Exploring Ghana Through Obsidian

Yet another great literary publication through which global cultures and perspectives can be explored is Obsidian: Literature of the African Diasporas. The most recent issue (v8 i2 – don’t let the 2007 date throw you; it just came out) focuses on Ghana – “Honoring the Legacy and Literature of Independent Africa, 1957-2007.”

Editor Sheila Smith McKoy introduces the issue: “As the first sub-Saharan African country to gain its independence from its ‘colonizer,’ Ghana set the stage for the domino effect of freedom across the African continent…In this issue, Obsidian celebrates the legacies of Independent Africa, her literature, her cultures, and their impact across Africa, her Diaspora and our world.”

Poets in this issue include Kofie Anyidoho, Makuchi, Shane Book, and Sheila Smith McKoy – “all offer riffs on the issues that contextualize the experiences of African and Diasporan identity.” M. Genevieve West interviews Makuchi, several essays “provide diverse perspectives on Ghana and her legacy,” and Kim Coleman Foote contributes to the fiction.