Ghanaian writer, literary critic, and professor Ato Quayson has been elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences this year.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences honors exceptional scholars who discover and advance knowledge, applying this knowledge to existing problems and inequities in society. This year, 270 members were elected from many fields including academia, the arts, industry, policy, research, and science.

Academy President David W. Oxtoby remarked about the new members:

With the election of these members, the Academy is honoring excellence, innovation, and leadership and recognizing a broad array of stellar accomplishments. We hope every new member celebrates this achievement and joins our work advancing the common good.

Ato Quayson is a Ghanaian literary critic and the Jean G. and Morris M. Doyle Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and Chair of the Department of English at Stanford University. He is a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (2006), the Royal Society of Canada (2013), and Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy (2019). His book Oxford Street, Accra: City Life and the Itineraries of Transnationalism (2014) was co-winner of the Urban History Association’s top award in the international category for books published in 2013–14. Quayson has written and edited many books, his most recent book being Tragedy and Postcolonial Literature (2021).

Congrats to Professor Quayson on this well-deserved honor!