Issue 39 of Transition Magazine — published in 1971 by the journal founded by Rajat Neogy in Kampala in 1961 — is one of the most consequential single issues in the history of African literary publishing. By 1971, Transition had already been through its most turbulent period: Neogy's imprisonment by the Ugandan government in 1968 for publishing an article critical of the chief justice, the journal's forced suspension, and its eventual relocation.
This issue appeared at a moment of fragile resumption, and its contents reflect the extraordinary intellectual ferment of the period. Transition, under Neogy and subsequently under Wole Ṣóyínká's editorship, was the arena in which the most important debates of African cultural and political life were conducted — in language that was rigorous, combative, and brilliant.
A single physical copy of Issue 39, in the city of Lagos, available to readers — this is precisely the kind of acquisition that the OlongoAfrica Library project exists to make possible.