The College of Charleston’s Department of English announces the publication of the 2009 issue of Illuminations: An International Magazine of Contemporary Writing. This issue (No.25) features feisty new writing and photography from Zimbabwe by College of Charleston alumnae Alice Keeney.

Additional items of particular interest are three poems by Charles Mungoshi, one of Zimbabwe’s most celebrated writers, a poem by Chris Magadza (part of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning team on climate change), a piece on former South African president Thabo Mbeki, and a short story by writer-filmmaker Rumbi Katedza, which starts with the death in flagrante of an unnamed octogenarian dictator in bed with his young mistress. The political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe has plainly not dimmed its writers’ and artists’ spirits.

In addition to this lively Zimbabwean material there are poems by leading writers from South Africa, Malawi, Nigeria, Canada and the United Kingdom, as well as by established and emerging U.S. poets. The
eclectic mix is in line with Illuminations’ focus on international writing and the magazine’s policy of promoting new and up-and-coming writers by publishing them alongside already established ones.

Illuminations was established in Columbia, S.C. in 1982 and has been edited since 1985 by College of Charleston English professor Simon Lewis.

For further information or to purchase a copy or subscription, please call Simon at 953-1920, or e-mail him at lewiss@cofc.edu.