Artist-in-residence investigates the cultural exchanges between Portugal and Ghana

01 Apr - 22 Apr 2025

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Nana-Ama Danquah is a writer, editor, journalist, speaker, actress and teacher. Her family is originally from Ghana and emigrated to the United States when she was still a child. Her work explores themes such as migration, assimilation and cultural crossing. Her memoir Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman's Journey Through Depression was acclaimed by The Washington Post as "A vividly textured flower of a memoir, one of the finest to come along in years." During her residency at KEF-Casa Mísia, from 1 to 22 April, Danquah will dedicate her time to research and the finalisation of a travel book investigating the cultural impact and legacy of Portugal in Ghana and vice versa.

“The first interactions between the Portuguese and the peoples of West Africa in the 15th century were not limited to exploration, but also involved exchanges — including cultural ones. Food, music and language are the true cartographers, the true historians, when it comes to revealing who travelled where. When we talk today about the marks left by Portugal in Africa,” writes Danquah, "we only think of Lusophone countries, but Ghana and other West African countries still carry the memory of Portugal, even if the history of how and why is being lost."

Danquah is also the editor of four anthologies: Becoming American: Personal Essays by First Generation Immigrant Women; Shaking the Tree: New Fiction and Memoir by Black Women; The Black Body; and Accra Noir. Her new memoir will soon be published: A Portrait of the Artist as an Undocumented Immigrant.

In addition, Danquah writes for newspapers, magazines and periodicals. Her essays and poems have been widely included in anthologies and used in high school and university textbooks.

Between 2012 and 2016, Danquah was the international speechwriter for John Dramani Mahama, President of Ghana, a position she resumed in January 2025, when Mahama began his second term. 

Danquah has received several awards and distinctions. She was a finalist for the Caine Prize for African Writing and, more recently, was a fellow at Yaddo, the prestigious artists' community. Currently, she lives between Ghana and the United States.