Hello World!

We are pleased to welcome you to The Village Square Journal. A village square is more than just a venue, it is a catalyst of sorts for the arts, and all forms of its expression. The Village Square Journal seeks to be a hub where play and artistic display come together to thrill and thrive, as well a compendium of sorts for culture preservation. It looks forward to being a fulcrum of the promotion and appreciation of all forms of visual arts and contemporary literature.

We feel honoured to launch our website, www.villagesquarejournal.com with works from the finest selection of literary artistes across the globe. Click on our fiction tab, and time travel with Jayne Bauling’s “Ancient Words.” It promises to be a smooth trip with the first 2000 words of Karen Jennings’ novel in progress, Crooked Seeds waiting to intrigue you aussi. Our essay tab is just as titillating, as there you will read a rather poignant treatise on the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the Israeli Separation Wall from the multiple-award winning author and academic, Helon Habila. Then there is a super informative opinion piece from Trish Nicholson based on her research on the history of famous women from the Stone Age to the 20th century that cuts across Egypt, Northern Nigeria, Scotland, Ethiopia, and India. Our poetry tab will lead you to two profound poems. One from Toni Stuart that addresses the strength of women and another from Richard Inya on immigration and the fate of migrants trying to cross the Red Sea.

Follow our interview editor to Cameroon as she interviews Patrice Nganang, the professor recently incarcerated by Paul Biya, and read her conversation with Julie Owono, a human rights activist/lawyer based in Paris, France. There is also the conversation between two of our editors and two editors of The Temz Review, Amy Mitchell and Aaron Schneider. We also thought you would want to have a yummy laugh, so we served you our Cameroon vs Nigeria Jollof War.

This outing would be impossible but for the brilliance, commitment and dedication of our contributing editors; Ngum Ngafor, Noma Sibanda and Nora Vasconcelos. We also wish to express our heartfelt gratitude to the members of our advisory board; Ivor Hartman, Viola Llewellyn, Professor Akachi Ezeigbo and Sian Ejiwumi-Le Berre.

We look forward to feedback and to constantly serving the finest selection of literary pieces.

Sincerely,
Amara Chimeka
Obinna Udenwe
Osemome Ndebbio
(Founding Editors)