SOURCE: Aidoo, Ama Ata, Rosemary Marangoly George, and Helen Scott. “A New Tail to an Old Tale: An Interview with Ama Ata Aidoo.” Novel: A Forum on Fiction 26, no. 3 (spring 1993): 297-308.

In the following interview, originally conducted in Fall 1991, Aidoo discusses her role as an African writer, African immigration to the West, and elements of feminism in her work.

Introduction

Ama Ata Aidoo is an internationally recognized and acclaimed literary and intellectual figure. She has published many plays, novels, collections of short stories and poems since her first play The Dilemma of a Ghost in 1965¹. She was born in 1945, into the family of a chief in the Fanti town of Abeadzi Kyiakor, in the central region of Ghana (then called by its colonial name “The Gold Coast”), and grew up in the royal household. Her privileged origins are reflected in her education and career: she attended the Wesley...