Okike
No. 1

The first number of Okike, founded by Chinua Achebe at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1971 — in the immediate aftermath of the Biafran war, and as a deliberate act of cultural reconstruction. The name is the Igbo word for creation. The issue was produced in a very small print run under conditions of severe scarcity in post-war eastern Nigeria, and copies from the first printing are extraordinarily rare in institutional collections anywhere. The cover design is by Obiora Udechukwu, after Ala; the vignettes are by Uche Okeke. The contents open with three poems by Dennis Brutus, followed by Wole Soyinka’s Après la Guerre and Gabriel Okara’s Suddenly the Air Cracks; Achebe contributes both the short story Vengeful Creditor and three poems. Also present are T. C. Nwosu, Uche Okeke, Nathan O. Nkala, Kalu Uka, Pol Ndu, E. N. Obiechina, Cyprian Ekwensi, Kevin Echeruo and Romanus Egudu.