Efua Theodora Morgue was born on June 27, 1924, in Cape Coast, then in the Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana), into a Christian family. After her mother’s tragic death in a road accident, she was raised by her grandmother Araba Mansa, whose strength and resilience profoundly shaped Efua’s character. Demonstrating academic brilliance early on, she earned a scholarship to study at St. Monica’s Training College in Mampong, where she trained as a teacher. Driven by a desire to connect more deeply with her heritage, she pursued further education in England, attending Homerton College, Cambridge University, and later the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, studying linguistics, African languages, and drama

Efua’s commitment to Pan-African ideals was evidenced by her collaborations with prominent African and diaspora figures like Chinua Achebe, Maya Angelou, W. E. B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, Wole Soyinka, and others. Her vision inspired the Pan-African Festival of Theatre Arts (PANAFEST), first held in 1992. As a child advocate, she co-authored the educational photo essay Playtime in Africa and later chaired Ghana’s National Commission on Children (1983–1990), promoting children’s parks and creative education. In the early 1970s, she also co-founded Afram Publications, becoming one of Ghana’s pioneering indigenous publishers

Efua’s dramatic works profoundly shaped Ghanaian theatre. Her notable plays include Foriwa (1962), exploring the fusion of new and traditional values; Edufa (1967), inspired by Euripides’s Alcestis; and The Marriage of Anansewa (1975), a storytelling drama rooted in folklore. Her children’s literature included the rhythm plays Vulture! Vulture!, Tahinta (both 1968), and pictorial essays like Playtime in Africa (1960) and The Roadmakers (1961). Her writing was frequently featured on radio programs such as The Singing Net, and she expanded the reach of children's literature in Ghana.

In her later years, Efua focused heavily on children’s literature, cultural education, and community theatre. She launched the Atukwei Okai-led Ghana National Children’s Park project and supported initiatives that gave children creative spaces for expression. She continued writing, mentoring, and building institutions that reinforced African identity through art. Despite health challenges, she remained active in cultural advocacy until the mid-1990s.

Efua returned to Ghana in 1951 and began teaching at Fijai Secondary School and later at St. Monica’s School. It was during this period she began writing for children, sparked by frustration at the lack of literature that resonated with Ghanaian realities “it had nothing to do with their environment… And so I started writing,” she recalled.

Efua Theodora Sutherland married Bill Sutherland, an African-American educator and Pan-Africanist who had settled in Ghana during the early years of the independence movement. Their union reflected their shared vision of African cultural revival and political empowerment. Together, they had three children, including the writer and activist Esi Sutherland-Addy, who would later carry on her mother’s intellectual and cultural legacy.

Following Ghana’s independence in 1957, Efua established the Ghana Society of Writers (later the Ghana Association of Writers) and launched the literary magazine Okyeame in 1960, where she served as editor. She also founded the Ghana Experimental Theatre in 1958, which evolved into the Ghana Drama Studio at the University of Ghana, offering a platform for indigenous theatre; this was later formalized under the Institute of African Studies with Efua as a research associate

Efua Theodora Sutherland passed away on January 21, 1996, in Accra, Ghana. She was 71 years old. Her legacy as a playwright, poet, teacher, and cultural activist lives on through her works, the institutions she built, and the generation of writers and scholars she inspired. Her daughter, Esi Sutherland-Addy, has carried forward her vision, ensuring that Efua’s contributions to theatre, literature, and cultural development remain celebrated both in Ghana and internationally.