Sex is still an awkward subject in conversations about African literature. Whereas African authors are not very keen on writing about sex, readers of African literature are too bashful to ask them to step up their sex game.
That’s why when Wale Owoade told me he was working on a special issue of Expound Magazine dedicated to all things erotic, I pretty much cried with joy. The issue is finally here, and it promises to be as fun as I hoped.
Here is how the Editor, Owoade, explains the rationale behind the project:
To us at EXPOUND, erotic art is an ‘in-house art’ and we may have been more anxious for the release of this issue than our readers. This issue took us where we have wanted it too. The works here are bold, sensual, amatory, daring and dirty enough to break norms, forms, traditions and boundaries. If you have been reading us, you would have noticed how much we wanted to break African arts free from conventionalism. Calling this issue dirty is our way of playing along with the ironical African perspective of erotic arts and literature as immoral and evil. We believe this to be a perfect metaphor, hence, The Dirty Issue. Well, in the words of Ocean Voung, how does one free oneself of desire when possessing a physical body means satisfying even its most basic needs.
He couldn’t have said it any better. No better way to break from convention, especially within African literature, than by exploring sex and erotic arts.
Congrats to Owoade and the Expound Magazine team!
Follow this link to read: Expound Magazine—The Dirty Issue
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Image by Pedro Ribeiro Simões via Flickr
Ainehi Edoro January 30, 2016 20:01
Hi Tracy, Thanks for informing me about your work. I checked them out, and they are great. I sent you an email.