Savacou

Savacou was a journal of literature, new writing and ideas founded in 1970 as a small co-operative venture, led by Edward Kamau Brathwaite, on the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies, Jamaica. Characterised as "groundbreaking" by Alison Donnell, Savacou grew out of The Caribbean Artists Movement of the 1960s, which was mostly concerned with Caribbean artistic production and with consolidating a broad artistic alliance between all "Third World" peoples. It took its name from the bird-god in Carib mythology who controlled thunder and strong winds. Issue 1 of Savacou was published in June 1970, edited by Brathwaite, Kenneth Ramchand and Andrew Salkey. Its advisory committee included John La Rose, Lloyd King, Gordon Rohlehr, Orlando Patterson, Sylvia Wynter, Paule Marshall and Wilfred Cartey, and among its early contributors were C. L. R. James, Michael Anthony, Derek Walcott, George Lamming, Martin Carter and John Figueroa.