Ayi Kwei Armah

Ghanaian writer · Ghana · On the map · Writers · Born 1939 · age 87

Ayi Kwei Armah is a Ghanaian writer best known for his novels including The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (1968), Two Thousand Seasons (1973) and The Healers (1978). He is also an essayist, as well as having written poetry, short stories, and books for children.

Ayi Kwei Armah is read about 29 times a day, in 22 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 11 November 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 114 days, one point a day.

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A life in dates

1995“He seemed to have no weight at all. There he was winning prizes, playing for the school team, starting a study group. Yet he drew no feeling of importance from anything he did.”In their wordsPage 71Read the whole statement

“Others have come searching. Wha t they find they take back to America [...] to sell [...]”In their wordsPage 252- 253Read the whole statement

1979“If we do not help the whites, we shall be left by the roadside.”In their wordsThe Healers (1979)Read the whole statement

“I am saying this is seed time, far from harvest time.”In their wordsThe Healers (1979)Read the whole statement

“There would be no kings if some catastrophe brought all black people together. . . .”In their wordsThe Healers (1979)Read the whole statement

“He saw a fierce, nameless beast, half serpent and half forest cat.”In their wordsThe Healers (1979)Read the whole statement

1939Born28 October 1939

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In their own words 4

Ayi Kwei Armah

4 statements, newest first

The companionship risked attack from those ambitious todominate others. For it respected no social hierarchies, only the fellowship of shared ideals and work.
1995 · Page 262, Own words
Here, educated people use their intelligence to avoid risk, to accumulate power, money, privilege. We call it security. That makes our choices sound less cowardly, not so greedy
1995 · Page 71, Own words
The present is where we get lost -- if we forget our past and have no vision of the future.
1979 · The Healers (1979), Own words