Akosua Zimba Afiriyie-Hwedie is a Zambian-Ghanaian poet who grew up in Botswana. She holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan. She is the author of Born in a Second Language (forthcoming 2021), winner of Button Poetry's 2019 Chapbook Contest. She placed 3rd in Palette Poetry’s 2020 Emerging Poet Prize and is a winner of a 2019 Hopwood Award and a 2018 Meader