Rajat Neogy (December 17, 1939 – December 3, 1995),Paul Theroux

''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 15 January 1996, a

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

n of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

ancestry, was a writer, poet and publisher. In

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

in 1961, at the age of 22, he founded ''

Transition Magazine ''Transition Magazine'' was established in 1961 by Rajat Neogy as ''Transition Magazine: An International Review''. It was published from 1961 to 1976 in various countries on the African continent, and since 1991 in the United States. In recent y ...

'', which went on to become widely influential throughout Africa. In the words of

Ngugi wa Thiong'o Ngugi or Ngũgĩ is a name of Kikuyu origin that may refer to: *Ngugi wa Mirii (1951–2008), Kenyan playwright *Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (born 1938), Kenyan writer *David Mwaniki Ngugi, Kenyan politician and member of the National Assembly of Kenya *Jo ...

, "he (Neogy) believed in the multi-cultural and multifaceted character of ideas, and he wanted to provide a space where different ideas could meet, clash, and mutually illuminate. ''Transition'' became the intellectual forum of the New East Africa, and indeed Africa, the first publisher of some of the leading intellectuals in the continent, including

Wole Soyinka Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka (Yoruba: ''Akínwándé Olúwọlé Babátúndé Ṣóyíinká''; born 13 July 1934), known as Wole Soyinka (), is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded t ...

Ali Mazrui Ali Al'amin Mazrui (24 February 1933 – 12 October 2014), was a Kenyan-born American academic, professor, and political writer on African and Islamic studies, and North-South relations. He was born in Mombasa, Kenya. His positions included Dir ...

and

Peter Nazareth Peter Nazareth (born 27 April 1940) is a Ugandan-born literary critic and writer of fiction and drama. Life Peter Nazareth was born in Uganda of Indian Goan ancestry, and his mother's family was earlier based in Malaya-Malaysia-Singapore. He was ...

."Ngugi wa Thiong'o
"Asia in My Life"
''

Chimurenga ''Chimurenga'' is a word in the Shona language. The Ndebele equivalent, though not as widely used since the majority of Zimbabweans are Shona speaking, is ''Umvukela'', meaning "revolutionary struggle" or uprising. In specific historical term ...

'', 15 May 2012.

Biography

Neogy was born and grew up in Kampala, Uganda. He studied at university in London and after returning to Uganda in 1961 founded ''Transition'', which soon came to be considered the leading journal of free expression in Africa. In 1968, after criticizing the Ugandan government in the magazine, was charged with sedition and spent months in detention before being acquitted and released. Leaving Uganda, he moved in 1970 to

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, where he resumed publishing ''Transition'', with

taking over as editor. Neogy then settled in the United States. Neogy died aged 57 at his home in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, where he had lived for two decades.Eric Pace
"Rajat Neogy, 57, Founder of Journal on Africa"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', 11 December 1995.

References

External links

Paul Theroux Paul Edward Theroux (born April 10, 1941) is an American novelist and travel writer who has written numerous books, including the travelogue, '' The Great Railway Bazaar'' (1975). Some of his works of fiction have been adapted as feature films. He ...

,
Rajat Neogy Remembered
''Transition'', No. 69 (1996), pp. 4–7. * Paul Theroux

''The Independent'', 15 January 1996. 1939 births 1995 deaths Ugandan male poets Ugandan people of Indian descent Ugandan people of Bengali descent 20th-century Ugandan poets 20th-century male writers {{Uganda-writer-stub