The Journal of New African Literature and the Arts (JONALA) was published between the mid-1960s and mid-1970s, spanning the most turbulent and generative decade in the history of modern African literature. It was one of the few American-based journals of the period that took African literary production seriously on its own terms — not as anthropological curiosity or as political document, but as literature.
JONALA published creative work alongside criticism, and its scope encompassed not only literature but visual art, music, and performance. This made it one of the more genuinely interdisciplinary platforms of its era, and its archive rewards researchers across several disciplines.
Our 16 issues (including the variant run published from Stanford) represent a near-complete set of the journal's output and provide a valuable transatlantic perspective on African literary culture during the independence era.