| Editor | Abdellatif Laâbi |
|---|---|
| Categories | Socio-political intellectual magazine |
| Frequency | quarterly |
| First issue | 1966 |
| Company | Private |
| Country | Morocco |
| Language | English, Arabic |
| Website | [1] |
Souffles was established by a small group of self-professed 'linguistic guerrillas' as "a manifesto for a new aesthetics in the Maghreb". This magazine became a conduit for a new generation of writers, artists, and intellectuals to stage a revolution against imperialist and colonial cultural domination. The starting point for this revolution was language.
From its first issue, Souffles posed an aggressive challenge to the traditional Francophone and Arabophone literary divides by encouraging experimentation, translations and collaborations. It wasn't long before its trademark cover emblazoned with an intense black sun radiated throughout Africa, the Arab world, West Indies and the Black Atlantic. In the early 70s the magazine changed focus. Motivated by the crushing Arab defeat in the Six-Day War and the Paris uprisings, its founder, editor and publisher Abdellatif Laabi declared that "Literature was no longer sufficient". After the fifteenth issue, dedicated to Palestine, Souffles underwent a major redesign, emerging as a new firebrand organ of leftist revolutionary group, Ila_al-Amam_(Morocco). This new political agenda caught the attention of the authorities and in 1972 the magazine was banned and Laabi arrested. While in prison he was awarded several international poetry prizes. After a long solidarity campaign, he regained his freedom in 1980.[1]