The audience at Saraba‘s issue launch.

At the 2017 Ake Arts and Book Festival, Saraba magazine launched its first print issue. Themed Transitions, the issue features short fiction, reportage, travel writing, poetry, and photography. Its cover art is by Ojima Abalaka, whose artwork has appeared in The New York Times.

Among the contributors are: 2014 Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets winner Ladan Osman; 2016 Brunel Prize winner Gbenga Adesina; 2017 Brittle Paper Award for Fiction finalist TJ Benson; 2017 Brittle Paper Award for Essays/Think Pieces finalist Kola Tubosun; and the Baileys Prize-shortlisted author of Stay with Me, Ayobami Adebayo.

Saraba was founded in 2009 by Dami Ajayi, author of the poetry collection A Woman’s Body Is a Country, and its editor Emmanuel Iduma, author of the novel The Sound of Things to Come and, recently, winner of an Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant. At the launch, they talked about how they came to found the magazine, after which some of the contributors read from their works.

Enjoy the photos.

Copies of “Transitions,” Saraba’s first print issue.
L-R: Dami Ajayi and Emmanuel Iduma, co-founders of Saraba.

 

 

Photo Credit: Ake Festival Media Team.