Born in the UK, in 1974, and raised in Ghana

Ghana

Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

 (where he attended Achimota School

Achimota School

Achimota School , is an elite and highly selective co-educational secondary school located at Achimota in Accra, Ghana. It was established and commenced operations in 1924 and formally opened in 1927 by Sir Frederick Gordon Guggisberg -- then governor of the Gold Coast...

), Nii Ayikwei Parkes is a performance poet, writer and sociocultural commentator. A veteran of several poetry festivals, and former Poet-In-Residence at the Poetry Cafe in London, he has performed Poetry in the UK, Europe, Ghana and the US and was a 2005 Associate Artist-In-Residence with BBC Radio 3. In 2007 he was British Council writer-in-residence at California State University, Los Angeles and became one of the youngest living writers (along with Owen Sheers

Owen Sheers

Owen Sheers is a Welsh poet, author, playwright, actor and TV presenter.-Biography:Owen Sheers was born in Suva, Fiji in 1974 and brought up in Abergavenny, South Wales...

 and Choman Hardi

Choman Hardi

Choman Hardi , is a contemporary Kurdish poet, translator and painter. She was born in Sulaimaniya in Iraqi Kurdistan. In 1975 her family fled to Iran after the Algiers Accord but returned to Iraq after a general amnesty in 1979. They were forced to move again in 1988 during the Anfal campaign...

) featured in the Poems on the Underground programme in London for his poem Tin Roof.

Nii runs regular workshops in the UK and has set up a Writer’s Fund in Ghana to promote writing among the country's youth.