Kyk-Over-Al (magazine)

"Kyk-Over-Al" is a literary magazine published in Guyana, the only survivor of the three pioneering literary magazines founded in the 1940s that helped define postwar West Indian literature (the other two were "Bim", published in Barbados, and "Focus", published in Jamaica). "Kyk-Over-Al" is indelibly associated with the Guyanese poet and editor A.J. Seymour, the magazine's longtime editor. After Seymour's death in 1989 the editorship was assumed by poet and novelist Ian McDonald. The title is often informally abbreviated to "Kyk".

Founding and early years (1945-1961)

"Kyk-Over-Al" was founded in 1945 by the British Guiana Writers' Association (BGWA) and the British Guiana Union of Cultural Clubs (BGUCC), to "be an instrument to help forge a Guianese people, and to make them conscious of their intellectual and spiritual possibilities". The first issue, priced at one shilling, appeared in December 1945, and was edited by A.J. Seymour, who at that time was an executive member of the BGWA and honorary secretary of the BGUCC.

The magazine was named for Kyk-Over-Al ("see over all"), the ruined Dutch fort on a small island near the confluence of the Essequibo, Mazaruni, and Cuyuni Rivers in the Guyanese interior. As Seymour explained in his editorial notes, "although ruined, "Kykoveral" still stands to remind us of our Amerindian and Dutch heritage ... As a title for a periodical, "Kykoveral" calls for a quick and wide vigilance and the expression of an alert people."

(Seymour almost always spelled the name of the magazine as a single word, unhyphenated; but the hyphenated form "Kyk-Over-Al" appeared on the magazine's cover, and this is the form that has been generally accepted over the years.)

Though "Kyk-Over-Al" began as a project of the BGWA and the BGUCC, Seymour from the beginning took a leading role in its direction and the magazine soon became his own private project--or, it might be more accurate to say it became a Seymour family project, since his wife Elma assumed responsibility for many business matters, including the advertising that made publication possible.

Between 1945 and 1961, 28 issues of "Kyk-Over-Al" appeared, publishing the work of every important Guyanese writer of the period--most notably Wilson Harris, Martin Carter, and Seymour himself--as well as many writers from other territories of the Anglophone Caribbean. Apart from fiction and poetry, "Kyk-Over-Al" published a number of groundbreaking critical essays, many written by Seymour, examining the work of West Indian writers and attempting to define the literature that began to emerge in the Caribbean in the years after World War II.

In "The Making of Guyanese Literature", a long essay Seymour wrote in 1980, he noted that "the main emphases in Kykoveral were on poetry and criticism.... The issues presented a total of nearly 500 poems in all and several numbers were devoted to anthologies of Guyanese and West Indian poetry."

In 1962, Seymour, by profession a civil servant, resigned from his position as head of government information services after a disagreement with Premier Cheddi Jagan over the political implications of his role. He accepted a post with the Caribbean Organisation, based in Puerto Rico. When Seymour left British Guiana, "Kyk-Over-Al" ceased publication.

Revival (1984-present)

Seymour returned to British Guiana in 1965 (the year before independence, when the territory was renamed Guyana), but did not resume the publication of "Kyk-Over-Al". Over the next two decades he continued his cultural activities in various official and unofficial roles, and continued to write both poetry and criticism, as well as a series of autobiographical volumes.

In 1984, to commemorate Seymour's 70th birthday as well as his long and crucial involvement in West Indian literary affairs, a volume called "AJS at 70" was published, edited by Ian McDonald. This proved to be a trigger for the revival of "Kyk-Over-Al", with McDonald assisting Seymour in the editorial duties.

Seymour died in December 1989, after which McDonald became sole editor of "Kyk-Over-Al", which continued to appear, somewhat irregularly, through the 1990s. For recent issues, writer and cultural activist Vanda Radzik has served as co-editor of the magazine. A 50th anniversary issue appeared in 1995. The most recent published issue appeared in June 2000.

Though "Kyk-Over-Al" has not been published since then, the editors insist that the magazine is not defunct, and in 2005 work was underway on a 60th anniversary issue.

External links

* [http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/ufdc/?n=dloc&c=dloc&b=UF00080046 "Kyk-Over-Al"] openly available for all in the Digital Library of the Caribbean