Savacou
A Jamaican literary journal that promoted Caribbean writing, oral-based poetics, and new ideas emerging from the Caribbean Artists Movement.
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Overview
Savacou was a Jamaican literary and cultural journal associated with the Caribbean Artists Movement and the intellectual environment of the University of the West Indies. It was established in 1970 as a small cooperative venture led by the poet, historian, and cultural theorist Edward Kamau Brathwaite on the university's Mona campus. Kenneth Ramchand and Andrew Salkey were also central to the journal's launch and early editorial work. The publication took its name from Savacou, a bird-god in Carib mythology associated with thunder and powerful winds, a name that reflected the journal's interest in forceful cultural expression and the recovery of Caribbean intellectual and artistic agency. The journal grew out of the Caribbean Artists Movement, which had developed during the 1960s as a network bringing together writers, visual artists, musicians, performers, and other cultural workers. CAM sought both to encourage Caribbean artistic production and to build a wider alliance among peoples and artists of the so-called Third World. Savacou gave that movement a continuing print forum. Rather than treating Caribbean literature as a derivative branch of established European traditions, it published work and debate concerned with local speech, history, performance, music, identity, colonialism, and the relationship between literature and everyday culture. The first issue appeared in June 1970. Its editorial and advisory network included prominent Caribbean writers and intellectuals such as John La Rose, Lloyd King, Gordon Rohlehr, Orlando Patterson, Sylvia Wynter, Paule Marshall, and Wilfred Cartey. Early contributors included C. L. R. James, Michael Anthony, Derek Walcott, George Lamming, Martin Carter, and John Figueroa. This combination of established figures and emerging perspectives helped give the journal a broad regional and international profile within Caribbean letters. Savacou became particularly influential, and controversial, through its double issue 3/4, published as New Writing 1970: An Anthology of Poetry and Verse. The issue foregrounded oral-based poetics, performance poetry, and Creole verse. It challenged conventional distinctions between written and spoken language, literary text and street culture, and words and music. In doing so, it questioned the authority of standard literary formats and provoked substantial debate in Caribbean literary circles. The controversy was not simply about style: it concerned who could define literary value, which forms of language belonged in serious literature, and how Caribbean writing should relate to popular speech and performance traditions. Fifteen issues were published between 1970 and 1979. Publication ceased in 1980 with issue 15. Although the journal's run was relatively short, it has been described by literary scholarship as groundbreaking because it helped consolidate an approach to Caribbean writing that valued vernacular expression, performance, cultural memory, and intellectual independence. The name Savacou was also used as a publishing imprint, extending the identity beyond the periodical itself. The journal remains relevant to the history of Caribbean modernism, postcolonial literary criticism, and the institutional development of Caribbean cultural movements.
History
Savacou emerged from the Caribbean Artists Movement, a 1960s cultural network concerned with Caribbean artistic production and broader solidarities among artists and intellectuals from formerly colonized societies. The journal was founded in 1970 on the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies in Jamaica as a small cooperative project led by Edward Kamau Brathwaite, with Kenneth Ramchand and Andrew Salkey serving as founding editors. Its title referred to a bird-god in Carib mythology associated with thunder and strong winds. The first issue was published in June 1970. Savacou's advisory committee and contributor network connected it to a substantial cross-section of Caribbean and diasporic intellectual life. John La Rose, Lloyd King, Gordon Rohlehr, Orlando Patterson, Sylvia Wynter, Paule Marshall, and Wilfred Cartey were among those associated with its advisory structure, while contributors included C. L. R. James, Michael Anthony, Derek Walcott, George Lamming, Martin Carter, and John Figueroa. The journal's most widely discussed early intervention was its double issue 3/4, New Writing 1970: An Anthology of Poetry and Verse. By publishing oral-based poetics, performance poetry, and Creole verse, the issue challenged the assumption that serious literature should conform to standardized written forms. It also questioned the boundaries separating literary language from popular speech, words from music, and the printed page from live performance. These choices produced major discussion and controversy in Caribbean literary circles, helping make Savacou an important venue for debates over language, cultural authority, and the direction of Caribbean writing. Savacou published fifteen issues from 1970 through 1979 and ended with issue 15 in 1980. The journal's relatively brief lifespan did not prevent it from becoming an influential record of Caribbean literary experimentation and cultural politics. Its importance lies in the way it connected institutional literary publishing with vernacular expression, performance, oral tradition, and the self-definition of Caribbean artists. The Savacou name was also used as a publishing imprint, indicating that its cultural role extended beyond the periodical series.
- 1980
Publication ceases
[1]The journal ends with issue 15.
- 1979
Fifteenth issue published during the journal's active run
[1]Savacou completes a fifteen-issue publication sequence spanning the 1970s.
- 1970
Savacou is founded
[1]Edward Kamau Brathwaite, Kenneth Ramchand, and Andrew Salkey establish Savacou as a cooperative journal connected to the Caribbean Artists Movement at the University of the West Indies Mona campus.
- 1970
First issue published
[1]The inaugural issue appears in June, creating a new forum for Caribbean literature, criticism, and cultural ideas.
- 1970
New Writing 1970 anthology issue
[1]Double issue 3/4 features oral-based, performance, and Creole poetry and becomes the focus of significant literary debate.
Products and positioning
A movement-linked Caribbean literary publication emphasizing experimental writing, oral traditions, Creole expression, performance, and culturally independent approaches to literature.
Literary periodical · 1970
Savacou journal
The core Savacou periodical published Caribbean poetry, fiction, criticism, cultural commentary, and new writing. Its editorial identity was tied to the Caribbean Artists Movement and to debates about how Caribbean experience should be represented in literature. The journal combined established and emerging writers and gave particular attention to vernacular language, oral traditions, performance, and the relationship between literary production and popular culture.
Special journal issue and anthology · 1970
New Writing 1970: An Anthology of Poetry and Verse
Savacou's double issue 3/4 assembled poetry and verse that foregrounded oral-based poetics, performance, and Creole expression. It became one of the journal's defining publications because it directly challenged conventional literary categories and stimulated debate over standardized language, textual authority, and the place of popular and performance culture in Caribbean writing.
Publishing imprint
Savacou publishing imprint
The Savacou name was also used as a publishing imprint associated with the journal's wider cultural project. Available reference material confirms the imprint's existence but does not provide a complete catalogue of its individual titles.
Brand decisions
1980
End the journal's publicationOtherBackground
Savacou had published fifteen issues between 1970 and 1979.
Action taken
Publication ceased with issue 15.
Aftermath
The Savacou journal became a historical reference point in Caribbean literary and cultural studies, while the name also continued to appear as a publishing imprint.
1970
Adopt vernacular and performance-centered literary publishingStrategyBackground
The founders sought to extend the cultural work of the Caribbean Artists Movement and to challenge inherited assumptions about what counted as Caribbean literature.
Action taken
Savacou published oral-based poetics, performance poetry, and Creole verse alongside literary and cultural writing.
Aftermath
The approach provoked substantial debate but helped establish the journal as an influential forum for Caribbean literary experimentation.
Recent events
- 1980
Savacou publication run ends with issue 15[1]
Other
After publishing fifteen issues during the 1970s, Savacou ceased publication with issue 15 in 1980.
- 1970
Savacou launches as a Caribbean Artists Movement journal[1]
Other
The first issue of Savacou appeared in June 1970 from the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies, establishing a new print forum for Caribbean literature and cultural debate.
- 1970
New Writing 1970 issue provokes Caribbean literary debate[1]
Other
The journal's double issue 3/4 presented oral-based poetics, performance poetry, and Creole verse, challenging established literary conventions and generating controversy in Caribbean literary circles.
Sources2 sources
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