Ayi Kwei Armah was born in the port city of Sekondi-Takoradi in Ghana to Fante-speaking parents, descending on his father's side from a royal family in the Ga nation. From 1953 to 1958 Armah attended the Prince of Wales's College (now better known as Achimota School), and won a scholarship to study in the United States, where he was between 1959 and 1963. He attended Groton School in Groton, MA, and after graduating he entered Harvard University, receiving a degree in sociology. He then moved to Algeria and worked as a translator for the magazine "Révolution Africaine". In 1964, he returned to Ghana, where he was a scriptwriter for Ghana Television and later taught English at the Navrongo Secondary School.