Literature & Ideas
Distinguished
Kofi Awoonor
Poet, professor and ambassador, killed at Westgate in 2013
Distinguished is level 3 of 4 in the Ghana Hall of Fame: sustained excellence over a career, widely honoured at home. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
One of Ghana's foremost poets, who drew Ewe oral tradition into modern verse, served his country as an ambassador, and was murdered by gunmen at the Westgate mall in Nairobi.
Born George Awoonor-Williams at Wheta, he was a poet, literary critic and professor of comparative literature, and served as a Ghanaian ambassador.
He was among those killed in the attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi in September 2013, where he had travelled for a literary festival.
He was among those killed in the attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi in September 2013, where he had travelled for a literary festival.
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