Meri Nana-Ama Danquah

Last updated

Meri Nana-Ama Danquah
Born (1967-09-13) 13 September 1967 (age 56)
Accra, Ghana
OccupationWriter
Nationality American
Citizenship American
Notable workWillow Weep for Me: A Black Woman’s Journey Through Depression (1998)
Relatives J. B. Danquah (maternal grandfather);
Paul Danquah (uncle)

Meri Nana-Ama Danquah (born 13 September 1967) is a Ghanaian-American writer, editor, journalist and public speaker, whose name at birth was Mildred Mary Nana-Ama Boakyewaa Brobby. [1] She is best known for her 1998 memoir Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman's Journey Through Depression. Her short story "When a Man Loves a Woman" was shortlisted for the 2022 AKO Caine Prize for African Writing. [2]

Contents

Life

Danquah was born in Accra, Ghana, to Josephine Nana Korantemaa Danquah and Norbert Duke Brobby. [3] Her maternal grandfather is Dr J. B. Danquah, a writer and prominent Ghanaian political figure, [4] and she was the niece of actor Paul Danquah, about whom she has written in The Washington Post . [5]

Danquah moved to the United States at six years of age to live with her mother, who had migrated there three years earlier [6] to attend Howard University. [1] Her parents divorced six years later, separating when Danquah was aged 11. [1] While attending Foxcroft, an all-girls' boarding school located in Middleburg, Virginia, Danquah decided to change her name from Mildred Brobby to Meri Danquah. [1] : 130  After dropping out of the University of Maryland, [3] she eventually moved to Los Angeles at the age of 20. [1] : 27 

Danquah gave birth to her daughter in 1991, [1] : 39  and they lived with Danquah's then-boyfriend and the father of her daughter. After filing for a restraining order from her daughter's father on the basis of domestic violence, [1] : 41  Danquah and her daughter moved back to Washington D.C., where her parents and sister still lived. While in D.C., Danquah recognized that she suffered from clinical depression, an illness that would become the basis for her memoir Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman’s Journey Through Depression, which was published in 1998 to critical praise. [7] [8] [9] Excerpts from the book were published in the anthology Out of Her Mind: Women Writing on Madness. [10] Danquah was chosen by the National Mental Health Association as spokesperson for their Campaign on Clinical Depression, which initiative specifically targeted African-American women. [11] [12]

In 1999, Danquah earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing and Literature, concentrating on Creative Nonfiction, from Bennington College, despite never completing an undergraduate degree. [3] She has taught at the University of Ghana, at Otis College of Art and Design, and in Antioch College's MFA program, and is sought-after as a speaker and lecturer. [3]

She has also edited anthologies of writing by women, including Shaking the Tree: A Collection of New Fiction and Memoir by Black Women (2003), about which Maya Angelou said in a cover quote: "Ms. Danquah has indeed shaken a literary tree. The fruit that fell down will nourish readers for a long time...." [13]

In 2011, Danquah announced that she was working on a novel. [14] She has written articles and columns in publications including The Washington Post, The Village Voice , The Los Angeles Times , Allure , Essence , The Africa Report and The Daily Graphic . [14] She is senior editor of African literature and culture at the Los Angeles Review of Books . [5]

She is a contributor to the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa , edited by Margaret Busby, with the memoir "Saying Goodbye to Mary Danquah". [15]

In June 2022, her story "When a Man Loves a Woman", originally published in Accra Noir, was announced on the shortlist of the Caine Prize for African Writing, [16] and was described in Brittle Paper by Doreen Baingana as "a fascinating study of the dangers, satisfactions and mysteries of love". [17]

Bibliography

As author

As editor

Selected essays and articles

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ama Ata Aidoo</span> Ghanaian writer, politician, and academic (1942–2023)

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">Tsitsi Dangarembga</span> Zimbabwean author and filmmaker

Tsitsi Dangarembga is a Zimbabwean novelist, playwright and filmmaker. Her debut novel, Nervous Conditions (1988), which was the first to be published in English by a Black woman from Zimbabwe, was named by the BBC in 2018 as one of the top 100 books that have shaped the world. She has won other literary honours, including the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the PEN Pinter Prize. In 2020, her novel This Mournable Body was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. In 2022, Dangarembga was convicted in a Zimbabwe court of inciting public violence, by displaying, on a public road, a placard asking for reform.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caine Prize</span> Annual award for best original short story by an African writer

The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best short story by an African writer, whether in Africa or elsewhere, published in the English language. Founded in the United Kingdom in 2000, the £10,000 prize was named in memory of businessman and philanthropist Sir Michael Harris Caine, former Chairman of Booker Group and of the Booker Prize management committee. The Caine Prize is sometimes called the "African Booker". The Chair of the Board is Ellah Wakatama, appointed in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. B. Danquah</span> Ghanaian politician and lawyer (1895–1965)

Joseph Kwame Kyeretwie Boakye Danquah was a Ghanaian politician, scholar, lawyer and statesman. He was a politician in pre- and post-colonial Ghana, which was formerly the Gold Coast, and is credited with giving Ghana its current name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leila Aboulela</span> Sudanese writer

Leila Fuad Aboulela is a fiction writer, essayist, and playwright of Sudanese origin based in Aberdeen, Scotland. She grew up in Khartoum, Sudan, and moved to Scotland in 1990 where she began her literary career. Until 2023, Aboulela has published six novels and several short stories, which have been translated into fifteen languages. Her most popular novels, Minaret (2005) and The Translator (1999) both feature the stories of Muslim women in the UK and were longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award and Orange Prize. Aboulela’s works have been included in publications such as Harper's Magazine, Granta, The Washington Post and The Guardian. BBC Radio has adapted her work extensively and broadcast a number of her plays, including The Insider, The Mystic Life and the historical drama The Lion of Chechnya. The five-part radio serialization of her 1999 novel The Translator was short-listed for the Race In the Media Award (RIMA).

Carolyn Ferrell is an American short story writer and novelist.

Lisa Victoria Chapman Jones is an American playwright, essayist, journalist, and memoirist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doreen Baingana</span> Ugandan short story writer and editor (born 1966)

Doreen Baingana is a Ugandan writer. Her short story collection, Tropical Fish, won the Grace Paley Award for Short Fiction in 2003 and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for best first book, Africa Region in 2006. Stories in it were finalists for the Caine Prize in 2004 and 2005. She was a Caine Prize finalist for the third time in 2021 and has received many other awards listed below.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NoViolet Bulawayo</span> Zimbabwean author (born 1981)

NoViolet Bulawayo is the pen name of Elizabeth Zandile Tshele, a Zimbabwean author. In 2012, the National Book Foundation named her a "5 under 35" honoree. She was named one of the Top 100 most influential Africans by New African magazine in 2014. Her debut novel, We Need New Names, was shortlisted for the 2013 Booker Prize, and her second novel, Glory, was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize, making her "the first Black African woman to appear on the Booker list twice".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Danquah</span> British actor (1925–2015)

Paul Danquah, born Joseph Paul Walcott, was a British film actor, known particularly for his role in the film A Taste of Honey (1961), adapted from the 1958 play of the same name written by Shelagh Delaney. He later became a barrister and a bank consultant. His father was the Ghanaian statesman J. B. Danquah.

Mabel Dove Danquah was a Gold Coast-born journalist, political activist, and creative writer, one of the earliest women in West Africa to work in these fields. As Francis Elsbend Kofigah notes in relation to Ghana's literary pioneers, "before the emergence of such strong exponents of literary feminism as Efua Sutherland and Ama Ata Aidoo, there was Mabel Dove Danquah, the trail-blazing feminist." She used various pseudonyms in her writing for newspapers from the 1930s: "Marjorie Mensah" in The Times of West Africa; "Dama Dumas" in the African Morning Post; "Ebun Alakija" in the Nigerian Daily Times; and "Akosua Dzatsui" in the Accra Evening News. Entering politics in the 1950s before Ghana's independence, she became the first woman to be elected a member of any African legislative assembly. She created the awareness and the need for self-governance through her works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Busby</span> Publisher, writer and editor (born 1944)

Margaret Yvonne Busby,, Hon. FRSL, also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisher when she and Clive Allison (1944–2011) co-founded the London-based publishing house Allison and Busby in the 1960s. She edited the anthology Daughters of Africa (1992), and its 2019 follow-up New Daughters of Africa. She is a recipient of the Benson Medal from the Royal Society of Literature. In 2020 she was voted one of the "100 Great Black Britons". In 2021, she was honoured with the London Book Fair Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2023, Busby was named as president of English PEN.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delia Jarrett-Macauley</span> British writer, academic and broadcaster

Delia Jarrett-Macauley, also known as Dee Jarrett-Macauley, is a London-based British writer, academic and broadcaster of Sierra Leonean heritage. Her debut novel, Moses, Citizen & Me, won the 2006 Orwell Prize for political writing, the first novel to have been awarded the prize. She has devised and presented features on BBC Radio, as well as being a participant in a range of programmes. As a multi-disciplinary scholar in history, literature and cultural politics, she has taught at Leeds University, Birkbeck, University of London, and other educational establishments, most recently as a fellow in English at the University of Warwick. She is also a business and arts consultant, specialising in organisation development.

Melody Millicent Danquah was a Ghanaian pilot. She was the first female pilot in Ghana and one of the earliest in Africa. She followed in the footsteps of Lotfia Elnadi who was the first Egyptian woman as well as the first woman from Africa to earn a pilot's license on 27 September 1933.

Yewande Omotoso is a South African-based novelist, architect and designer, who was born in Barbados and grew up in Nigeria. She currently lives in Johannesburg. Her two published novels have earned her considerable attention, including winning the South African Literary Award for First-Time Published Author, being shortlisted for the South African Sunday Times Fiction Prize, the M-Net Literary Awards 2012, and the 2013 Etisalat Prize for Literature, and being longlisted for the 2017 Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction. She is the daughter of Nigerian writer Kole Omotoso, and the sister of filmmaker Akin Omotoso.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenna Bass</span> South African film director

Jenna Cato Bass is a South African film director, photographer and writer. She has written stort stories under the name Constance Myburgh, one of which was shortlisted for the 2012 Caine Prize.

Nana Ama Agyemang Asante is a Ghanaian journalist, editor and writer. Beginning in 2012 she worked as deputy online editor of Citi FM's web portal. She also co-hosts the “Citi Breakfast Show” at the Accra-based radio station Citi FM, together with Bernard Avle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Idza Luhumyo</span> Kenyan short story writer (born 1993)

Idza Luhumyo is a Kenyan short story writer, whose work explores Kenyan coastal identities. In July 2020, Luhumyo was announced as the inaugural recipient of the Margaret Busby New Daughters of Africa Award. She was the winner of the 2021 Short Story Day Africa Prize with her story "Five Years Next Sunday", which also won the 2022 Caine Prize.

Lisa Allen-Agostini is a Trinidadian journalist, editor and writer of fiction, poetry and drama. She is also a stand-up comedian, performing as "Just Lisa".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaking the Tree (song)</span> 1989 single by Youssou NDour & Peter Gabriel

"Shakin' the Tree" is a 1989 song by Youssou N'Dour and Peter Gabriel from the Youssou N'Dour album The Lion. Released as a single, it reached number 61 on the UK official singles chart on 3 June 1989.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Danquah, Meri Nana-Ama (1998). Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman's Journey Through Depression (First ed.). W.W. Norton & Co. p.  103. ISBN   9780393045673.
  2. ↑ "The AKO Caine Prize announces its 2022 shortlisted writers". The AKO Caine Prize. 8 June 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Meri Nana-Ama Danquah". African American Literature Book Club (aalbc).
  4. ↑ Danquah, Meri Nana-Ama (6 February 2015). "Ideals that Last". Graphic Online. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  5. 1 2 Nana-Ama Danquah, "Actor. Lawyer. Lover of the arts. Her uncle defied category", The Washington Post, 2 June 2016.
  6. ↑ Danquah, Meri Nana-Ama (17 May 1998). "Life as an Alien". Washington Post Magazine. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  7. ↑ Jones, Rachel (5 April 1998). "Up from Despair". The Washington Post.
  8. ↑ "Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman's Journey Through Depression". Publishers Weekly . 2 February 1998. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  9. ↑ "Meri Nana-Ama Danquah: Willow Weep for Me". Kirkus Reviews. 1 December 1997.
  10. ↑ Shannonhouse, Rebecca (2000). Out of Her Mind: Women Writing on Madness (First ed.). The Modern Library. pp.  151–155. ISBN   9780679603306.
  11. ↑ "NMHA Depression Campaign Aimed at African Americans", Psychiatric News.
  12. ↑ "Author Meri Nana-Ama Danquah to Discuss Mental Health and Memoir as a Healing Practice on Feb. 12", Pomona College, 27 January 2015.
  13. ↑ "Shaking the Tree: A Collection of New Fiction and Memoir by Black Women". Edited by Meri Nana-Ama Danquah, ChickenBones: A Journal.
  14. 1 2 Danquah, Nana Meri-Ama (20 September 2011). "Nana Meri Danquah". The Africa Report.
  15. ↑ "The New Daughters of Africa". New Internationalist . 17 April 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  16. ↑ Murua, James (8 June 2022). "AKO Caine Prize for African Writing 2022 shortlist announced". Writing Africa. Retrieved 11 May 2024.
  17. ↑ "2022 AKO Caine Prize Shortlist Review: Writing About Love in "When a Man Loves a Woman" by Nana-Ama Danquah". Brittle Paper. 8 July 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  18. ↑ "When A Man Loves A Woman". Accra Noir (PDF). Retrieved 11 June 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.