Writer, editor, TalentEd tutor, Save Ealing Libraries campaigner and activist, Grace Quansah (aka ‘Akuba’) founded Writing, Acting and Publishing Project for Youngsters (WAPPY) in 2008. WAPPY develops the writing, artwork and performance skills of young people (4–25 years), with opportunities for performance, exhibition and publication. It also provides volunteering and training opportunities.

 Published in twenty four collections, Grace co-edited WAPPY’s anthology, The Soul of a Child, with Maureen Roberts, (2011), and Mame Nwia-Amah, by Esther Ackah, with Eric Huntley (2015, Bogle L’Ouverture Press). She recently edited WAPPY’s Arts Council-funded anthology, ‘Wonderful World of WAPPY: 10 Years of Inspirational Writing and Art by Over 100 Young Contributors. (2018, Krik Krak). She’s also contributed poems and a back-cover commentary to Seema Gill’s Lockdown Poetry, September 2020.

During the pandemic crisis, WAPPY has teamed up with The Art of Mindfulness (led by May Whyte) to bring creative expressions and mindfulness practices together for families and young people.   Lockdown Life sessions help young people and families cope with the immediate and long-term impacts of Covid 19 via zoom.

 She has also toured schools and heritage sites with her Marcus Garvey-inspired educational resource, Unpacking That Trunk’, based on her father’s work with the Ghanaian shipping liner, the Black Star Line.

 A lifelong Labour voter, in March 2019 Grace joined the Labour Party and in June she was voted onto the Executive Committee as the Equality Officer. She refuses to use the term, BAME.