“For too many people, especially Black and Asian people, women and other groups who traditionally have had little or no access to mainstream publishers, poetry has been seen as the property of an elite. Yet literature and particularly poetry in cultures from Africa, India, Asia and the Americas was of a living, essential part of the community. It was nearly always originally an oral tradition, shared by the storyteller or poet and his or her neighbours.
Identity Magazine returns to this tradition. What we offer you represents not only excellent work, but work ingrained with the experiences we all recognise, because we have all lived them. And they’re not only wonderful – they’re enjoyable.”
Folk tales, poetry, interviews, the blues, the Black experience, the Asian experience in Nineties Britain.
This is my islan’
where I went to school,
never learn a thing
about colonial rule.
Learn a little maths
an’ some history
taught along the lines
of white supremacy
– from Island in the Sun
by Tina Tamsho-Thomas
Work by Millicent Martin-Henry, Jamaal Malik Al-Harith, Claire Louise Omoboye, Monika Montsho, Lemn Sissay, Shamshad Khan, Trudy Blake, Tina Tamsho, Mark Darbey, Deyika Nzeribe, Ann Tinubu, Fitz Lewis, Cheryl Martin, Elaine Fagbola, Michael Ogazi, Victoria Mckenzie
Featured writers:
Millicent Martin-HenryJamaal Malik Al-HarithClaire Louise OmoboyeQuibilah Montsho (d.2014)Lemn SissayShamshad KhanTrudy Blake (d.2017)Tina Tamsho-ThomasMark DarbeyDeyika Nzeribe (1966-2017)Ann TinubuFitz LewisCheryl MartinElaine FagbolaMichael OgaziVictoria McKenzie (d.?)
