Abiola Irele and the publicness of African letters

Abstract

In his book, Little Magazine, World Form, Eric Bulson restates a widely held view about a change in editorial vision for the famous literary magazine, Black Orpheus, once, Ulli Beier, the founder of the magazine resigned from the editorial board. Beier left his position as editor in 1968, handing over the reins to Abiola Irele and John Pepper Clark. Commenting on the transition to a new leadership, Bulson writes that Irele and Pepper Clark's tenure as editors coincided with growing insularity and a move away from the black internationalism that Beier had cultivated for the magazine. This paper responds to that assessment of Irele's editorial priorities by reviewing Irele's involvement in the publishing of small magazines focused on African literary writing from the early 1960s until the second decade of the twenty-first century. It also offers some reflections on the impediments to critical visibility for what Irele termed African Letters.