[1][2][3] On returning to Ghana, Kayper-Mensah taught at Wesley College in Kumasi, where he remained for seven years.
By the late 1950s, he was performing poetry and plays on Ghanaian radio, and also appearing on the BBC’s The Brains Trust in February 1959.
[3] He went on to join Ghana’s diplomatic service, serving overseas for 15 years, including periods in Bonn and London.
At the time, he was serving in Germany as Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
[8] Many of Kayper-Mensah’s early poems appeared first in Ghanaian journals, before being included in anthologies.
[9] His first collection of poetry, The Dark Wanderer, was published in Germany and won the Margaret Wrong Literary Prize in 1970.
[9] Reviewing the collection the following year, Richard Bauerle described it as ‘the work of a mature poet of cosmopolitan background’.
Tübingen: Erdmann Awoonor, Kofi and Adali-Mortty, G. (1970) Messages: Poems from Ghana.
and Horst Wolff (eds) (1972) Ghanaian Writing: Ghana as seen by her own writers as well as German authors.
Moore, Gerald and Beier, Ulli (eds) (1984) The Penguin book of modern African poetry.