Ama Ata Aidoo is the distinguished author of nine books, including The Girl Who Can and Other Stories, An angry Letter in January and Other Poems, and Changes, a novel, which was named winner of the 1992 Commonwealth Writer's Prize for Africa. Ms. Aidoo is also a dramatist, critic, and author of literature for children. A native of Ghana, her works frequently explore issues of colonialism and neo-colonialism, racism, and women's liberation in both national and international contexts. She has been a Fellow of the Advanced Creative Writing Program at Stanford University and a Ghanaian Minister of Education, a columnist for The New Internationalist and Executive Director of Mbassem ('women's words, women's affairs), a foundation to establish and maintain a writer's retreat. Ms. Aidoo has taught at Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, Brandeis University, Oberlin College, and Hamilton College. She is a Visiting Professor of Africana Studies and Literary Arts at Brown.