Foreword

Ndaanan, I am told, is the Wollof word for “an accomplished griot” and as the griot is in a sense a total artist embracing music and dancing, poetry and history, I think [The New] Ndaanan eminently expresses the aims of a literary publication with which I am proud to be associated. [ ... ]

The aim of this bi-annual is to stimulate literary activities of all kinds and to provide an outlet (though I hope channelled) for the seething Gambian talents. Already we are much encouraged and impressed by the quality and variety of the material we have received, but the editorial committee is rightly keen that contributions are not limited to short stories and poems alone. It is our hope that short plays, essays cartoons, photographs with commentary relating to pottery, carving, weaving will in due course come our way so that [The New] Ndaanan will become a comprehensive publication of the total literary activities of Gambians.

But it is not enough to publish and be damned. In order to survive, literary magazines require sustenance in the form of an active readership and, of course, money.

This inaugural issue may well be the foundation stone of an exciting future for literature in The Gambia.

It is up to us, and who knows that in our search for talent, we may discover genius?

Dr Lenrie Peters

Ndaanan, Sept 1971, Vol 1, No. 1