Dear Reader,
It has been two years since you last heard from us. This silence was not intentional. The exigencies of living abroad have meant that Yaba Left Review has taken a back seat as we navigate the difficulties of modern life. Be assured that out of sight was not out of mind. We thought passionately about Yaba Left Review—and of you, our reader, a digital native couched somewhere on a phone or desktop.
Running a peer-reviewed and paying literary journal is demanding. YLR is run by volunteers. We, the co-founders, have daytime jobs, families and personal creative interests to pursue. Balancing these acts with curating high-quality content is a form of magic we have not perfected.
But we are in good company. Literary magazines chart precarious courses. Many die early; very few survive. Some die and are resurrected, with or without institutional support. Without institutional support, YLR chose a long beauty sleep.
But we are awake now. We are back. Our quest is unwavering, stronger now than ever. YLR remains committed to publishing writers at all stages of their careers. As we wrote in our mission statement: Yaba has a street for everyone.
We are grateful to our outgoing team of editors—Adeola Opeyemi, O’Jeremiah Agbaakin and Socrates Mbamalu—for their service and wish them well in their future endeavours. Going forward, we will be publishing alongside a yearly issue, frequent new writing—poetry, creative nonfiction and occasionally, fiction—at intervals determined by happenstance, high-quality submissions and funding opportunities.
We have also introduced a cultural journalism supplement, Agbaman, through which we plan to commission outstanding cultural criticism (of books, films, music, fashion, and popular culture) monthly. Pitch to us directly via our email or through our social media accounts. We pay a modest fee.
We present to you Issue Two!
Ancci reviews Alhanislam’s poem which opens Afrobeats musician Davido’s 5ive album.
Káyọ̀dé Fáníyì reviews Rikki Stein’s memoir, Moving Music.
Yẹ́misí Aríbasálà reviews Remi Kuti’s posthumous memoir, Mrs Kuti.
‘Ṣẹgun Ọdẹjimi reviews Kemi Adetiba’s latest work, To Kill a Monkey.
New Fiction by Nnamdi Ehirim
Three poems by Ismail Bala
A poem by Níran Òkéwo̩lé
A poem by Adebimpe Adeyemi
Best Regards,
Tunji Olalere & Dami Ajayi
Publishers, YLR
