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Letter from the Publisher
Outside In
February 15, 2010 has just
become an important date for me. Like December
1, 2002 has been important to me; being the date
that Sentinel Poetry Movement was established.
Optimistic as ever, I
celebrate this day high on the wine of hope,
that as Sentinel Poetry Movement is now seven
years old going on eight, not too long from now,
somewhere in Abuja, Lagos or even my hometown
Isuikwuato, we shall soon come together to eat
juicy meats, and drink nature's own brew in
celebration of ten years of Sentinel Literary
Movement of Nigeria, and our magazine; Sentinel
Nigeria. Let me hear everyone say ise! On
that day, we shall talk about the gems of
Nigerian literature that were given their first
public platforms by Sentinel Nigeria magazine. I
desire a legion of gems, but to be honest, if
only one comes out of our pages and goes on to
benchmark our generation, we would have
succeeded.
Before Sentinel Poetry
(Online), there were not many online publishing
resources for Africans, and Nigerians in
particular. Things have changed since Sentinel
showed it was possible - even for Nigerians, and
today we have the likes of African Writing,
Black Biro, Saraba, and Maple Tree Literary
Supplement which was founded by Amatoritsero
Ede, himself a former editor of Sentinel Poetry
(online) magazine. It is therefore not a light
legacy that Richard Ali and his team have taken
on. I was recently asked by Chuma Nwokolo jr,
publisher of African Writing if I did not feel
that starting off Sentinel Nigeria would dilute
the brand. But really, I don't think so. Even as
I write, I am in advanced talks with two people
down under in Australia working on Sentinel
Australia, and a young woman in San Francisco,
who's got it into her head she could build a
Sentinel USA. I am really excited about it all,
and I believe that the global spread of Sentinel
can never be a bad thing. The only thing that
must happen is that I will have to hand over the
webmaster's job to somebody else to release me
to do other things.
I wish that I had started
Sentinel Poetry Movement in Nigeria and then
exported it. If in the end it conquers the
literary world, it might have felt particularly
good to say that this mustard seed grew out of
Nigeria. As it is, it has been nurtured outside
Nigeria and now a chapter of the movement has
brought the brand home. I am hoping that
Nigeria's many celebrated talents will embrace
this publication, support it mostly with quality
writing that will position Nigeria well in our
own eyes and in the eyes of the rest of the
world.
This is a time for the
believers in the concept of us telling our own
stories to realise that in Sentinel Nigeria,
they have a great and vocal ally.
Nnorom Azuonye
London. 15 February, 2010
nnorom.azuonye@sentinelpoetry.org.uk
+44 (0) 7812 755 751
www.nnoromazuonye.com
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