Frank Odoi

Frank Odoi, one of Africa's foremost cartoonists, was born in the mining town of Tarkwa in western Ghana in 1948. He was the only boy amongst seven sisters. He lost his father at an early age and was primarily raised by his mother. He was married to Monicah Asami, who later changed her name to Caroline Odoi. They had three daughters Maureen Atulo, Francesca Ajua Odoi and Francine Ashardey Odoi.

Life and career After completing elementary school, Frank tried to join the military but was rejected because he was underage. So he enrolled at The Ghanatta School of Fine Arts and Design and later found work at the Medical School in Ghana where he worked as an assistant medical artist.

In the late 1970s, Odoi emigrated to Kenya where he joined up with the doyen of Kenyan cartoonists, Terry Hirst, and became a contributor to Hirst's illustrated humour magazine Joe. Odoi later inherited Terry's position at the Daily Nation newspaper as editorial cartoonist but he also continued working on other publications in collaboration with other Kenyan cartoonists such as Paul Kelemba, Gado, and Kham. and even spent three years as an illustrator at the International Centre For Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), a job he described as challenging: "Can you imagine an Artist working in the middle of all those Scientists!!! That was challenging, but I did it for three years! After all, someone has to do it." He has also held exhibitions in East Africa, West Africa and Europe.

Another of Frank's famous works is the Golgoti series which also appeared in newspapers in Ghana and East Africa. This series is about a white explorer who comes to Africa, but this time the story is narrated from the black man's perspective. Book versions of the Golgoti comic series have been published in Finland and England.

Frank died on 21 April 2012 when a matatu (public-transport mini-buses that ply the Kenyan roads) he was riding in veered off the road and crashed into a ditch, killing the cartoonist and another passenger.