{{Short description|Ghanaian-British documentary filmmaker (born 1954)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}} {{Use British English|date=June 2018}} {{Infobox person | name = Yaba Badoe | image = Yaba Badoe at ZIFF 2015.jpg | alt = | caption = Badoe at the 2015 Zanzibar International Film Festival | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1954}} <!-- {{birth date and age|df=y|YYYY|MM|DD}} for living people. For people who have died, use {{Birth date|df=y|YYYY|MM|DD}}. --> | birth_place = Tamale, northern Ghana | death_date = | death_place = | other_names = | spouse = Colin Izod | occupation = Documentary filmmaker, journalist and author | alma_mater = King's College, Cambridge | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | website = {{URL|https://www.yababadoe.com/}} }}
'''Yaba Badoe''' (born 1954)<ref name="Elly Roberts - Africa In Words">{{Cite web |last=Words |first=Africa in |date=2017-10-06 |title=Q&A: Writer and Filmmaker Yaba Badoe |url=https://africainwords.com/2017/10/06/qa-writer-and-filmmaker-yaba-badoe/ |access-date=2025-04-29 |language=en}}</ref> is a Ghanaian-British documentary filmmaker, journalist and author.<ref name=YB1>{{cite web|title=An Interview with Ghanaian – British Writer, Yaba Badoe|url=http://geosireads.wordpress.com/2011/03/17/an-interview-with-ghanaian-%E2%80%93-british-writer-yaba-badoe/|publisher=Geosi Reads|access-date=18 November 2013}}</ref>
== Education and Career == Yaba Badoe was born in 1954 in Tamale, northern Ghana.<ref>[https://www.journeyman.tv/film_documents/5230/transcript/ "Film: The Witches Of Gambaga | Transcript"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127155720/https://www.journeyman.tv/film_documents/5230/transcript/ |date=27 January 2023 }}, Journeyman TV.</ref> She left Ghana to be educated in Britain at a very young age.<ref name=AWC>Beti Ellerson, [http://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/conversation-with-yaba-badoe.html "A Conversation with Yaba Badoe"], African Women in Cinema, 1 September 2011.</ref> A graduate of King's College, Cambridge, Badoe worked as a civil servant at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ghana,<ref name=AWC /> before beginning her career in journalism as a trainee at the BBC.<ref>Nana Fredua-Agyeman, [http://freduagyeman.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/46-true-murder-by-yaba-badoe.html "46. True Murder by Yaba Badoe - About the author"], ImageNations Promoting African Literature, 18 November 2013.</ref> She also was a researcher at the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana. She has taught in Spain and Jamaica and has worked as a producer and director making documentaries for the main television channels in Britain.<ref name=afny>[http://www.africanfilmny.org/2013/yaba-badoe/ "About the Director - Yaba Badoe"], African Film Festival.</ref> Among her credits are: ''Black and White'' (1987), an investigation into race and racism in Bristol, using hidden video cameras for BBC1; ''I Want Your Sex'' (1991), an arts documentary exploring images and myths surrounding black sexuality in Western art, literature, film and photography, for Channel 4; and the six-part series ''Voluntary Service Overseas'' for ITV in 2002.<ref name=afny />
In addition to making films, Badoe is a creative writer, her first novel, ''True Murder'', being published in London by Jonathan Cape in 2009.<ref>Joanna Hines, [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/aug/08/true-murder-yaba-badoe ''True Murder'' review], ''The Guardian'', 8 August 2009.</ref> Reviewing ''True Murder'' in ''The Africa Report'', Zagba Oyortey described it as "a rich complex of wonder, loss, friendship and prescience from the viewpoint of Ajuba, an African girl transposed from her idyllic home in Ghana to a boarding school in rural England after the collapse of her parents’ marriage."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theafricareport.com/9243/book-reviews-becoming-zimbabwe-black-diamond-and-true-murder/|title=Book reviews: Becoming Zimbabwe, Black Diamond and True Murder|website=The Africa Report|date=1 February 2010|access-date=1 November 2021}}</ref> Her short story "The Rivals" was included in the anthology ''African Love Stories'' (Ayebia, 2006), edited by Ama Ata Aidoo,<ref>[http://www.buriedinprint.com/?p=4854 "Yaba Badoe’s African Love Story, 'The Rival'"], Buried in Print, 16 November 2011.</ref> and she has also written three children's books.<ref>Nicolette Jones, [https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/children-s-book-of-the-week-a-jigsaw-of-fire-and-stars-yaba-badoe-hn0qxk263 "Children’s book of the week: A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars by Yaba Badoe"], ''The Sunday Times'', 11 March 2018.</ref>
Badoe directed and co-produced (with Amina Mama) the documentary film ''The Witches of Gambaga'', which won Best Documentary at the Black International Film Festival in 2010, and was awarded Second Prize in the Documentary section of FESPACO 2011.<ref>[http://www.witchesofgambaga.com/about/ "The Witches of Gambaga - A film by Yaba Badoe"], official website.</ref> Her most recent film, launched in 2014, is entitled ''The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo''.<ref>Shakira Chambas and Sionne Neely, [http://www.awdf.org/the-art-of-ama-ata-aidoo-documentary-film-launch/ "The Art of AMA ATA AIDOO: Documentary Film Launch"], African Women's Development Fund, 26 September 2014.</ref><ref>[http://amaatafilm.com/ "The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo - a film by Yaba Badoe"], official website.</ref>
In 2016, Badoe participated in the conference-festival "Telling Our Stories of Home: Exploring and Celebrating Changing African and Africa-Diaspora Communities" in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://tellingourstories.web.unc.edu/schedule-of-events|title=Schedule of Events {{!}} Telling Our Stories of Home|website=tellingourstories.web.unc.edu|access-date=7 April 2016}}</ref>
She is a contributor to the 2019 anthology ''New Daughters of Africa'', edited by Margaret Busby.<ref>Olatoun Gabi-Williams, [https://guardian.ng/art/after-seminal-anthology-busby-celebrates-new-daughters-of-africa/ "After seminal anthology, Busby celebrates New Daughters of Africa"], Guardian Arts, ''The Guardian'' (Nigeria), 21 April 2019.</ref>
== Personal life == Badoe lives in Balham, London, with her husband, Colin Izod.<ref>[https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B0034NISOU/about "About the author"], Amazon.</ref>
== Filmography == *''A Time of Hope'' (1983) *''Crowning Glory'' (1986) *''Black and White'' (1987) *''I Want Your Sex'' (1991) *''Supercrips and Rejects'' (1996) *''Race in the Frame'' (1996) *''A Commitment to Care – The Capable State'' (1997) *''Am I My Brother's Keeper?'' (2002) *''Voluntary Service Overseas'' (2002) *''One to One'' (2003) *''Secret World of Voodoo: Africa – Coming Home'' (2006) *''Honorable Women'' (2010) *''The Witches of Gambaga'' (2010) *''The Art of Ama Ata Aidoo'' (2014)
==Bibliography== * ''True Murder'' (Jonathan Cape, 2009, {{ISBN|978-0224085021}}) * ''A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars'' (Zephyr/Head of Zeus, 2017, {{ISBN|978-1786695482}})<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL-aRIN5pV8 "Introducing Yaba Badoe and her debut novel A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars"] (YouTube video), 19 April 2017.</ref> * ''The Secret of the Purple Lake'' (Cassava Republic Press, 2017, {{ISBN|978-1911115311}}), five interlinked stories<ref name="Elly Roberts - Africa In Words" /> * ''Wolf Light'' (Zephyr/Head of Zeus, 2019, {{ISBN|978-1786695529}})<ref>[https://headofzeus.com/books/9781786695505 "Wolf Light"] at Head of Zeus website.</ref> * ''Lionheart Girl'' (Zephyr/Head of Zeus, 2021, {{ISBN|978-1789540864}})<ref>[https://headofzeus.com/books/9781789540857 "Lionhheart Girl"] at head of Zeus website.</ref> * ''Man-Man and the Tree of Memories'' (forthcoming)
== References == {{Reflist|30em}}
== External links == {{Commons}} * [https://www.yababadoe.com/ Official website] * Geosi Gyasi, [http://geosireads.wordpress.com/2011/03/17/an-interview-with-ghanaian-%E2%80%93-british-writer-yaba-badoe/ "An Interview with Ghanaian – British Writer, Yaba Badoe"], Geosi Reads, 17 March 2011. * [http://africanwomenincinema.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/conversation-with-yaba-badoe.html "A Conversation with Yaba Badoe"], African Women in Cinema, 1 September 2011. * [https://www.facebook.com/pages/Yaba-Badoe/118504861506100 Facebook Fan Page] * [http://tellingourstories.web.unc.edu/schedule-of-events/ Schedule of events], Telling Our Stories of Home * Karin Sohlgren, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnucV9xTS8w "Yaba Badoe - interview on film project on female African Writers with Ama Ata Aidoo"], YouTube video, 13 April 2012.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Badoe, Yaba}} Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century British women writers Category:21st-century English novelists Category:Academic staff of the University of Ghana Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Category:Black British women writers Category:Black British writers Category:Ghanaian emigrants to England Category:Ghanaian film directors Category:Ghanaian film producers Category:Ghanaian novelists Category:Ghanaian women children's writers Category:Ghanaian women film directors Category:Ghanaian women film producers Category:Ghanaian women novelists Category:Women children's writers Category:Women short story writers Category:People from Tamale, Ghana