Ghana Drama Studio, the Ghana Society of Writers, the Ghana Experimental Theatre, and a community project called the Kodzidan. As Ghana's earliest playwright-director, she was an influential figure in the development of modern Ghanaian theatre, and helped to introduce the study of African performance traditions at university level. She was also a pioneering African publisher, establishing the company Afram Publications in Accra in the 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nana Akufo-Addo</span> President of Ghana since 2017

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is a Ghanaian politician who has served as the president of Ghana since 2017. He previously served as Attorney General from 2001 to 2003 and as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2003 to 2007 under the Kufuor-led administration.

Joseph Hanson Kwabena Nketia was a Ghanaian ethnomusicologist and composer. Considered Africa's premier musicologist, during his lifetime, he was called a "living legend" and "easily the most published and best known authority on African music and aesthetics in the world", with more than 200 publications and 80 musical compositions to his credit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akropong</span> Town in Eastern Region, Ghana

Akropong is a town in South Ghana and is the capital of the Akuapim North District, a district in the Eastern Region of South Ghana. This town is known for producing snails and palm oil. Akropong has a 2013 settlement population of 13,785 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adabraka</span> Town in Greater Accra Region, Ghana

Adabraka is a town in the Korley Klottey Municipal Assembly, a Municipality of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. It was the first and the most posh neighborhood in Ghana during the British era.

The African University College of Communications is a private tertiary institution at Adabraka, Accra, Ghana, for the study and teaching of journalism, communication studies, information technology convergence, business, African Studies, providing opportunities for advanced learning, and practical and professional training for the rapid growth and development of Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Professional Studies</span> Ghanaian university

The University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) formerly known as Institute of Professional Studies (IPS), is a public university in Ghana. The main campus is located in Accra. UPSA is the first university in Ghana to provide both academic and business professional education. The University of Professional Studies Act, 2012 (Act 850) changed the name of the Institute of Professional Studies to University of Professional Studies, Accra. UPSA is nationally and internationally accredited by the National Accreditation Board (Ghana) and the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gifty Anti</span> Ghanaian journalist and broadcaster (born 1970)

Oheneyere Gifty Anti is a Ghanaian journalist and broadcaster. She is the host of the StandpointArchived 2021-05-26 at the Wayback Machine programme; which discusses issues affecting women on Ghana Television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey</span> Ghanaian politician

Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, is a Ghanaian politician who serves as Ghana's minister for foreign affairs and regional integration. She was appointed by Ghanaian president Nana Akufo-Addo as Minister of Foreign Affairs on 10 January 2017. She was a Member of Parliament for Anyaa-Sowutuom from 2013 to 2021. and had served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and a Minister of State at the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing under John Kufuor. She is a member of the New Patriotic Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freda Akosua Prempeh</span> Ghanaian politician

Freda Akosua Oheneafrewo Prempeh is a Ghanaian politician, and Member of Parliament in the Seventh Parliament and Eighth Parliament of the fourth republic of Ghana representing Tano North Constituency in the Ahafo Region, Ghana. She's currently the Minister of State, for the Ministry of works and housing, Ghana. She previously served as the Deputy Gender Minister and also Assembly member – "Assembly Woman" from 2002 to 2010 for the Lakoo Electoral Area of the La-Dadekotopo Constituency in the Greater Accra Region.

Nana Boakye-Yiadom is a global communications and PR expert with expertise on the African continent. He has over 13 years combined working experience in journalism/media and communications. He is a Ghanaian, and a former international award-winning journalist and media trainer. He was a news presenter, anchor and editor of the Accra-based radio station Citi FM.

Samuel Adu Frimpong, popularly known as Medikal, is a Ghanaian hip hop musician born to Portia Lamptey and James Frimpong in Sowutuom, a suburb of Accra.

Jefferson Kwamina Sackey is a Ghanaian journalist, media consultant, filmmaker, and PR strategist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nana Anima Wiafe-Akenten</span>

Nana Anima Wiafe-Akenten is a Ghanaian media practitioner and the Head of the Akan-Nzema Department of the College of Languages Education, Ajumako Campus of the University of Education, Winneba in Ghana. She is the first person to receive a doctorate degree in the Twi language, one of the varieties of Akan.

Kwesi Yankah is a Ghanaian academic, author, and university administrator. He is a professor of linguistics and oral literature specializing in the ethnography of communications. He has served as the Pro-vice-chancellor of the University of Ghana and the president of the Central University. The author of several books, he was inducted as a fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999. He is currently the Ghanaian Minister of State in charge of tertiary education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prince Kojo-Hilton</span>

Prince Kojo-Hilton is a Ghanaian art director known for his work in the Ghanaian visual art industry.

References

  1. "Nana Sandy Achampong-Early Life and Career". Kiki Sinare. 2019-11-05. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  2. Achampong, Nana (January 2017). An Introduction to Journalism.
  3. "African University College of Communications". www.aucc.edu.gh. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  4. "Seventy Global Media and Information Literacy Week Marked At GIJ – Ghana Institute of Journalism" . Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  5. GH, Author Entertainment (2018-02-06). "Ama Ata Aidoo Centre For Creative Writing To Publish 'Adabraka: Stories From The Centre of Accra' Anthology". Entertainment Ghana. Retrieved 2019-11-14.{{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  6. "African University College of Communications". www.aucc.edu.gh. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  7. "Nana S. Achampong: A rising Ghanaian Author". Modern Ghana. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  8. 1 2 "Nana Sandy Achampong-Published Works". Global Media. 2019-11-05. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  9. "Depressed Poem by Nana S. ACHAMPONG - Poem Hunter". PoemHunter.com. 29 March 2010. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  10. "Embracing The Season Poem by Nana S. ACHAMPONG - Poem Hunter". PoemHunter.com. 29 March 2010. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  11. "God Smiled Poem by Nana S. Achampong - Poem Hunter". PoemHunter.com. 29 March 2010. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  12. "Sudan Poem by Nana S. Achampong - Poem Hunter". PoemHunter.com. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  13. "Nature Sighed Poem by Nana S. Achampong - Poem Hunter". PoemHunter.com. 29 March 2010. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  14. "Review of 'I Dream a Song' by Baba Abdulai, The Finder" . Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  15. "Afro | Your Community. Your History. Your News" . Retrieved 2019-11-08.