Name Padmore Agbemabiese | Role Poet | |
Books Emerging Themes in Educational Reforms in Ghana as Seen Through Education Reforms in the United States | ||
Dr. Padmore Enyonam Agbemabiese (born 1965, Abor, Volta Region, Ghana) is a Ghanaian poet and scholar currently lecturing in the Department of African American and African Studies at Ohio State University.
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Life
Dr. Padmore Agbemabiese was born in 1965 at Abor in the Volta Region of Ghana. He attended Abor Roman Catholic Primary and Middle School. Later he went to Abor Secondary School for his O-Levels, and then to Kpandu Secondary School for his A-Levels. His grandmother, Madam Afeafa Fiador-Agbemabiese, ensured that he acquired literacy in the traditions and customs of the Ewes alongside his formal Catholic school education.
He got his first degree in English from the University of Ghana, Legon and his master's degree in African American and African Studies at Ohio State University. He also holds additional undergraduate degrees in Theater Arts, Journalism, and Public Relations from the University of Ghana, Legon.
After graduating from the University of Ghana, he worked at various jobs. He taught as a teacher at Sogakope L. A. Middle School, Zion Secondary School at Anloga and Awudome Secondary School at Tsito-Awudome in the Volta Region of Ghana. Later, he became a journalist with the Ghanaian Times Corporation, serving as a beatman at Sogakope, Keta, Denu, Abor and Dzodze. He was also a news-reporter for Ghana Radio and TV. He was a regular contributor-poet for the GBC 2 radio programme Voices of Our Times, hosted by Ms. Gerthrude Opare-Addo for more than ten years. However, he was best known for his Ewe poems on Ewe Hakpanyawo a GBC Radio One programme hosted by Komivi Adatsi on Saturdays and repeated on Wednesday evenings. In 1985, Agbemabiese assisted a Task Force that initiated the Ghana Tourism '86. Later, he was commissioned by the National Commission on Culture to open cultural centers at Anlo and Keta districts. His hard work brought cultural programmes and offices to Sogakope, Keta, Akatsi and Denu districts. He helped organize the Pan African Historical Festival (PANAFEST) and worked there for a while.
Over the years, the knowledge he acquired through his experience with his grandmother helped him to become a renowned bilingual poet. He has written and published in both English and Ewe. Some of his poems have been translated into Swahili and Hindu. His Ewe titles include Senyee Wom Alea (1996) and Migblem Di Kpo (1996), while his English titles include "Letter to the Judge" (2013), "Can You Give Me Your Heart" (2012), Prophecy (1999), With Guns and Roses (1999), Voyages (2003) and The Smell of Exile. He has also published critical essays, short stories and poems in various newspapers and journals including Essence Magazine, Come Into Our Whirl, African Weekender and Taj Mahal Review (India). He also has two novels, "Go Ask Grandma" (2002), and "Why Can't Anybody Hear Me When I Cry?" (2004).
Dr. Padmore Enyonam Agbemabiese is the co-founder of the College of Education International Club, and its Vice President. He is also a member of the National Council of Teachers of English, USA and a member of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (Ghana).
He is currently an Associate Professor of English at the Metropolitan Campus of Cuyahoga Community College.
Awards
Currently, Dr. Padmore Agbemabiese is involved in a series of research projects, paramount among which is "The Study of Anlo-Ewe Proverbs and Appellations as Principles of Argumentative and Persuasive Discourse". This project embodies an interpretive and theatrical study of aspects of literary traditions created and nurtured by the Ewes of Ghana. The study involves investigation of their mode of existence, their distinctive styles of presentation and their significance as crucial elements of contemporary discourse related to socio-economic and political transformation of the Ewes and Africans at large