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Miss Portia Dery

Portia Dery is a Ghanaian writer, development worker and a doctoral researcher with focus on Literacy. In 2013, she turned her passion for reading and writing into an innovative social called AYWO which helps school children from low-resource communities improve their literacy skills via a bespoke literacy mentorship program called the funky readwrite clinic’. Her debut book 'Grandma's List' has won notable awards. As a researcher, Portia is interested in exploring Reading for pleasure (RfP); African storie

Profile summary

Professional biography

Portia Dery is a Ghanaian writer, development worker and a doctoral researcher with focus on Literacy. In 2013, she turned her passion for reading and writing into an innovative social venture AYWO which helps school children from low-resource communities improve their literacy skills via a bespoke literacy mentorship program called the funky readwrite clinic. Her debut book 'Grandma's List' has won notable awards. As a researcher, Portia is interested in exploring Reading for pleasure (RfP); African stories, arts-based, and participatory tools to improve the reading skills of children in low-resource communities in the global south.       

As a development worker, she has worked within the rural development space for over a decade working with government agencies and  stakeholders to implement, monitor and evaluate social and community programs for women, children and the vulnerable.

 As a writer, Portia is tackling the lack of diverse African stories for children in the global market.In 2014, Portia became the first Ghanaian to win the Golden Baobab Prize for Picture Books with her story ‘Grandma’s List which has won the prestigious 2018 Children's Africana Book Award and the 2019 Ghana Association of Writers (GAW) literature prize for children's books. Portia is currently working on her next book, ‘A Journey through Africa’ with Imagnary House.                                                                                                                     

Research interests

Focusing on the use of qualitative methods, Portia is interested in exploring Reading for pleasure (RfP), arts-based, and participatory tools to improve the reading skills of children in low-resource communities in the Global South, particularly in Ghana. She is also keen on exploring the unique benefits of African stories; oral stories, and the promotion of mother tongue language in improving the reading skills of children with English as a second language.

Skills: Qualitative research methods , Data Analysis, Creative reserach methods, Design of joyful learning activities for children, Community moblization, Impact assessment.