“Callaloo has emerged as the most essential and continuously published journal in matters pertinent to African American and African Diaspora Studies worldwide. Dr. Charles H. Rowell founded Callaloo in 1976 at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. With its emphasis on critical studies of the arts and humanities, as well as creative writing, Callaloo has been a vital and much-anticipated source of information and lively conversation among both established and emerging scholars and creative writers. The journal publishes original work by and about writers and visual artists of African descent worldwide.
As a highly-acclaimed international showcase of arts and letters, Callaloo offers an engaging mixture of fiction, poetry, critical articles, interviews, drama, and visual art. The journal frequently features annotated bibliographies, special issues dedicated to prominent writers, literary, social, cultural themes, full-color, original artwork, and photography.
Over the years, the journal broadened its reach with the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshops and the Callaloo Conferences, both of which attracted scholars and writers from around the world. In 2018, Dr. Rowell was awarded the Madam C.J. Walker Award by the long-established Hurston/Wright Foundation (Washington, D.C.) for his dedication to supporting and sustaining African American and African Diaspora literature. In 2025, Dr. Rowell was awarded the Pen/ Nora Magid Award for Editing. The journal’s two editorial boards (Associate Editors/Contributing and Advisory Editors) consist of 30-plus distinguished scholars, writers, and advisors.”
As a Black artist, I get contacted fairly frequently with requests to show the work I have created around the subject of being a person of colour. Being able to practice art is a privilege, so not only are there few full time artists, but even fewer Black artists. So being contacted by Callaloo, wasn’t out of the ordinary, but after receiving my copy, I realised it was most definitely an out-of-the-ordinary publication. With a shiny cover, the pages inside weren’t the usual large glossy, editorial pages like you might expect with a specialised magazine, but paper as if it was a book out of the library.
With an almost dissertation format, inside holds pages of letters, poems, extensive and deep thoughts, alongside my thought-provoking (blush) images of my photography project “White Gaze”. Head to the official Callaloo website to subscribe to get your copies through the post (not available in shops).
Jade Hylton 