''Glendora Review'' is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

that publishes work relating to art, literature, and culture.

Origins

The magazine was conceived in an atmosphere of intellectual crisis, following the brain drain from

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, during the

Sani Abacha Sani Abacha (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) was a Nigerian military officer and politician who ruled as the military head of state of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998. He seized power on 17 November 1993 in the last successful c ...

regime. It was founded by Olakunle Tejuoso and his brother Toyin (whose family owns the

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

alternative bookstore, after which the journal is named). Olakunle wanted to create a forum where people could access the work being done by Nigerian intellectuals who had fled the country, and a bridge for artistic theories and activities being propagated by African intellectuals in the West and their contemporaries at home. Although it was initially focused on Nigeria's arts and cultures, ''Glendora'' grew into a pan-African journal, with regular features and interviews of icons such as

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (; born James Ngugi; 5 January 1938) is a Literature of Kenya, Kenyan author and academic who writes primarily in Gikuyu language, Gikuyu and who formerly wrote in English language, English. He has been described as having bee ...

Mbongeni Ngema Mbongeni Ngema (born 1 June 1956) is a South African writer, lyricist, composer, director, choreographer and theatre producer, born in Verulam, KwaZulu-Natal (near Durban). He started his career as a theatre backing guitarist. He wrote the mul ...

, Sembene Ousmane,

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific out ...

, and other critical texts on African literature. The journal also included a books supplement. The last issue of ''Glendora'' appeared in 2004, and its publishers have since focused on the publication of books, such as ''Lagos: A City At Work'' on the West African megapolis, .

Scope

Constantly engaging and interrogating the idea of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, as a contested and dynamic invention, ''Glendora Review'' provided a platform for intellectual discourse on literary, visual and performance cultures that are sensitive to the mutations and complexities of cultural work on the African continent in a global age. A strong aesthetic sense, coupled with an editorial style that (while rigorous) managed to avoid being too intellectual or esoteric, attracted a wide-ranging readership in Nigeria and abroad.

Critical assessment

Reviewing the influence of ''Glendora'' on the younger generation of Nigerian writers, ''

African Literature Today ''African Literature Today'' (''ALT'') is a journal that was first published in 1968 and is now the oldest international journal of African Literature still publishing. The journal was founded by Eldred Durosimi Jones, and annual volumes were ed ...

'' writes: "Indeed there may be said to be a Glendora Group or a Glendora Generation, made up of those who as critics or poets, and guided by Dapo Adeneyi, published in the journal."

References

External links

"Bibliography: Glendora Review And Visual Arts Criticism In Nigeria, 1995-2004"
''ArtoP''. {{Nigerian magazines 1994 establishments in Nigeria Cultural magazines Magazines established in 1994 Magazines published in Nigeria Quarterly magazines

Origins

Scope

Critical assessment

See also

References

External links