INTRODUCTION

Only a fewdedicated studies have been done on the roles played bylittle magazines in the development of modern Africanpoetry. These studies often limit themselves to a particularphase or period. It is this lacuna in scholarship that thispaper investigates by engaging with the roles played bylittle magazines in developing modern African poetry fromits earliest inceptions until the contemporary period. Theinfluences of these magazines are identified from theirroles as propagandist mechanisms, as nursery beds for poets,as forums between poets and readers, as catalysts to poeticcriticism and as manifestoes for literary traditions. Littlemagazines examined in this paper include L'EtudiantNoir, Présence Africaine,Drum, Black Orpheus,Transition,Staffrider, Okike,Kwani? and NewContrast. Findings show that little magazinesare the nucleus with which African poetry gainedconsciousness and attained maturation. Modern African poetshave developed their craft, expressed their ideologies andexperimented with new forms on the pages of these littlemagazines. Some of these magazines also servesocio-political and propagandist functions. Recommendationsare made for the continuance of the little magazinetradition in the invention of future African poetictraditions.

This paperengages the historical evolution of modern African poetryand the roles played by little magazines. African literaryhistorians, critics and scholars pay little attention to theroles of formative little magazines in the development ofmodern African poetry. This lacuna in scholarship hasrelegated the roles of little magazines in the creation of aliterary canon and the development of poets. The historicalevolution of modern African poetry is examined with the viewto emphasizing the place and importance of little magazines.Questions that the paper attempts to answer include: whatroles have little magazines played in the development ofmodern African poetry? How have little magazines influencedAfrican poetic traditions? What are little magazines doingnow to promote the development of modern African poetry?These questions are answered with deep historical readingsof modern African poetic history. This paper focuses on thepoets and the magazines rather than the individual poems,and it presents a diachronic overview of African poetichistory and the influences of little magazines from thecolonial, through the post-colonial to the contemporaryperiod. Attempts are made to cover the various regions ofAfrica.