I am Dr. Nikitta Dede Adjirakor, an educator, writer and entrepreneur. My expertise lies in building educational content and institutions through teaching, curriculum design, research, educational leadership and institutional design. Drawing on my experience as a storyteller and educator, I am passionate about reimagining educational resources that highlight unique and under-represented African and global experiences.

With Ghanaian roots and an international academic and writing career, I am passionate about creating and archiving stories that reflect Africa’s rich multilingual diversity and highlighting Africa’s place in the world. I have written public essays, children’s books, poetry and academic works to this effect. I am also an award-winning filmmaker who wrote and produced the documentary A Thousand Needles, which is on women’s sexual and reproductive health. Currently, I am building Yellow Mango Press, a multilingual children and game publisher based in Accra, Ghana.

I completed my PhD in Literatures in African Languages at the University of Bayreuth, Germany and hold a BA and MA from University of Ghana, Legon and the University of Bayreuth, Germany respectively. I held a Feodor Lynen postdoctoral fellowship with the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at the University of Cologne, Germany and the University of Ghana. My PhD dissertation project examined aesthetic experience as a way of constructing knowledge using the examples of hip-hop and spoken word poetry in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. From it, my first academic book, Aesthetic Vibes, is currently under preparation.

My research which focuses on African literature, decolonization and popular culture have appeared in various journals such as Research in African Literature, Journal of the African Literature Association and Journal of World Literature. I have given talks, presentations and organised academic conferences on my research. My public scholarship has appeared in outlets such as Africa is a Country and Gal-dem Zine.

I speak English, Ga, Twi, Swahili, German and Portuguese.