My grandmother, a sage, who ran a locally-structured restaurant in a suburb of a city right at the edge of the Gulf of Guinea in Ghana, partly raised me. The others, also very much relevant in my upbringing, were my single-parent mother and my auntie. All three had diverse impacts on who I have become.

However, my grandmother, although an experienced woman in the manners of the world but an illiterate, has had the most profound impact in my life. For the simple and the most important fact that she opened the portals to the wonders of the world to me; reading and writing. You might be wondering how an illiterate was able to do that. Even though she was not formally educated, she knew the essence of education. Therefore she marched me to the only library in the city during holidays where I read numerous books as a child; books such as Snow White. This type of upbringing became a hobby and gradually a habit. Reading and writing are my life; not a day goes by without me reading or writing something; reading a newspaper, a storybook, a textbook; writing essays, poems, short stories etc. just about anything.

Outside of my family, my teachers obviously have had significant impacts on my reading, writing, and speaking abilities. However, a teacher, Ms Kay Oppong-Ankomah (currently the headmistress of one of the most sought-after secondary schools in Ghana—Wesley Girls High School), my poetry teacher in secondary school (Fijai Secondary School), has had the most positive impact on me. Through her calm guidance, she inspired me to write poetry, which I realised comes naturally to me. I have been writing all my life—especially poems. I began writing poetry at the age of 14. I used to write poems and read them to the admiration of my classmates when I was in secondary school. Sadly, I did not have anyone to advise me to keep most of them for future publications, not until I entered university, where I studied African Studies (which has modules in African Literature), English Language, and Philosophy (a subject that confounded and became another passion of mine; it shaped my thoughts and writings).

Reading and writing are inseparable; for one must have written pieces to read; and the writer needs the reader to make sense of and enjoy his/her literature. Some have a gift of books; they can write and read extensively. I believe I am among these lucky ones; I love reading, reading aloud to an audience, and I have a gift of putting pen to paper my thoughts and emotions in a concise and decipherable manner.

Research skills are extremely important skills in writing, thus I love to do some evidence-based research for my writings. I have acquired some research skills which have enabled me to cite evidence for my writings. As a student of the University of Cape Coast, I had to finish a thesis in “Women in Authority and their Marriages” (my chosen topic) as part of my undergraduate degree qualification. I had field research experience with the Centre for Democratic Development, as a Field Research Assistant. I currently volunteer as a writer and an editor with Global Writers Project—this position requires a lot of research work. Most of my work life has been in the field of education; particularly in secondary schools, middle schools and currently in a primary school.