By the age of 10, Kezia Dzifa Awadzi knew she wanted to be a writer. This lifelong desire solidified after reading The Diary of Anne Frank, where Anne expressed her wish to live on through her writing. This was a sentiment that deeply resonated with Kezia.
As a teenager, she developed an eclectic reading taste, fueled by the tall bookshelves in the sitting room filled with books from all genres. She was comfortable moving between children’s author Enid Blyton and the Penguin children’s books to the classics of Dickens, Elliot, and the Bronte sisters. She consumed works by P.G. Wodehouse, Somerset Maugham, Stephen King, Catherine Cookson, and authors from the African Writers and Pacesetters series. Authors who would make an indelible impression on her reading and writing included Susan Howatch, Georgette Heyer, and Sidney Sheldon, because of their adroit use of words to paint vivid pictures and create dramatic moments. Reading was both a joy and an escape. One of her favorite activities was holding a book in one hand, with the other either in a bowl of food or maneuvering a flashlight under the covers late into the night. She also realized the educational value of reading, both in building her vocabulary and in learning about worlds beyond her reach.
Kezia was always drawn to “thick books with many pages,” often checking the page count immediately to prolong the pleasure. This paradoxical experience of wanting to race through a good book while simultaneously wishing it would never end clarified her goal: she wanted to write a “thick, juicy” novel about characters from Ghana with a story so compelling that readers would be equally torn between reaching the end and remaining lost in the pages forever.
Kezia began writing short stories around age eleven, a difficult, painstaking task due to her poor handwriting. This changed with the discovery of her mother’s portable typewriter. Recognizing the advantage of learning to type, her mother hired a typing tutor for her children. Once Kezia mastered the keyboard, her story writing took off, as she quickly learned that her best inspiration came from typing directly rather than drafting on paper first. The later switch to computers eliminated the smudged fingers, razor blades, and liquid erasers, making her writing life much easier.
Despite her passion, Kezia’s parents viewed writing as a hobby, not a profession. Consequently, she completed Agricultural Science for her A-Levels and earned a bachelor’s degree in Home Science. However, her time at the University of Ghana was crucial for her development as a writer. She was actively involved in the Literary Club magazine and the Legon Pentecostals Union (LPU), under which she wrote and directed campus-based plays. She later co-founded the CHRADLE drama group, performing in churches outside campus.
During her time at the University of Ghana, the LPU sponsored her registration for a STEP Writer’s Workshop. Kezia also participated in the Step National Writing Competition and went on to win first prize in both the fiction and drama categories, which led to a nearly two-year internship in the editorial department. She loved all aspects of publishing, fueling her determination to eventually own her own publishing company.
Kezia later left for the U.S. to pursue a master’s in mass communication. The initial loneliness and the experience of acclimatizing to life in Florida became the catalyst for her debut novel, African Girl. What started as the “thick and juicy” book of her dreams would eventually be published as two separate books by Afram Publications.
