Hummingbird Journal
Discover the voices, stories, and artistic expressions that define Ghana's creative landscape
Issue 2
Ghana's Histories - Hummingbird Journal
In this issue, you, the reader, are asked to touch the past as it lives in the present, tuck memory into language and serve it with life. And the writers search and tap from an old palm wine that still tastes like home. What does history feel like when it is handed back to you as a living memory? Ghana is a country layered with histories—written and oral, celebrated and obliterated, remembered and forgotten. From precolonial kingdoms to the transatlantic slave trade, from independence to everyday moments that never entered the archives, our past continues to shape who we are. In this issue, we tap into this expansive archive of rich history.
Issue 1
Overture
Why Overture? Because every movement needs a beginning, that first swell of sound that hints at what’s to come. In an orchestra, the overture is the piece at the beginning of an opera, play, etc, that gathers everything: tension, melody, anticipation. It opens the curtain. That’s what this issue feels like—a collective first note. Each poem, essay, and story carries something new. A search, a rediscovery, a refusal to be reduced to a single story. In editing these pieces, my team of Editors and I were reminded that beginnings are not always easy, but despite all the challenges we faced, together we have achieved something remarkable that we can be proud of. And it only gets better from here. Overture is our beginning. Our first flight. We intend to fly as high as we can. If you’re reading this, thank you for being part of this. Stay with us. The music has only just begun.