You've given us some signs that still can teach. In 1989 and 1990 Illuminations presented two special issues devoted to writing from South, southern and east Africa. Now, nearly ten years later and with apartheid formally a thing of the past, the current issue reveals how South and southern African poets, prose writers, dramatists and artists are responding to their new circumstances. To complete the coverage of the literary genres, there is a frank and revealing interview with Athol Fugard, and to add visual luster to the entire production there are engravings and woodcuts by two of S outh Africa's best known artists, Cecil Skotnes and Peter Clarke. Few little literary magazines can claim such an impressive eclectic gathering of poems.
Illuminations is a magazine for writers and readers.
We do not carry reviews or critical articles, and footnotes are rare. Nothing is allowed to come between the writer's text and the reader's engagement with it. Illuminations still holds faith in the value of words. You will find nothing fussy or fanciful in our presentation, just the poems and stories clearly and cleanly laid out on the page. The flashes of illumination come from the words themselves, not from any design tricks.