Adiela Akoo

Adiela Akoo was born on the 4th of May in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, though mostly raised and educated in the neighbouring city of Durban, where she received the prestigious Dux Award (Valedictorian). She has a background in banking and comprehensive healing.

In her spare time she loves creating art and crafts using mixed media, reading, spending time with loved ones, watching movies, playing scrabble and chess, creating in the kitchen, chatting to the birds out in the garden, or the stray cats who have adopted her, among other things.

She was nominated as one of the Top 7 ‘Most Promising Literary Influencers’ in the GBC Awards 2020 and received the Silver Star Award from the Global Literary Society for 'excellent contribution to world literature', among others. She was included in the Best Emerging Poets of 2019 series, the Best New African Poets 2020 - 2023, has won poetry contests, and been published in a variety of journals and anthologies across the world. She has also represented the Durban Unesco City of Literature in various collaborations with other cities of literature.

‘Lost in a Quatrain’, her deep, soulful, debut collection, was cathartically written over a period of 18 years and is a thought-provoking read on a journey to becoming, a journey of hope and healing.

The poem “Whiplash” from the book was quoted in a debate in The House of Parliament and ‘Pre Natal’ was nominated “Poem of the Day’ on the popular poetry platform, PoemHunter. Lost in a Quatrain was First Runner-Up for poetry in the South African Independent Publisher Awards 2021. Her second collection will be released in 2024.

As an ambassador of literacy, she volunteered her time in the position of Vice-Chair of Litasa, KZN – The Literacy Association of South Africa. She is also the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the new literary journal, The Quilled Ink Review.

Read her backstory and connect with her here: https://linktr.ee/Adiela.Akoo