Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora cultivates, through publication and critical inquiry, Black imagination, innovation, and excellence—supporting Black, African, and African Diaspora creatives globally. Celebrating fifty years of continuous publication, the award-winning, peer-reviewed journal is dedicated to publishing contemporary poetry, fiction, drama/performance, visual and media art biannually in print and year-round online.

 

Since its inception, Obsidian has featured a range of acclaimed writers, artists, and critics including Elizabeth Alexander, Houston A. Baker, Sharon Bridgforth, Octavia Butler, Wanda Coleman, Thadious Davis, Melvin Dixon, Gerald Early, Victor Ehikhamenor, C.S. Giscombe, Terrance Hayes, Essex Hemphill, Davida Ingram, Gayl Jones, Yusef Komunyakaa, Delita Martin, Aldon Lynn Nielsen, Sharon Norwood, Wura-Natasha Ogunji, Brenda Marie Osbey, Claudia Rankine, Stacey Robinson, Jerry Ward, and Gloria Wade Gayles, among others.

 

In 1975 Alvin Aubert founded Obsidian at SUNY (Fredonia) under the name Obsidian: Black Literature in Review. In the late ’70s and early ’80s, the journal was published at Wayne State University under the name Obsidian II: Black Literature in Review. In 1985, Gerald Barrax took Obsidian II to North Carolina State University. Whilst there, Afaa Michael Weaver helped to transform the journal from Obsidian II to Obsidian III: Literature in the African Diaspora. Other editors emeriti at NCSU include Doris Laryea, Joyce Pettis, Thomas Lisk, and Sheila Smith McKoy. In the fall of 2014, current editor Duriel E. Harris initiated the successful transfer of Obsidian to Illinois State University. With the publication of the spring 2015 issue, Obsidian exhibited a new subtitle, Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora (and appears sans italic to highlight the full publishing platform).

 

A digital subscription gives you access to the complete archive of back issues—fifty years’ worth of publications.