Savacou Magazine was founded in 1970 by Edward Kamau Brathwaite

Edward Kamau Brathwaite

Edward Kamau Brathwaite is widely considered one of the major voices in the Caribbean literary canon. A professor of Comparative Literature at New York University, Brathwaite is the 2006 International Winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize, for his volume of poetry, Born to Slow Horses.Brathwaite...

, Andrew Salkey

Andrew Salkey

Andrew Salkey was a novelist, poet, freelance writer and journalist of Jamaican and Haitian origin. Salkey was born in Panama but was raised in Jamaica...

, and John La Rose

John La Rose

John La Rose was a political and cultural activist, poet, writer, publisher, and Chairman of the George Padmore Institute...

. Savacou grew out of the Caribbean Artists Movement of the 1960's that was mostly concerned with Caribbean artistic production and with consolidating a broad artistic alliance between all 'Third World' peoples.

Savacou was the subject of regional controversy in 1970, with the double issue 3/4, "New Writing 1970: An anthology of poetry and verse." Featuring oral-based poetics, performance poetry and Creole

English-based creole languages

An English-based creole language is a creole language that was significantly influenced by the English language...

 verse, the issue questioned traditional divisions between words and music, literature and street culture, textuality and orality, antagonizing standard literary formats and in turn provoking major debates and discussions in Caribbean literary circles.

The journal ceased publication in 1980 with issue 15.

This article uses text from the Chimurengal Library under the GFDL