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About David Agyei-Yeboah
About David Agyei-Yeboah
David Agyei-Yeboah is a poet, writer and musician from Accra, Ghana. He holds an MA in Communication Studies from the University of Ghana and graduated with first-class honors in English and Theatre Arts for his BA. His work has been published in many print and online journals across Africa, North America, Australia, Europe and Asia. His manuscript, OUR SPIRITS YEARN FOR HOME won the 2023 Kofi Awoonor Literary Prize. It was also nominated for the Totally Free Best of the Bottom Drawer Global Writing Prize from the Black Spring Press Group, UK. David has also won the Webmaster Award in 2025 for being nominated twice in the Kene Offor-Teambooktu competitions, in both fiction and poetry categories. His short story, ‘Kiin Kiin Kiin,’ was selected for the Top Ten Stories of All Time list at Literally Stories from a pool of over 3,000 stories published over a decade, and his flash fiction, ‘Desi,’ was shortlisted for the EU Delegation Prize.
He is dedicated to his art. He quit two prestigious law schools in Ghana consecutively—KNUST Law School (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology) in 2014 and University of Ghana Law School in 2015 as an undergraduate—to pursue art. With a perfect aggregate in high school, he gained admission to both schools. The first time he quit KNUST, it was because he realized he was on the wrong path, yet doubts lingered due to everyone telling him what a mistake he had made. Consequently, he changed his application from the humanities to law school at the last minute and was accepted to study law at the University of Ghana. He was miserable, feeling that law confined him and stifled his multidisciplinary interests. Fully fed up and disregarding the consequences, he quit for the second time and switched his major to English and Theatre Arts, where he achieved a first class and graduated at the top of his class. His brand message demonstrates the worth of staying true to oneself, despite societal expectations.
David sees himself as an anomaly, a misfit. In retrospect, he recognizes that he is an anomaly even in art, as his debut book, "OUR SPIRITS YEARN FOR HOME," is not a traditional novel. It is a hybrid and fragmentary work, a necessary form because trauma itself is fragmentary and non-linear. Historically, Black writers have been excluded from the avant-garde or experimental categories and are often read ethnographically, despite their innovation. As an African author, his brand is unique, showcasing that Africans are also experimental and deserving of engagement. His work fills a gap in the global market. African storytelling has always been inherently hybrid. Historically, in Ghana, stories are narrated with songs, proverbs, riddles, audience participation, dance, and more. Their stories have always been multimodal and polyphonic. It is time for the world to recognize Black people as innovators of form, a part of their deep cultural inheritance.
Lastly, his message is unique because he centers human dignity for all.
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