Cynthia Amoah

Cynthia Amoah is a Ghanaian-American poet, national speaker, and teaching artist. A 2025 GCAC Artist Elevated awardee, she received her MFA from The New School, where she was cited for Excellence in Poetry, and has been featured on three TEDx stages, The Lincoln Theatre, and the United Nations Information Center in Accra, Ghana, among many. Cynthia’s dynamic voice and commanding stage presence reflect the vibrant oral traditions of her homeland, which continue to shape her work. Her writing and performances often engage enduring questions of identity and belonging, displacement, migration, and uprootedness.

A nationally recognized speaker, Cynthia is a leading Youth Speaker with the Student Success Agency, through which she has traveled across 12 states delivering transformative keynotes and workshops to more than 17,300 students across 56 schools. She recently served as the 2025 Inaugural Writer-in-Residence at the Bexley Public Library and as the 'Arts in the Parks' Coordinator for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, where she collaborates with artists statewide to bring creative programming into parks and outdoor spaces. Cynthia has also facilitated leadership and writing workshops with notable organizations such as The Poetry Foundation, Columbus Metropolitan Libraries, and the Ohio Arts Council, among many. These partnerships reflect her ongoing commitment to cultivating art in community-centered, accessible spaces.

In 2016, Cynthia served as a writer for the Columbus-based arts collective Maroon Arts Group, joining seven other artists-in-residence in the creation of Write The Power, a social-justice–oriented choreopoem. Shortly thereafter, in December 2018, she founded and directed Women & Words, an all-women poetry showcase featuring Ghanaian writers, poets, and artists living and working in Accra, Ghana.

Cynthia’s work has been published or is forthcoming in Nimrod Journal, University of Canberra Vice Chancellor’s Anthology, Ohio Humanities: Pathways, The Journal: A Literary Magazine, and The African Poetry Book Fund’s New-Generation African Poets Chapbooks by Akashic Books. Her chapbook, 'Handrails,' was published by Akashic Books in Fall 2021. She resides in Columbus, Ohio, with her family, where she facilitates workshops in poetry, positive thinking, confidence-building, and using voice as an instrument for strength, belonging, and social change. For more information and inquiries, please visit www.cynthiaamoah.com.