The natural reaction to the cover art of Black Orpheus is: “What is THAT, and how can I get one?”

This Nigeria-based little magazine kindled an enormously influential anglophone African literature movement that became the primary force for the discovery of new talent on the continent during the 1950s and 1960s. In its time, Black Orpheus was one of the most important literary magazines in the world.

Black Orpheus began when Nigeria was still an English colony, and continued into the country...