Yepoka Yeebo

Yepoka Yeebo is a London-based writer, journalist, and photographer. Her non-fiction book Anansi's Gold: The man who swindled the world (Bloomsbury, 2023), won the Jhalak Prize in 2024.

Yeebo was raised in London, and was working as a journalist and living in Ghana and the UK when she wrote Anansi's Gold over a period of six years. The book is a biography of Ghanaian financial criminal John Ackah Blay-Miezah. Alongside winning the Jhalak Prize, the book was awarded the 2024 Plutarch Award by the Biographers International Organization. It was additionally shortlisted for the Mark Lynton History Prize and The New York Times Book Review named Anansi's Gold as a Notable Book of 2023.

In 2015, Yeebo's photographs of Agbogbloshie in Accra, Ghana highlighted the adverse ecological and social effects of the dumping of international electronic waste in the region.

Yeebo lives in West London. An interview with Yeebo features on the Pulitzer Centre's resources for schools in their "meet the journalist" series.

References

  1. ↑ Creamer, Ella (2024-05-30). "Yepoka Yeebo takes home 2024 Jhalak prize for writers of colour". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-07-04.
  2. ↑ Maphosa, Bongiwe T. (2024-06-03). "Yepoka Yeebo Wins The 2024 Jhalak Prize - JAY Lit". Retrieved 2026-07-04.
  3. ↑ Mechling, Lauren (2023-08-18). "The Ghanaian conman who fooled the elite: 'He gave them excitement'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-07-04.
  4. ↑ "How an International Con Artist Defrauded People for Decades". InsideHook. Retrieved 2026-07-04.
  5. ↑ Dwamena, Anakwa (2023-08-02). "A Rich Stranger Wants to Give You All His Money. There's a Catch". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-07-04.
  6. ↑ "The $160 billion Oman Ghana trust that wasn't". TLS. Retrieved 2026-07-04.
  7. ↑ "The African Con Man Who Outsmarted Presidents: Review of Yepoka Yeebo's Anansi's Gold". Brittle Paper. 2025-03-20. Retrieved 2026-07-04.
  8. ↑ "Podcast #212 - Carol Sklenicka & Yepoka Yeebo". Biographers International Organization. 2025-04-11. Retrieved 2026-07-04.
  9. ↑ Staff, The New York Times Books (2023-11-21). "100 Notable Books of 2023". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-07-06.
  10. ↑ "A Shadow Economy Lurks In An Electronics Graveyard". NPR. 2015-01-04. Retrieved 2026-07-04.
  11. ↑ Veitch, Eleanor (2023-08-03). "Yepoka Yeebo on Her Favorite Bookstores and Literary Con Artists". Interview Magazine. Retrieved 2026-07-04.
  12. ↑ "Meet the Journalist: Yepoka Yeebo". Pulitzer Center. Retrieved 2026-07-04.